Star Trek Online: Warspite
by the Starfleet Kid
Summary: The excitement that began in 'STO: Bonaventure' boldly goes on! Join Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas of Starfleet as she, and the crew of the Avenger-class USS Warspite, face off against the Federation's most dangerous foe yet - the ancient Iconians! Beginning just before the start of season seven & resumes where 'Bonaventure' left off... the thrilling adventure continues in 'Warspite'.
1. Chapter 1

My apologies to those of you who haven't yet read Bonaventure, the first story in this chain. It is advisable (though not exactly required - I mean, I can't force you) to read Bonaventure first. Just switch 'fanfiction_net' listed below for the actual URL of this site and you're there!

fanfiction_net/s/11109175/1/Star-Trek-Online-Bonaventure

I apologize also for the fact that my initial attempt at posting the first chapter of Warspite was apparently overridden at some point by the contents of the first chapter of Bonaventure, which must have been confusing. I've amended the post below and everything should hopefully fit together. I would seek forgiveness in advance for any deviations from the plot of the Star Trek Online video game, or any aspects of the Star Trek universe whether they be book-canon or film-canon or shot-from-a-phaser-cannon or whatever. I accept full responsibility for shortcomings in my research and so forth. Also, please be advised that this story is a long one, if only because I keep on writing chapters for it and because I like the characters. I hope you like them too, and I hope you enjoy the story. :)

* * *

Of all the various types of shuttlecraft and small vessels available to Starfleet, the Yellowstone class starship really was the way to go. Opulently decorated in its aft section (this particular Yellowstone in diplomatic configuration, as it happened), Rear Admiral Twaiheak (Tw'eak) Sh'abbas sat in the seating area, occupying a rather cozy leather armchair in the corner. Given the events of recently, with the near-destruction of her vessel and the reassignment of her senior staff to a new project, yet to be fully explained.

Next to her, seated on a loveseat, was her executive officer, Commander Eight of Twelve. A liberated Borg, better known as Octavia, she seemed to be pensive, although what about was not immediately clear. Her operations officer, Lieutenant Commander Birmal Dazz, was in her grav-chair, half-asleep with her head down. She was still recovering from the effects of being shot into space during a hull breach, only to be beamed back aboard. Tw'eak had personally played a role in that rescue, one from which she, too, had required time to heal.

At a table nearby, Doctor Shirley Ellington, science officer Lieutenant Zolnaen 'Zed' Didaggo, engineering officer Lieutenant Commander Aurora duBois, and helmsman Lieutenant Denver O'Leary were dealing cards. Occasionally O'Leary would reach over and note something on a piece of paper next to him, using a small pencil. He had replicated both since they were not given access to library computer systems or padds. That access was restricted since it might inadvertently give away their location or heading. Alone at the large aft window, looking outwards pensively, stood Commander T'uni, ship's counselor, and one of Tw'eak's oldest friends. Maintaining a silent vigil, she remained as inscrutable as ever to Tw'eak.

Tw'eak turned to Octavia, T'uni's solitude reminding her of Octavia's recent attempt at romance. "So how did it work out with, um, Larkin, was it?" she asked.

Octavia waited a moment, then responded in her typical, efficient manner, as though reciting a cargo manifest. "Since we had lunch, I have had contact with him on two occasions. In the first instance, he wanted to see how I was doing, which I notified him was unnecessary, as I had other officers available for support if I required them. I then terminated the subspace frequency, but three hours later he contacted me again, and strangely enough, apologized for offending me."

"He apologized?"

"Yes. He was uncertain what he had said to do so, and I advised him that I had taken no offense. I think he misunderstood that I do not require his support."

"It's a conversational thing, Octavia. You don't get many hails, do you?"

"No, I do not."

"Asking someone 'how are you' is a neutral way of showing them you're interested in how they've been since the last time you talked to them. It's a form of social pleasantry."

"I see. That would explain why he asked me how I felt about sushi."

"Sushi? The Earth dish?"

"Yes. He advised me that he loves having sushi, and asked me how I felt about it. I advised him that I had no specific sentiments towards sushi, as I cannot recall having tried it. His response was quite enthusiastic, as he feels that once we are together again, eating sushi together would be, in his words, 'lots of fun'."

"Oh, it can be lots of fun to spend time with someone special." Tw'eak smiled at remembrances of times she had spent with people she had cared about. "You don't remember having anyone special in your life, do you?"

"I remember many interactions I have had, but all of them date from since my liberation from the Borg, not before. My marital status was indicated in my biography as negative, however."

"You mean you'd never married before."

"Correct. My maternal status was also negative." Octavia appeared pensive for a moment. "Do you suppose that Commander Larkin is considering me romantically?"

"I don't see why he wouldn't. Seems fairly obvious that he likes you."

"I had not considered the possibility. To be honest, I was utilizing his reactions as a social experiment."

Tw'eak chuckled to herself. "Don't tell him that."

"Of course. However, I must admit that I find the reactions of crew members with whom I have served to be... limiting. I feel that, in order to gauge the reactions to my social understandings in a scientific fashion, I will be compelled to 'get out there and network', as the saying goes."

"You'll probably get lots of chances to do that at our new assignment. Which reminds me." She looked over her other shoulder. "O'Leary, which one of you was the big winner?"

O'Leary looked up from his cards. "Neither one of us. God, who dealt this?"

"You did," Zed replied, and Aurora giggled.

"Looks a lot like the last hand," Doc added. "We need to teach you how to shuffle better."

"Whatever." O'Leary looked over at T'uni. "Anything?"

"Not at present," the Vulcan replied. "Wait." The ship shifted slightly, and as it did, T'uni's eye watched a star in the aft compartment intently. "Movement of Sirius thirteen degrees right, twelve degrees declension."

"So we're moving that way, are we." O'Leary took his pencil and jotted down a few points.

"Who's winning, anyway?" Tw'eak asked.

"Not him," Zed responded.

"We're just playing for fun anyway, Captain," Aurora added, then corrected, "I mean Admiral. Sorry, Admiral."

"It's okay, I'm not used to it yet either. So what are you doing, O'Leary?"

"Astrogation."

T'uni spoke up, her eyes not drifting. "I am providing Lieutenant O'Leary with updates on our star position. He is making his best guess as to warp speeds, which I am attempting to validate by distance and movement. The validation is difficult and I am uncertain as to whether I am accurate, but the star position is an easy matter."

"And her co-ordinate changes link to my understanding of where we are, so I can guess at where we're going."

Tw'eak smiled at her navigator. "Didn't Admiral Hawkins have some specific words for you about that?"

O'Leary smiled right back. "If you wanna reprimand me, ma'am, go ahead."

"I will. Eventually. Right now, tell me what you've got."

"Well, based on what I can tell, we started out headed roughly towards the transwarp gate to Gamma Orionis, passed Vulcan on the way, and then we doubled back towards the Regulus system, and now we're probably about, what, ten light-years from Starbase 39?"

"Probably closer to twelve," T'uni corrected.

"Whatever, twelve. Point is, we're going past it. Towards Bolarus, actually."

"Polaris?" Aurora perked up. "In Ursa Minor?"

"No, no, home system of... well, Dazz."

"What?" Dazz picked her head up.

"Nothing."

"Would you like me to help you to lay on this loveseat?" Octavia asked Dazz.

"That would be lovely, thanks." Octavia stood up and, with Doc's help, they got Dazz onto the loveseat, her legs hanging off the edge.

"Do you want a blanket?" Doc asked.

"Please."

Doc went to find or replicate a blanket, and Tw'eak by this point had taken her seat at the table. "So let's see. What's out there in Bolarus' direction that could be our heading for this project."

"As far as I can tell, ma'am, and remember, I don't have the best memory of this place since it's been a while, but there are a string of outposts in this area which run across systems that used to be near the Neutral Zone. Some of them are abandoned but a few of them make sense. Starfleet likes to post a station in the outer perimeter of a star's gravity well, usually in an asteroid belt or around a planet, as a sentry position, guarding an installation closer in."

"Right, like the Mars Defense Perimeter keeps the Sol system from being easily overrun."

"Exactly. Now, they can't exactly throw up an orbital defense network - the energy readings could be picked up from light-years away." O'Leary crossed off a couple of the round dots on his piece of paper. "That'll eliminate those places. Plus anyplace which is too populated, which includes all of those places plus here, here and here." He crossed off three more. "That leaves us with basically two - maybe three... no, just these two. There's Breshar and Quezlain."

Octavia, by now, had joined the conversation at the table. "Quezlain is closer to the former Romulan Neutral Zone than Breshar."

"And it's been raided by the Reman resistance at least four times in the past five years. You all remember, we got a distress signal from there while we were defending the Alhai system against a separate group of the same set of Remans."

There were nods from Zed and the others. They all remembered the Remans - they had fought so bravely to try to take what they needed, all the while refusing Starfleet's offer of aid. Many of the crew had been appreciative of their resilient bravery and insistence upon self-sufficiency. Tw'eak had refused to return fire except to disable, and still two of the Reman birds of prey had chosen to self-destruct instead of surrender. It was an unforgettable, if ambiguously successful, defense of Federation assets.

"So Quezlain is too busy... it's probably Breshar, then," O'Leary said after a moment.

"Breshar," Octavia recited from memory. "Outpost Quebec Alpha orbits the only habitable world in-system, called Breshar Prime. The world has no moon, only an asteroid belt. It is a staging area for freighters distributing aid to Romulan and Reman colonies, as they request it."

"Only habitable world..." Tw'eak mused. "Any in-system?"

"At least one, although I cannot remember any particulars. An unremarkable world, probably either a class D or class H planet."

"So that's got to be it." Tw'eak snapped her fingers. "It's perfect. Freighters coming and going in large numbers to a sentry station that seems to be for logistical and scientific purposes... they can slip into the system with resources for construction and back out again without anyone noticing."

"Sounds like that's where we're headed," O'Leary concurred.

* * *

Some hours later, the runabout arrived in a system and passed a station which looked very much like Outpost Quebec Alpha orbiting Breshar Prime. Tw'eak congratulated O'Leary. "If you couldn't guess what correctly," she told him, "you did a good job guessing where."

O'Leary smiled. "All part of the friendly service, ma'am."

A smaller station came into view through a port-side window, looking much like Quebec Alpha on a smaller scale, with additional attachments. Out one side of the small, thin saucer stretched a rib cage of tritanium and duranium, the shape of the shipyard. Barely visible therein was a shadow of a spaceframe. At compass points relative to the shipyard's connection extended a series of transceiver assemblies and communications relays. Through the central pole of the saucer extended a ventral pole dotted with antennae, further relays and a number of cylindrical pods. The runabout approached, obscuring the view of the station completely until, before long, it shuddered from contact with the exterior force field of the docking bay. Touchdown was much more smooth by comparison.

"Let's go," Tw'eak said. The officers rose, several of them attending to their personal kit at the back of the craft. Zed turned to Dazz and helped her into her chair. "How are you feeling, Dazz?"

"Much better... Hope I didn't... nap through anything too ...exciting."

"Not at all." Tw'eak turned towards the only visible door and stopped as it refused to open. "Come on." She tapped the console next to the door, but it offered only notification of its refusal to comply. "What's wrong with this thing?"

The door opened, revealing the presence of a security officer, a male human lieutenant in an armoured EV suit. "Take a step back, please."

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Security, ma'am. Take a step back." This time the lieutenant spoke a little more forcefully.

"Hey. I'm a rear admiral. Watch yourself."

"Ma'am, I have my orders from a rear admiral. And a phaser." He gestured towards his belt, revealing he did, indeed, come prepared. "Now would you like to continue this conversation in the brig?"

Tw'eak smiled.

"You do realize that threatening a superior officer with confinement is a violation of Starfleet regulation-"

"T'uni, save it. Let's just do as we're asked so we can get to it already."

"Look, I got my orders. I don't need this. One at a time, please." The security lieutenant reached behind his phaser to retrieve a retinal scanner, a series of empty vials, and a hypospray. "I need blood samples and retinal scans from all of you." He turned to Tw'eak. "Might as well start with you."

* * *

Ten minutes later, the security officer, now wearing a clip with vials of blood in different colours - green, blue, red and purple - brought Tw'eak and her officers into an area just on the other side of the docking hatch. They could see the hull of the runabout curving upwards and blocking the view of the rest of the docking area through a small window near a seating area. "Wait here, please," the security officer muttered as he moved past them and through a door. Tw'eak moved to follow him, but as the door closed behind him it locked and refused to open for her.

"Well," Zed said after a moment. "And to think I was expecting drinks and balloons when we arrived."

"I'll tell you this much," Doc quipped, "we've got to get that man some lessons in how to properly use a hypospray."

"Sure, Doc. I'll show him right where to put it."

"Zed," Tw'eak interrupted. "No."

"Exactly," Doc interjected. "I can get it much farther in."

"Doc, please, if you-"

"What? He has bigger hands than I do."

"Doc!"

Aurora giggled. Both Octavia and T'uni looked confused. Dazz merely shook her head, while O'Leary made a pained expression."Just consider yourself fortunate that the security check didn't include a cavity search," O'Leary joked.

"For all intents, we did," Octavia replied.

"Exactly," Zed agreed.

"What I mean is, we were scanned by tricorder - the intent of which is similar, but not nearly as specific in its search area."

The door opened, revealing Admiral Currie and two other officers alongside him. The one to his left, in science uniform, was a human female lieutenant commander a bit shorter than him with pinned-back dark hair. The other, taller than Currie, was a Rigelian male commander in an engineering uniform. "Welcome to the station," Currie opened. "I hope everything went well on your way here."

"Just fine." Tw'eak turned to her officers. "May I present Lieutenant Denver O'Leary, Doctor Shirley Ellington, Lieutenant Birmal Dazz, Lieutenant Zolnaen Didaggo, Lieutenant Commander Aurora duBois, Commander Eight of Twelve, and Lieutenant Commander T'uni. They will be serving as my advisors while we're stationed here."

"Commander Tredegar, our ship's systems engineer, and Lieutenant Commander Woolwich, our warp engine specialist. Commander McQueen, our tactical systems specialist, will be along shortly."

"Great, thank you."

"Would you all follow me, please?" Davis said with a wave of his hand towards the door through which he entered. As a group, the officers moved down a corridor at a moderate walking speed, with Zed pushing Dazz along in her grav-chair.

"Is that normal?" Tw'eak asked Davis as they walked.

"What?"

"The security level around here. It's not often that I'm asked for such... rigorous requirements of admission."

"That's Admiral Hawkins' area of expertise, I'm afraid. He's probably being cautious on account of the recent discovery of the Orion spy ring here."

"I can understand that, I suppose." Tw'eak heard Zed make a disapproving grunt noise, but ignored it.

"His predecessor actually turned out to be one of the Orion spies, if you can believe it. Which is part of the reason, I think, for the additional procedures and requirements - I hope you understand." This revelation struck Tw'eak into silence. She wasn't the only one who was new to the rank of rear admiral, then. Tw'eak nodded and considered for a moment.

"May I ask you a question, ma'am?" This question came from the female human lieutenant commander, Woolwich. About the same height and built much the same, with a slender frame and slight, if muscular, shoulders, Woolwich seemed earnest in her request.

"Sure."

"We- I mean, the officers... we don't get a lot of news. The restrictions on what we're allowed to access and all. I don't suppose you could let us know a bit of what's going on out there?"

Tw'eak considered the request. "Perhaps later we could arrange a get-together, some of my officers, some of your officers." Tw'eak smiled at Woolwich. "That way you can find out whatever they know, and get to know them as well."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Tw'eak looked at the labels as they continued down the lengthy, rounding corridor. "How are the quarters arranged around here?"

"We'll see to that shortly. First I'd like to show you where the main design control room is located." The corridor reached a crossroads and Currie waved a hand to his right. "This way, please."

A few doors down the hall, Currie turned left through a doorway leading to a large, open room with a vaguely triangular shape. The centre of the room was dominated by a massive holo-display built into the floor, around which was a tri-sided railing with consoles built into it. A walkway extended in either direction from the doorway and met, on both sides, a third walkway on the far side of the triangle, beyond which on one side rose a work station dedicated to engine systems, and on the other, tactical systems. Currie escorted Tw'eak and her officers around to the far side of the holo-display. "This represents some of the most advanced technology in Starfleet, all built into a single spaceframe for the first time in almost a generation. The Avenger represents a huge leap in Starfleet's capacity for defense and counter-attack, and will hopefully prove itself to be an important asset for the Federation in the years to come."

Currie nodded to Tredegar, who spoke. "We've worked around most of the flaws in ship systems and power distribution, but we're still having trouble with the simulated EPS flow."

"Simulated?" Aurora interrupted. "Oh, no. EPS can't be properly simulated without a thorough understanding of the infrastructure. Have your people actually laid out the relays?"

"Yes."

"Have they run checks and tested transmission?"

"Only locally, not across the whole network. We're reliant upon batteries and generators, not the impulse engines."

"It won't work." Aurora turned to Tw'eak. "Let me get over there and take a look at their setup. A simulation's no good - you've got to balance the systems properly or you'll short out half the ship's power grid."

"Half the ship's power grid is about all we have installed right now," Currie replied. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but the simulations are done with a high degree of precision, in miniature form. They should work fine to assess the basic feasibility of the design."

Aurora seemed mollified. "All right, but there's no substitute for actually crawling the Jefferies tubes and finding every last glitch before she tries to leave spacedock. You try to run warp power through that EPS before you do and all that'll be left of this whole station is one big explosion when the core breaches."

"I agree," Octavia added. "Balancing a ship's overall power grid requires a full-time effort, and we will need to be careful."

"Understood. Commander Woolwich?"

"The new warp core design has been tested, for the record. We've run tests with the whole system by installing it into an older Excelsior-class starship. It was the perfect choice - Starfleet couldn't spare any newer cruisers for the test, but the old Excelsiors are so well-engineered you can do just about anything to them as a test-bed. Anyway, it's worked really well, and the ship's overall power levels were off the charts in initial tests. We're just not sure about the warp field."

"The warp field?" Octavia asked.

"The placement of the warp nacelles, traditionally, is high and outside, along and behind the saucer section. This way they can be jettisoned at any speed and gather particles with the Bussard collectors in front. Some ships, such as the Akira class starship you're familiar with, use what we call flat-pack nacelle design, where the nacelles are either at the centre of the engineering section or slightly above or below, rather than at an angle above thirty degrees. Then there are those like the Intrepid which utilize a variable-geometry design, in order to..." Woolwich was suddenly aware of her audience. "This is becoming a lecture. I was trying to say that we don't know how to best align the nacelles."

"We have come up with an innovative solution," Tredegar offered. "At warp speed the overall field shape becomes important, but at sublight speeds, the nacelles can create drag and particle build-up behind the ship. In order to compensate for this we've come up with an RCS assembly that is mounted at the aft outer end of each nacelle, what some call a 'fin'."

"And these fins are only active at sublight?"

"Yes," Woolwich responded to Tw'eak's question. "They won't work at warp speeds. But in simulation they make a difference otherwise."

"Well, I'm excited." Tw'eak and several other officers turned to see O'Leary gazing up at the holo-display in awe. "She's beautiful. When do I get to fly her?"

Currie addressed the subject. "We've set up a few simulations - a flight simulator, a sickbay and research lab holo-mock-up, as well as holo-mock-ups of the main deflector and the warp core."

"When can my people take a look?" Tw'eak said.

"I was going to suggest immediately. They're all ready. Amelia, why don't you take the sciences people and Lieutenant Dazz to their quarters? Tredegar, you can show the engineering people and Lieutenant O'Leary to theirs." Currie turned, looking over Tw'eak's shoulder. "Here comes Commander McQueen."

Through a doorway at the far end came an officer in a tactical uniform, looking much like Lieutenant Commander Woolwich's evil twin. As the two passed each other, Woolwich escorting Tw'eak's officers to their quarters, Tw'eak compared the two. She too had dark hair tied back, but her eyes were more predatory, sizing up the situation as she moved. Where Woolwich had appeared open, even cordial, this officer walked as though she had known a harder life. She certainly had the look of an experienced tactical officer.

"Kit, I'd like to introduce Rear Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas. Admiral, this is our weapons systems specialist, Lieutenant Commander Kathryn McQueen."

"Tw'eak, please."

"Kit." She shook Tw'eak's hand. "I have all the information here. Would you like to take a look at tactical now, or is later better for you?"

Tw'eak was impressed with this officer. The way she held her head, the searching look of her eyes following Tw'eak in hope of a hint of reaction, the build of her neck and shoulders... suddenly Tw'eak had a sense of how she herself must seem to others. "Now. I'm curious as to your recommendations around energy weapons."

"It's all in the report. I believe that using traditional phaser beams rather than heavy cannons in dual tandem setup would be most optimal, along with a torpedo launcher fore and aft."

Currie moved past the two tactical officers. "I'll leave you two. I myself have a briefing with senior staff in half an hour." Currie half-turned towards Tw'eak. "Normally I would ask you to come along, but it's strictly procedural and, now that you've met everyone, I'm sure you'd rather get into the tactical problems."

"Actually, not to be contrary, but I don't yet know your procedures and would appreciate the chance to come along." Tw'eak indicated McQueen. "The commander and I can review the tactical situation afterwards, and I can read up about it in the meantime."

"Very well." Currie turned to McQueen. "Commander, would you show the admiral to our meeting room, please? I'll join you there shortly."

"Yes, sir," McQueen replied. "Right this way." Together, she and Tw'eak went back the way they came, discussing torpedo yields and energy weapon firing arcs as they went.


	2. Chapter 2

Her first staff meeting had been uneventful, her tactical systems analysis had been relatively uneventful, and her appreciation for Commander McQueen's insight had grown considerably. Now, exhausted, Tw'eak returned to her quarters. While not exactly spacious, they were sufficient to the task of being an office and bedroom. She settled into the chair at the far end of the 'U'-shaped room from the doorway to the bedroom, and looked out a window at the world the station orbited. _Breshar I_ , she reminded herself. _A million light-years from anything actually interesting._

For reasons Tw'eak couldn't account for, she felt herself to be on the verge of uncontrollable tears. Emotional outbursts were all too typically Andorian, but this had never been Tw'eak's style. She thought about why her emotions were welling up inside of her, and realized that this was the first time in nearly a year that she hadn't been thrust into one fight after having just concluded another. She thought of what she had been a part of in that time. She had faced Reman resistance fighters, Jem'Hadar warriors, Tal Shiar operatives, Orion pirates, Hirogen hunters, Klingon warriors, Nausicaan raiders, Lethean assassins, Cardassian soldiers, and of course, the Borg. In the process, she had lost her ship, her tactical officer, her chief engineer, countless 'redshirts', pilots and other personnel, and been hurt or wounded herself a number of times. She had never really taken the time to process her feelings, never given herself time to mourn, to heal, to recover.

It felt a bit silly, if she was honest with herself. To have such a depth of feeling, to be incapable of doing anything but curling up in a chair, to not want to have to go back to her real life for a while... it was the opposite of everything she had hoped to achieve in her career. It was the opposite of what she expected from herself. She tried to snap herself to a sort of parade rest in her mind, tried to draw herself up and pull it together, but it wouldn't come. She directed her antennae around to be sure she was alone in the room, and sat for what felt like an age, awash in sorrow for herself, unable to concentrate, just sadly sitting alone.

For once, the door did not chime. Her commbadge was not nearly drained of power for having been tapped so often. She unbuttoned her jacket, leaned back in the chair, and made no effort to keep the tears from tumbling down her face. It had been so long since she had been alone with herself, been truly by herself like this, that she had forgotten how it felt. She had been carrying herself in a way that was unnatural, that was unlike what she felt. First it had been following orders and handling the True Way forces, those Cardassian and Alpha-Quadrant Jem'Hadar units which remained loyal to a Cardassia they had helped destroy. She had doubted her judgment on several occasions, as the True Way forces had caused casualties and deaths. The Bonaventure's patrols thereafter had seen them tangle with numerous adversaries, always in a defensive role, making her question whether the war was worth fighting. Then she had been injured against the Hirogen, and been forced to walk around as though dislocated joints and surgery were no real impediment. And now she had been reassigned someplace where she had a minimal interest in being, minimal confidence in her ability to do well serving, and minimal chance of getting away.

She felt captive to her uniform. She felt guilty for not being proud to serve in Starfleet any longer - if she was honest with herself, she hadn't felt that way in years. She felt lost. She looked up and out of the window and wondered to herself about her sister, about Va'kel Shon, about her last surviving brother. Were they alive? Was Dashii safely aboard ship someplace? Had Shon and his vessel survived the fight against the Elachi? Would any of them see Andoria again? Maybe that was what bothered her - she felt very, very far from home.

She got out of the chair and went to the desk in the room. She initiated the interface and the screen appeared showing subspace communications connections. The only ones available were to Earth Spacedock or to Outpost Quebec Alpha. Security restrictions must have been put in place. There was very little to do. Sitting for a moment, Tw'eak considered her options. The chair is not one of them, she told herself. The work of the overall design review had not yet really begun. The idea of wandering around in casual wear or just generally being among her officers or the station crew was also not acceptable. Perhaps just a quick shower and an early time to bed? It seemed odd to her that no one had come to see how she was doing. T'uni should have wandered through by now. Aurora might have had a problem. What about Octavia's date with that astrophysicist? And why hadn't Zed come to check up on her condition lately?

There was a sort of bitter feeling of abandonment in her throat, so Tw'eak decided to let it win. "Computer, set lock on exterior door and dim ambient lights to thirty percent." The computer complied and Tw'eak found her change of clothes in her kit and pulled herself into bed. Like the one on Earth Spacedock, it was comfortable, not unreasonably so, and quite a bit larger than the one she had slept on aboard the Bonaventure. She felt herself starting to slip into sleep, and wanted to, but for a strange sensation her antennae were detecting in the room. A poorly-shielded EPS conduit? she wondered. Maybe an overactive species of plant she would have to have moved out.

"It's a little early for bed," she heard someone say to her.

Tw'eak sat up. "Computer, lights!" Before her, sitting in the chair in the corner of the room, was a man clad in a black suit made of fabric that almost looked fluid. She looked around for a weapon. "Who the hell are you?"

"Calm down, Tw'eak. We're on the same side."

Sliding herself out of bed, Tw'eak took a fighting stance.

"You're not in any condition for that. And if I wanted you dead I could arrange it easily. Just sit down."

"You better start talking first."

"Not until you're willing to listen." He ran a finger across his lips, as if to shush Tw'eak up.

"You're from Section 31, aren't you?"

The agent nodded.

"Then you know how I'm likely to answer you, whatever you want."

"Let's make a deal, then. I'll spare you the 'ends justify the means' speech, and you spare me the 'what's wrong can't be what's right' speech. We're not going to see eye to eye on the why, so let's get to the matter at hand, shall we?"

"Which is?"

"What you don't know about this project. The Avenger class starship design doesn't exist yet - not really. The plans, as you know them, are actually not the real plans at all, but extensive modifications of a particular set of originals."

"Plans get re-designed all the time - why does it matter to me who's responsible for this design?"

"Well, that's the trick. You see, what you haven't been told, and must now know, is that one of our... freelance agents went forward in time - another good little soldier, like yourself. He sought a piece of technology which would safeguard the Federation. The original Avenger plans are what he came back with, along with a... well, never mind that. The difficult part about this is that, in that timeline, the design for this starship was introduced too late in the conflict. 'If only,' they said. We are their 'if only'."

"So where's the problem?"

"All that our agent could come back with were plans and a couple of components. One of those components forms the basis of the onboard weapons system you know as the variable auto-targeting armament."

One of several potential weapons for use on the Avenger, Tw'eak remembered the variable auto-targeting armament - equal parts torpedo and drone attack spacecraft - and nodded. "I wondered why that was unlike anything I had ever seen before."

"It, too, gets introduced too late into the conflict. But to put it mildly, making their design meet the needs of our point in the timeline will prove difficult. Add to that the involvement of the Orion spies, and we can bet before long that the Klingons will institute a crash-building program on a ship that's built to match the Avenger."

"So time is of the essence, then," Tw'eak quipped.

"It's more than just time which is of the essence. Based on what we've learned from our agent, the coming months and years are going to sorely try the Federation's will to resist. With enemies on all fronts posturing aggressively, it will become necessary for all of its military and scientific assets to be devoted to meeting those threats full-on. This starship will be one of the ways in which we go about doing that. The plans provided to Starfleet can be modified, despite the advances in technology which we can't easily duplicate, and the availability of starships like these may make all the difference."

Tw'eak looked unimpressed. "Nothing I haven't heard before. We used to talk the same way about the Sovereign class."

"And the Akira class, and before that, generations ago, the Constitution class. I know. But what we need is someone on the inside, who can advise us what we can do to help this project come to fruition."

Tw'eak tilted her head. "You mean Section 31 wants me as an advisor, too?"

"I don't see why that should alarm you. It takes a special kind of person to do what we do, people who have the best interests of the Federation at heart and who view preservation as having a greater priority than principle."

"And you think I'm one of those people?"

"You turned in your own commanding officer on the Repulse, you... you defied orders and pursued the Reman assault force that tried to hit Starbase 114... you didn't seem to think twice about ordering your ship into harm's way on numerous occasions, even when understaffed or partially damaged... yeah, I'd say you're our perfect candidate."

"But your organization- I don't agree with your principles. Do you even have any principles?"

"We search out and identify potential dangers to the Federation. And then we take whatever steps are necessary to protect the Federation."

"And 'whatever steps are necessary' involves what, exactly?"

"I thought we weren't going to have this conversation."

Tw'eak smiled, laying across the bed. "Well, you're the specialist, why don't you tell me?"

"I'm not from Temporal Mechanics."

"That's not what I meant. You seem to think I'm the right person to oversee this whole project."

"Of course you are. That's why we arranged for you to be assigned to it." The agent nodded, then gestured to himself. "My being here is the next step."

Tw'eak straightened out, still leaning on one elbow, her antennae angled outwards. "You arranged-?"

"Is it not obvious? The Federation needs this project to succeed. Its survival is jeopardized if it does not. " The agent stood up. "If you knew how many lives we'll save, I think you'd feel a lot better about being here - and you'd be willing to bend the rules and work with us in order to make this project a reality. In time you'll come to agree with me. Or else we'll all have something to cry about." He walked out the doorway of Tw'eak's bedroom, into the adjacent sitting area, and as he left, he said, "I look forward to working with you."

Tw'eak remained as she was for a moment. The faint sensation her antennae had detected before had faded, and as she crossed into the next room, which was empty, she realized he had just walked away into nothingness. "Neat trick," she said, then went back to bed and considered her next move carefully.

"Unbelievable," Octavia said. Tw'eak had just finished reviewing her discussion with the agent from Section 31 with her and T'uni the next morning.

"I agree," T'uni added. "Perhaps this is a symptom of combat fatigue or a variety of-"

"Combat fatigue? Are you serious?"

"In order to avoid the suspicion that you are somehow avoiding combat duty, you are embellishing the significance of this project-"

"Oh, come on!"

"-by utilizing myths and theoretical conspiracy organizations in order to enhance its intrinsic value, and thus repress your very characteristic need to... 'lead from the front', shall we say?"

"But this project is important. Admiral Quinn said so himself!"

"It would be illogical for him to post us to any assignment without offering an appeal to emotion, both as motivation and as a means of identifying our ambitions with the assignment's."

Octavia jumped in. "She's right. He wouldn't tell us 'this is a pointless task so do your best', would he? It would destroy consensus and-"

"But I'm telling you, there was a guy, here, from Section 31, telling me that this project IS that important! I can accept, admittedly, that I'm asking you for a lot here, but you've got to believe me."

"I do not doubt that you believe what you are telling us," T'uni responded.

"That's not exactly a vote of confidence, is it?"

"Rest assured, I am attempting to consider what you have said as factually true."

"But it is true, T'uni! Look, scan the compartment. Get a tricorder and scan it. I detected some form of electromagnetic resonance while he was here, a sort of energy field. Surely there must be some trace of it which a tricoder can detect!"

Octavia looked around the room. "I can if you would like, but if what you're saying is true, and accepting it's not logical... chances are the traces have either broken down or are undetectable by Federation equipment."

"It would be illogical for Starfleet to design equipment with a specific 'blind spot' towards certain frequencies and emissions."

"Accept that it's not logical. Or that it's not a design flaw, it's a limitation that they're exploiting."

"It would therefore follow that our adversaries would exploit this same limitation to its logical use."

"Unless they don't know it's there either," Tw'eak mused.

Octavia shook her head. "I don't think so. I think it's more likely that the technology he used to come and go is simply beyond anything we could understand." She took a step into the bedroom, then stepped quickly back out. "I'm sorry, Admiral, I was trying to use my Borg implants. No disrespect was intended."

"It's fine. Do you have anything?"

"There is a resonant tachyon signature, but it's extremely faint. In essence, it's as though I can tell you where he was sitting." She pointed to a chair. "And where he left the premises." She walked over to a space just on the other side of the room divider, and held her arms out roughly a metre apart, palms towards each other. She then looked over her shoulder at Tw'eak.

"So that confirms it, then."

"I am uncertain that the evidence will be sufficient." T'uni looked at Tw'eak. "Even were it sufficient, I highly doubt that anyone in the command structure of this particular project would look kindly upon the intervention of Section 31."

"But they're not offering to intervene. They want to help."

"I don't think their help is going to be worth the trouble, Admiral. Even if we assume that they do want this project to succeed, why would they not have intervened earlier, when there were spies?"

"They didn't know about the spies. Maybe your work changed the timeline, T'uni. We'll never know."

"I highly doubt that my involvement in intelligence-gathering was responsible for a temporal event."

"I don't want to get into that - but from what I know of Section 31, they aren't a time-traveling agency. The remarks this agent made to me are consistent with that - he didn't say anything about going forward in time on a regular basis. They had someone who did, but it wasn't their choice to send them. It would make sense, admit it, that if someone presented them with this evidence, they would want to act upon it."

"And by using this information to modify the present," Octavia continued, "they safeguard the Federation from that future."

"Working in the past to prevent a darker tomorrow." Tw'eak nodded. "Sounds a lot like Section 31."

"But would that mean the support they're offering would be in the present as well?"

"They may have access to technology and other resources we don't, but honestly? Do we dare accept it from them?"

T'uni seemed surprisingly flustered, for a Vulcan. "It would be incumbent upon anyone who has contact with rogue agencies such as Section 31 to report their involvement immediately to Starfleet Security in order to avoid suspicion of collusion with such agencies."

"You're right," Tw'eak admitted, raising a hand. "But based on what I've heard of Hawkins, he's as newly-minted in this admiral's uniform as I am. They said they wanted me on this project for some reason, but this is the first contact I've ever had with them."

"Maybe they've been in touch with Hawkins too," Octavia suggested.

"Maybe. I don't know why they would, though. He's just providing security, he's not actually involved in the program."

"That we know of."

"There is another alternative," T'uni offered. "I had the opportunity to review several of the lists of those involved in the Orion spy ring. Only on rare occasions were members of that group in high ranks - typically in places like this one, where isolation and distance from the Federation made higher rank favourable to their operations. More often than not, the infiltrators were of relatively low rank, frequently marked out for advancement."

"You're saying Section 31 might be playing the same game?"

"It would follow that their involvement with you stems from a lack of adequate response from their operative in the lower ranks."

"Or they're using that lower-ranked operative to monitor you," Octavia suggested. "But how do we know who they are?"

"We don't. That's the hard part. We don't know if these people are friend or foe, we don't know who's working with them, and unlike with that spy ring, we can't act against them. They'll probably know what we intend before we act upon it anyway, so there's little point in going against them just because of what we think they represent." Tw'eak took a breath. "I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt. If they work with us, and if they follow my lead instead of taking initiative on their own, they could be an asset."

Octavia nodded, but T'uni merely looked at Tw'eak skeptically.

"You're about to remind me how many times I just said 'if', aren't you."

"Quite. I cannot understand why you are so hesitant to discuss the matter with Rear Admiral Hawkins."

"I get the sense he's in over his head."

"He is a capable officer, as you are. He will proceed as all officers do - he will do his best within the regulations."

"And where those get in the way, there's always Section 31."

T'uni arched an eyebrow. "Regardless, it is our intention to remain within the regulations. As such, Admiral Hawkins needs to be informed."

"If I go into his office and start into my story, with nothing more than the word of one of my officers, even if it is you, Octavia, to back me up... who's to say he'll take me any more at my word than you both did?"

A brief silent moment followed as the three officers considered. "Perhaps you need to take another strategy," Octavia said after a moment.

The station security office was a small, confined series of rooms linking the brig to the main corridor outside. A shielding perimeter was in place which inhibited transporter activity and a series of consoles regulated that inhibitor, along with the function of various brig services such as food replication and perimeter force field activity. On the opposite side of this room, along one wall, were a pair of desks, each strewn with padds. The other wall housed a small armory of phaser rifles and hand phasers. At the far desk sat Rear Admiral Neil Hawkins, working away on a report for Starfleet Security, cross-referencing from a handheld padd on occasion. He rubbed the short hairs of his bearded chin and watched as the door opened to admit Tw'eak, and suppressed a sigh at yet another interruption.

Tw'eak neither simply strolled in nor walked with purpose as she entered. Her visit, after all, was a friendly one, a mere point of courtesy towards a fellow admiral. She knew he would regard her presence with suspicion. It was sort of an expectation of working in security that he would be suspicious, after all, but she was well-attuned to leading questions and interrogative approaches. After all, she had a ship's counselor who could turn an Orion against her own best interests. But while every room on the station felt a little too mild, and humid, for an Andorian, she could feel the tension in the small office as though it were a stifling heat wave. Hawkins appeared intensely busy.

"Hello," Tw'eak said as she approached. "Looks like a bad time."

"Admiral," Hawkins acknowledged, barely looking up. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Just came by to see how your operation works, see how things are going." She smiled, lowering her eyes slightly. "It's not often I get to talk on the same level with someone I serve alongside. I hope you don't mind the intrusion."

"Not at all. I know just what you mean." Hawkins put down his padd. "Until I came on duty here everyone was either above me or below me. A project like this, with so many people at fairly equal rank working on the same thing, and it was nice for once to be able to be social without worrying about who's in what table of organization."

"I know what you mean. One of the things I really miss about serving as a lieutenant or a lieutenant commander, especially on big Sovereign class ships like the ones I spent most of my career on, was that there were so many people - different species, different careers, different lives - and you could socialize. Not so being the captain."

"Security works the same way. Officially you're not supposed to be on good terms with anyone." Hawkins shook his head. "The way things have gone, I wish I hadn't been." He smiled falsely and said, "I suppose I have you to thank for that."

"Indirectly. My ship's counselor, to be precise." Tw'eak smiled, sensing an opening. "I suppose that's the reason why they brought me in on this project, since one of my crew found it out."

Hawkins' smile disappeared. "And made me look like a complete fool. My commanding officer, the man I knew as Admiral Brandt, an Orion. And here it is my job to protect Starfleet against that kind of thing."

"Was that the reason for the welcoming party we got?"

"You could say that, yeah."

"Y'know," Tw'eak lied, "I was informed, as part of all this, when the news broke, that the infiltration had taken place all over Starfleet, at some pretty high level security institutions - penal institutions, research institutions, even Starfleet Command. The Orions had people everywhere. And nobody picked up on it, not even the telepaths." It wasn't strictly true - the locations were picked from her memory at random as places with high security, although the rest was pretty much accurate.

"But what we're doing here is my responsibility. And I should've done a better job."

"Why? Who would you have reported it to, exactly?"

"I read about you, y'know. In your personnel file. It's standard procedure. But you were promoted to command after it turned out your captain on the - what ship was it, Renown? Reliant?"

"Repulse," Tw'eak corrected.

"Repulse. Right. But you knew. How did you tell?"

"It was a number of things. But my commanding officer was replaced by an Undine that killed him. There was a before-and-after involved. I could tell he was acting differently, was more aggressive, took more risks, wasn't as available to talk. Plus, I had a couple of other ways of knowing something was different." Tw'eak pointed up towards her antennae. "But if I hadn't served alongside him in combat, hadn't gotten used to sensing his particular location in the thick of a fight and knowing where he was when I opened fire, that sort of thing... I had a huge advantage in having served as his first officer for so long." She extended a hand loosely towards the ceiling. "And, well... I was lucky."

"Lucky?" Hawkins snorted. "I didn't think Andorians believed in luck."

"We do, and we don't. We prefer to think of it as having the favour of the Infinite. I certainly have, on my share of occasions. Mostly the ones where I didn't come back dead."

Hawkins nodded. "You've had some close calls. I had to tell my guy to take your blood from the left arm, for example."

"How much did you read? Let me see what's in that security file."

"Sure." Hawkins picked up a loose padd, activated it, and pulled up the file. He handed it to Tw'eak. "Most of what's in there is straight out of the Starfleet archive. There's a few notes about personality and known acquaintances, but not much else."

Tw'eak looked up. "Are my eyes really blue?"

"You're welcome to amend anything that seems to be out of order. But... I suppose you've got every right to be in charge."

"I'm not. Currie's the head of this whole project, which makes sense. He's an engineer." Tw'eak sensed another opening. "And better for it. I really don't know why they promoted me."

"You can't be serious. You're supposed to receive the Pike Medal in a month or so. You're the only living person I've ever met who can say that. If anyone deserves a promotion, it's you."

"What about you?"

Hawkins looked at Tw'eak, frustrated. "What about me," he repeated. "What about me? I feel like I borrowed my father's jacket and... and I'm playing pretend."

"Was your father an admiral?"

"No, he wasn't, it's just a figure of speech. I'm a poor candidate for this rank. I mean, I've never held a command."

"Not all admirals do. There are admirals in the sciences, for example, whose rank is a Starfleet necessity that they rarely use."

"I guess I just... I've only served on two starships, and on both my job was to keep them safe. I never even saw the bridge most of the time. I think I went up there twice - once to escort a diplomat and once to bid farewell to the captain when I transferred out."

"You're upset because you never held a command before?"

"I'm not upset," Hawkins denied. "I'm just... I don't know why they need me here when they have you and your officers present. You and your people have accomplished so much more than I have."

"None of my officers are security. One was, at one point, but she's confined to a grav-chair for the next little while." Tw'eak smiled. "It's better, really, that they have someone who has more experience securing stationary assets rather than starships in this position. Especially someone who's served on Utopia Planitia and at Deep Space Nine. This place must seem so quiet, by comparison."

Hawkins looked up, surprised. "You looked up my file?"

"Well," Tw'eak quipped, "most of what's in there is straight out of the Starfleet archive..." She smiled at Hawkins. "Besides which, I have a vested interest, as you do, in getting to know the officers I'll be serving with for the duration of my time here. And fortunately for you, I'm not an Orion posing as an Andorian, so I won't use that intel against you."

"Okay, then," Hawkins said, returning her smile.

"And you can relax a bit. Starfleet didn't put me here as a threat to your position or anything like that." She leaned in slightly. "I'm here because Section 31 wants me to be."

Hawkins burst into laughter. "Oh, you're- you can't be-"

Tw'eak grinned wryly. "Well, they wanted the best, right?"

"That's- my God, that's funny!" Hawkins continued to laugh. Tw'eak took that as a fairly clear sign. "Section 31. Seriously. Wow. Okay, then." Hawkins straightened up the padds on the desk after his knee struck the side of it as he laughed. "You're- I never met an Andorian with such a sense of humour before."

"Well, it gets me places, what can I say." Tw'eak let her smirk persist for a minute. "But don't let it get to you. You're a good officer, and Starfleet's depending on you. When this ship's ready for production, the Federation will be depending upon them, and their crews - but that'll never happen without you, Hawkins."

"Well, or you for that matter."

"I can do what I need to do inside because you're standing the post, watching outside. Don't forget that, okay?"

"Okay. I just... I've never admitted it to anyone but I feel everyone on this station knows I screwed up, knows I missed the chance to ...God, I don't even know what damage they've done to this project." Hawkins bowed his shoulders and shook his head. "I guess I've just been overcompensating lately."

"People see that. They don't see it as your fault. When things went wrong, every time I was in command, when I lost people or when we failed to protect someone, or whatever... the result was always the same. Nobody blamed me - at least, nobody could have blamed me as much as I blamed myself. But all of them looked to me, not with fear of my reproaching them... but for hope of a second chance, next time."

Hawkins looked up. "This is my second chance, is what you're saying?"

"Not quite. You get the chances you get. Some of them you do well with, others... well. It's not enough to be good, to be talented, to be capable, efficient. You also have to see your chances, take them as they come, and hope the Infinite favours you."

"I like that. I gotta tell you, I feel a lot better having you around."

Tw'eak smiled. "If you want, I can talk to T'uni. I know she's not officially in a counselor's role, but I could always see if she would be willing."

"No thanks. We've got a station counselor, I'm okay. It's just a lot to handle, all this responsibility." Hawkins waved a hand over so many padds on his desk. "God."

"If there's one thing you learn on a starship, other than everyone else's job around you, it's that there's always too much responsibility for any one person, of any species, to handle effectively. That's why we depend upon each other, and encourage others to depend upon us."

"That's what this is, then."

Tw'eak considered it for a moment. "Maybe. I really did want to see how your operation works. There might be some aspect of it where I can be of assistance."

"All right. I'm sorry it's a bit of a mess down here. Admiral Stannen at Starfleet Security is a bit... typically Vulcan about the level of detail he expects in reports. I've been trying to get this done for a week."

"That explains everything. Remind me to tell you a few stories about serving under Admiral T'Nae, sometime."

"Well, might as well start at the outer perimeter. We have a series of listening posts and relays throughout the Breshar system, which I'm hoping someone told you you're in. Yes? No."

Tw'eak looked away, smiling enigmatically. "I figured it was."

"Oh." Hawkins looked flustered. "Um..."

"I'll report you to security for that." She looked Hawkins in the eye. "Go on."

"Uh... right. The probes. They're in roughly a spherical pattern. They can detect anything uncloaked moving into or out of the system. If we pick up any unexpected traffic..."

As Hawkins worked through his briefing, explaining the finer details of the systems and scheduling, Tw'eak listened attentively, offered a few suggestions, and made more small talk with Hawkins. She gleaned new insight into both the situation around and aboard the station, and gained an appreciation for the work Hawkins did, encouraging him as best she could and helping him regain confidence in his own approach to the job. She had lost count of the number of times using someone else as a second set of antennae had helped her in her career, and for Hawkins, she hoped she would be able to provide exactly that in the time ahead. By the time Hawkins talked her through the details of the station's design, she had completely forgotten the reason she had initially come to see him, and was instead simply glad to be in conversation with an officer of ambition and mindset, towards project and career alike, so similar to her own.


	3. Chapter 3

Tw'eak returned to her quarters to find Aurora standing at her door, an oversize padd in hand. "Admiral - I need to talk to you," she said as soon as she saw Tw'eak.

"All right. Come on inside."

The two stepped through the doorway. Aurora did not wait for the door to close before she began to speak. She was clearly agitated.

"There's a couple things - about the ship - I was looking through the designs and none of it makes sense -"

"Okay, one thing at a time. Stop if I look confused."

"They've got EPS conduits running in both directions in the same junctions! In at least six locations that I could find! And the interior corridor design on deck eighteen runs right alongside the main plasma manifold. There's no way it should be that close - that deck will be hot enough to make a Vulcan sweat." She pointed to the overlay of the ship's schematic on the design. "And there aren't any facilities for... you know... sanitary purposes."

"Really."

"Well, that's not really as big a deal as some of this other stuff. The main computer core is apparently being installed upside down, the design specs for the RCS assemblies are not going to be in enough places to actually steer the ship, there's a space to install a cloaking device for some reason... there's some things labeled on here that I don't even know what they are. 'Tachyokinetic converter'? I've never heard of such a thing."

Tw'eak smiled. "So what does work?"

"The warp engines are fine, and the deflector assembly is more advanced than anything I've ever seen. I've been talking to Woolwich and Tredegar, they built the engine and its systems first, designed the whole ship around it. Everything in those two areas is fine, which is good, because those are the two most important systems onboard, deflectors and engines. And since they haven't had a chance to analyze the rest of the ship, so that's what I've been doing. I don't know if it's the work of Orion spies or what, but it's been more than I expected. I mean, look at this. Why any ship needs twenty-seven holodecks is beyond me, but I think someone was pranking me with that since they're right where the cargo bays should go."

"Well, that's an easy fix. Cut it down to two, maybe even just the one. That much energy and space for replication is unnecessary."

"Energy? There's lots of energy. It's just..." Aurora shook her head. "I'm going to totally revamp the impulse manifold design. It'll increase their size considerably, and the exhaust ports as well, but I think it'll be worth it. The reactor setup is good, lots of power there, but the manifolds... They're just not strong enough for a ship like this." Aurora looked over the design, picking out another peeve. "And then there's the bridge module. It sticks out like it's in a tower."

"We don't want that. Learned that the hard way."

"And the bridge doesn't even stick out that far on the Bonaventure."

"Is there a way to reinforce the shield distribution grid so that the bridge and other sensitive areas are shielded more effectively?"

"Yeah. Plus they have ablative armour built into a shell of monotanium, sort of like... like an old bathtub? You know what a bathtub is, ma'am?"

"I've seen a couple in my time, yeah."

"Same idea, just upside down." Aurora cupped a hand and laid it over the other, which was closed in a fist. "Like that."

"Extra protection?"

"Specifically against kinetic impact."

"Good. Certain adversaries like to target bridges, that'll help."

"The whole saucer is better built for combat than any I've seen. The whole hull will be, really. There's a sort of ablative generator unlike anything I've ever seen before. I heard that the starship Voyager came back from the Delta Quadrant with something like this, but I've never seen one in action. It'll only partially protect the ship, it's not a full concealment, but it'll keep the windows, the warp grilles, the really sensitive parts all safe. They even have some that pops up on the deflector dish."

Tw'eak nodded. "Does it work, though?"

"We don't know, we aren't in a position to test fire on it yet."

"I mean, does the ship have enough power to use it in combat scenarios?"

"Right now, based on these designs? I'm going to have to completely re-draw the EPS junction routing and probably most of the LCARS access, too."

"How long will that take you?"

"The initial design phase? Probably a couple hours. Then simulations and testing, another couple days. It's actually getting over there and laying the conduits, getting in the Jefferies tubes and doing it, or re-doing it, depending on what's been done already... it's going to be a lot of work."

"Time?"

"I'll have the whole thing complete in, say, a week?"

"What about the impulse engines?"

"That'll take longer, and I'll need some help. Tredegar said he'd talk to Currie about getting the re-design approved and moving some help over from the other tasks. Right now we're lucky that we haven't laid the EPS, actually, since it'll be easier to change the impulse manifolds now before I tie EPS into those systems to draw power and actually run the ship."

Tw'eak raised a finger in concern. "Moving help from the other tasks... what does that mean?"

"Means every other engineering task, like wiring in the shield distribution nodes or getting the transporter pads, science and medical, that sort of thing done... it'll all take longer."

"Including laying EPS?"

Aurora looked up sheepishly. "...yeah." She suddenly became much more active in her response. "But don't worry! I can do this all myself! I'll work around the clock if I have to!"

"Just be careful. Starfleet hasn't given us a timeline, they're waiting for my initial report, which I'm most of the way done with, before they finalize our timelines. I still wouldn't expect them to give us unlimited time. A couple of months, tops, and they'll expect first-flight and trial runs."

"Wow. And we've only just got the basic spaceframe together around the warp engines." Aurora's eyes went wide. "And they'll be using our finalized designs to start full-scale production across the Federation!" The pressure seemed to be getting to Aurora, Tw'eak noted. This was her first major starship project, and even though there were plenty of experienced hands at starship design and production among the staff, her consultancy role was clearly something she took very seriously.

"Just do what you can, and don't overdo it."

"But you just know there'll be delays and complications and-"

"Aurora." Tw'eak took her young engineer's shoulder in her hand gently and smiled at her. "Do what you can. It'll be enough time."

"All right, ma'am. If you're sure." Tw'eak nodded, and Aurora moved towards the door.

Tw'eak had spoken from hope rather than reality, but it was true. A couple of months on a station would be a welcome change for her career, but she didn't see herself being out of action for much longer than that. When the time came, she could see herself commanding one of these battle cruisers, maybe a squadron of them as an admiral. Still, she would do her utmost to be sure that every officer employed by Starfleet in making this design a real, working, fighting starship would work as hard as Aurora duBois in their particular areas of expertise, and that the Avenger prototype would be ready ahead of schedule.

The medical ward on the station was about the size of a typical sickbay, although not nearly as busy. Tw'eak, clad in short-sleeved workout gear, completed another round of conditioning exercises under Doc's watchful eye. She felt the effects of not having kept up with her usual exercise routine, a shortness of breath and a considerable increase in her heart rate. As she sank down into a chair next to Doc in an examination room, she felt her muscles urging her to keep going, the endorphins from the exercise making her feel a fulfillment she had rarely experienced recently.

"Well, you certainly seem to have healed nicely," Doc offered. "You're still in excellent shape, by Andorian standards. Everything's bending and working as normal, except for your left elbow." Doc examined the arm and bent it back and forth a few times. "Your pronate response isn't as smooth as it should be. Does this hurt?" She turned Tw'eak's arm hard away from her body, bracing Tw'eak's forearm against her body.

Tw'eak felt a surging, sudden pain, and heard a 'pop'. "Yes!" she exclaimed.

"No surprise there. At some point while you were stretching and extending, you slightly distended your elbow. You'll need to be careful with that. The tendons will heal with time, but you're light duty exercise only for the time being, none of this combat drill nonsense I know you love."

"Aw, c'mon," Tw'eak protested, throwing a white towel with a Starfleet logo embossed into it around her shoulders, wiping her brow.

"I'm serious. Even overextending yourself reaching for a padd might be enough. Just be careful for a couple days."

"Lucky for you, I don't have anything exciting to do."

"Lucky for me indeed." She looked over her shoulder. "This infirmary is so quiet I was thinking of converting it to use as a church."

"You must appreciate that."

"It's a welcome change, not having so many customers to look after." Doc looked to Tw'eak. "I'm sure you'll find a way to get these beds filled for me before long."

"Nah, this is a quiet assignment. Aside from the occasional work injury I'm not going to be ordering anyone into harm's way for a while yet."

"It's so strange. A month ago, with my sickbay full of wounded, I would've given anything for a room like this, even just for a few minutes. I mean, this is what we strive towards, right?" She shook her head. "And yet, now that I've had a few days of this... I could really use something to do."

"What about the medical facilities on the new ship?"

"They're great. Bigger than this room, with more ward space if I need it. No more using guest quarters or cargo bays as ward space. And I really like how the medical labs adjoin the science labs. It'll be helpful if we ever get a chance to use the ship for exploration purposes. Which doesn't seem likely."

"Sooner or later... someday, this war's going to end."

"Somehow I don't get the sense you're building this ship for peace."

Tw'eak sighed, and looked down. "Can I let you in on a little secret?"

"Well, sure. File it under doctor-patient, if you want."

"The other night... Octavia can confirm this, she observed traces of the activity that made it possible, but... I had a visit from Section 31."

"Well, is that a fact." Doc crossed her arms. "Not sure if I should be furious or envious."

"Me either. But what he told me... I can scarcely believe it."

"That's probably for the best. A complete rogue's gallery, if you ask me."

"They said that a... freelance temporal agent brought the plans for this starship back, from a future where the Federation designed it too late for it to save them from a final war."

"Well, that would explain a few things about the science lab." She glared at Tw'eak. "Did Aurora tell you about the sensors?"

"She told me about a lot of things, but I don't remember the sensors."

"Oh. The sensor pallets and detection grids that are included in the plans I saw - they link into the science labs, of course, and Zed pointed out to me that they're for a design that appears to be a generation later than current design."

"So that confirms it, too. Aurora told me about apparent design flaws that, upon closer examination, also link to systems that haven't been invented yet. So that corroborates what Section 31 wanted me to know."

"I don't know if that's reassuring."

"Me either."

"Have you talked to the head of station security about this?"

"Just before I came down here to see you." Tw'eak ran a hand through the hair on the side of her head, and droplets of sweat glistened in the air. "He doesn't know anything about any Section 31 operation. But that's the weird thing. They didn't tell me that in order to impress upon me the importance of this design, or anything like that. He told me that they'd seen to it that I was put in charge of this project, and that if I needed any help, they'd look after us."

"Well, there's help nobody wants."

"I'm not so sure." Tw'eak rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "They want us to succeed. We want us to succeed. A mutual goal, so to speak."

"Yeah, but at what price? I'd hate to rely upon them for anything. There's so much we don't know about how they operate."

"That's true, but... I don't know." She leaned back in the chair. "I hadn't counted upon them being a factor in this."

"Did they tell you why they put you in charge?"

"Of course not."

Doc looked away, pensive. After a moment, she looked at Tw'eak and said, slowly, "These people are evil. They say they want to keep the Federation safe, but for who? For more of their kind?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I, but be careful. Where those shadows fall, you can be sure other darkness lurks."

Tw'eak straightened up in her chair, her antennae spreading wide. "I've never heard you talk like this. What do you know about them?"

Doc looked away, busying herself re-setting a hypospray. "I'd rather not get into it. Let's just say ...I know what I'm talking about."

Tw'eak nodded. "All right. I can accept that." She stood up, wiped her neck with the towel, and bent her elbow back and forth. "If you can sign off and finalize the medical section plans..."

"It'll be on your desk by seventeen hundred."

"Seventeen- what time is it now?"

"Fifteen-thirty or so."

"I haven't had any lunch yet."

Doc smiled as she stood. "Now there's a hell of a thing to admit to your doctor."

Tw'eak looked at her. "I'll be careful with... y'know, them."

"I know you will. I'm glad they talked to you. You're probably one of few people they'd accept a 'no' from in this universe."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes involuntarily at Doc. "I'm not going to ask how you know that."

"Smart enough to know better, aren't you," Doc replied, patting her on the shoulder.

A small bowl of replicated soup, a replicated sandwich of some variety of fish, and a large cup of replicated katheka. It wasn't much of a lunch, but as Tw'eak carried the tray it had been replicated upon to an empty seat in the replimat, she realized it was the best of what was on offer.

The door opened and O'Leary stepped into the room. He waved to his commanding officer as he entered, and Tw'eak waved back. As he approached, she said, "Well, it's not exactly your mom's place, is it?"

"Would you mind if I joined you?" he asked.

"Not at all."

O'Leary crossed to a replicator, pressed in an order, and carried a tray back to the table. "There's just something about ordering Lunch 2C-Beta that doesn't have the same appeal to it, ma'am."

"You're telling me." The two of them ate silently for a few moments, looking around the room. There was evidence - chairs half-pulled out, the occasional utensil or glass left behind - of the lunch-time rush, but aside from a Benzite engineering lieutenant at the far end, and a pair of Vulcans sitting together quietly a few tables over, nobody else was in the replimat.

Tw'eak looked over at O'Leary. "What have you been up to? In the simulator, no doubt."

"Yeah, lovin' it. We just had to suspend operations, something about an impulse manifold modification. They'll have it working again in a couple hours. I've been trying to really push the simulator, working with and without RCS, at full impulse, warp speeds... trying to get a good feel for the sorts of forces she'll be under in combat. I've never been a test pilot before. It's mostly guess-and-test, a lot of documentation and logging... like being an actual helmsman with less straight-line flying and standard orbits."

"You're testing those, too, of course."

"Yeah, those were the easy ones. It's been a lot of fun, actually. Commander McQueen has been helping me with the combat nav sims."

"Yeah, she told me she'd be testing various weapons layouts... didn't know she meant in the same simulator as you."

"Not at first. I suggested we work together on some of the more complex variables, like fighting in an asteroid belt or high-atmo combat. She loved the idea. All we do is program in what profile of weapons we'd like - we've taken to calling them after starships that they're most similar to... Sovereign, Defiant and Cheyenne. Phaser beams and torps, heavy phaser cannons, and standard phaser cannons and torpedoes. We've had some interesting results. Each definitely has its own particular strength."

"That's why we have so many different potential layouts. Once we finalize a weapons layout we'll be able to figure out the power draws for each and whether they're viable."

"That's part of the reason we're testing them like this - we're using a simulated operations officer, and his or her performance is averaged from Starfleet efficiency ratings so that even if we don't have an Octavia alongside me, the ship will hopefully still perform as well."

"Good. Same with shield distribution and sensors."

"Yeah, they're all just-above-average. Commander McQueen agreed that we wouldn't likely have anyone at those positions unless they were very capable officers."

"Well, not initially. That'll be true of the first few ships but I would make a point of testing with just-below-average officer simulations as well, see what kind of a difference it makes."

O'Leary took to munching on a sandwich, and having a sip from his coffee. He swallowed hard, and said, "You weren't kidding about the food."

"Sorry." Tw'eak finished her sandwich and picked up a spoon for her soup. "I'll have to stretch my supply of katheka a little more thinly to make sure I have enough for the time we're here. This simulated stuff is nowhere near as good."

"I can imagine. If it's anything like this coffee, I mean."

"Oh, it's close. But that's the problem. Even if it was ninety-nine percent similar, I still think I'd be able to taste a difference."

Tw'eak's commbadge made its distinctive sound. "Sh'abbas here."

"Admiral, this is Hawkins."

"Yes?"

"Could you report to my office, please?"

Tw'eak looked at O'Leary quizzically. She had not reported anywhere in years. People had reported to her. "Is everything all right?" she asked.

"We've got a bit of a problem. I could use your help."

"On my way." She stood up. "Thanks for lunch."

"Don't worry, Mom taught me how to clean up. I can get these put away."

"Thanks."

Tw'eak stepped into the security office and saw a huddle of officers, all in the red uniform that showed they were part of Hawkins' force. Hawkins himself stood with his back to Tw'eak as she walked in, causing a number of the officers present to become silent and stare at her as though she had just revealed herself to be an Undine.

Hawkins turned to see her. "Good. Admiral, I'm glad you're here."

"What's wrong?"

"Our... well, it appears that someone has killed Commander Britton."

"Someone? You don't have any information?"

"We have her body," one of the officers present suggested.

"That's all so far," Hawkins added. "We've sealed the area and we'll be looking into it."

Tw'eak was confused. "So why did you call me?"

"I thought you'd like to be informed of the investigation."

"Thank you, but I don't think I can offer you any real help. I've never been involved in a murder investigation."

"She doesn't know," someone muttered.

"I'm sorry?" Tw'eak asked.

Hawkins gave one of his people a dirty look. "Commander Britton was the site supervisor under my command." Hawkins looked to Tw'eak. "She was overseeing the security of the prototype and the station shipyard. I'm asking for your help because, if you decline or refuse, I'll have to contact Starfleet Security and ask them to bring in someone else to support my investigation."

"I don't understand why, though."

"Starfleet regulations. The short version: when one of our own gets killed, we need an additional officer to oversee our investigation. Starfleet believes that, because we all knew Britton, we'll break our own rules to find her killer."

"That's not really... wait. An additional officer? Any officer?"

"Ideally one of sufficient rank that they can intervene if they feel it necessary."

"Can I name one of my own choosing?"

"As an alternate? If you wish. I thought maybe you'd want to be involved yourself."

"I have enough to worry about. This complicates things." Tw'eak stepped away from the huddle of security officers and put her hand to a commbadge. She knew just who to rely upon for help with this matter.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: I mistakenly uploaded chapter four of my previous story, Bonaventure, to this chapter - the content is now replaced and corrected. Thanks to **tremor3258** for advising me of my error!

* * *

The security station had a small adjacent room with a table, three chairs a holo-display table, and a working force field generator that sealed the door at a signal. It sat well within the boundaries of the transporter inhibitor, and it was very close quarters indeed. Tw'eak estimated that the entire space consisted of no more than twenty-five square metres of space, most of which was presided over by the table. She herself was not within the room, but sat next to Hawkins at his desk in the office, watching as T'uni and a security officer named Lieutenant Commander Bram Fontein escorted one suspect after another in and out of the room. These interrogations were standard procedure, and each of the service personnel who were onboard the hull of the prototype at the time Commander Britton was murdered sat in a separate holding cell.

"Your name and rank, please," T'uni asked the second suspect to enter. The first, Technician Melchor Villanueva, had been working to align the life support vents, and all of his statements had been corroborated by the evidence. Free to go, he walked past the office on his way back to his quarters. Hawkins gave him a quick nod, rising, as he left.

"Specialist Daniel Bloomer," the second suspect announced.

"And your position?" Fontein asked.

"Life support specialist assigned to the prototype."

"Please state for the record your location and activity between 1900 and 2300 between stardate 99139.6 and 99139.8," T'uni inquired.

"I was at my station on the prototype."

"Which is?" Fontein sought to know.

"I'm the life support specialist. I was in life support. We've been having problems routing the air ducts through all the decks - the changes to the EPS system we keep receiving means that our previously-laid runs have to be rerouted. Mel and I were working-"

"Technician Villanueva."

"That's right. We were working on pathing through Deck 5. He went out to see where things were. I stayed at life support control on Deck 4 to see what was going on."

"No reason to go to Deck 2, then?"

"No, sir."

Fontein got up from his chair. "You've been in Starfleet how long?"

"Six years, I think?"

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-five, sir. Earth years, that is. Back home, years are a bit longer."

"Where are you from?"

"The specialist was raised on Bajor," T'uni replied to Fontein's question, anticipating Bloomer's response.

"That's right. My parents were stationed on Deep Space Nine just after the war. Grew up on stations."

"So it'd be easy for you to find your way around, then," Fontein suggested.

"It's what I used to do for fun. My dad suggested I make a career out of it, work in the tubes, like he did."

"He was an engineer?"

"No, technician. He worked on a lot of different stations. Said DS-Nine was the hardest one, even after all the work they did to replace systems with Federation parts." Bloomer smiled. "Was also his favourite to talk about."

"And you said yourself you went 'in the tubes', as you called it, 'for fun'?"

"Yeah. Not so much anymore now that I'm rated a specialist. I've got guys like Mel to do it for me."

T'uni shook her head.

"How well do you get on with Technician Villanueva?" Fontein asked.

"We're all right. We used to work together on K7, when I was a Senior Technician and he was just new."

"So he trusts you?"

"I don't know why-"

Fontein interrupted. "Would he be willing to kill for you?"

T'uni looked up sharply at Fontein. "I do not see the relevance of this question."

"Well?" Fontein's voice became louder, more agitated. "You said yourself you can get through these tubes no problem, like, so maybe the two of you set out to do this together. Is that it?"

"Commander-"

"What if I told you there is no record of you being in life support on the night in question-"

"Commander!" T'uni stood up. "That will suffice." She turned to a visibly astonished Bloomer. "There is no such evidence. It would appear that the lieutenant commander was attempting a variety of interrogation tactic which would be inappropriate for this investigation. We will be in contact should you be required for further... and fully appropriate questioning in the near future." She sat back down. "Thank you for your time."

Bloomer got up to leave. Fontein, for his part, sat back in his chair, brooding like a predator over a possible meal that had gotten away.

"That's not in the playbook," Hawkins said to Tw'eak. "For the record."

"What the hell was he thinking?"

"Fontein's had a bit of an edge the past few weeks. Found out his wife's divorcing him or something, according to scuttlebutt. I didn't know he was married. But anyway, he's also the only person left on board other than me with any experience in criminal investigation."

Tw'eak stopped herself from speaking as Bloomer sped past without looking their way and exited. "But is he really the best choice?"

"I can't promise you I wouldn't do the same thing. Telsia Britton was a good friend." Hawkins blushed slightly. "We were... pretty close."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "That close?"

"On occasion. She didn't have anyone; I haven't in years... station life gets pretty boring. And since the only people you can really get close to are the ones closest to you in rank, every now and then she would spend the night. She wanted it to be more often, I think. Then I got promoted, and, well..." He looked up at Tw'eak. "You're welcome to court-martial me."

"I think I'll decline," Tw'eak said with a smirk. "To tell you the truth, I've often wished there was someone I could get that close to."

"You're Andorian, though. Don't you have a family of, like, fifty people and a bond group and all that?"

"I can't," Tw'eak started, then realized the next suspect, a Benzite in an engineering uniform, was being escorted into the interrogation room by another of the security personnel. "Look."

"Your name and rank, please."

"Ensign Mendreck, ma'am. I am an assistant to Commander duBois."

"What were you doing onboard the prototype on stardate 99139?" Fontein asked.

"I was analyzing the position of the EPS relays on Deck 2."

"You were on Deck 2 during that night?"

"I completed my task at 2037 and returned to the station with the information for Commander duBois. She was relieved to receive the information I provided."

"How so?"

"My initial analysis had suggested that the bridge would not be sufficiently powered in an emergency situation, although simulations proved otherwise. Materials analysis which I conducted through my tricorder proved that the simulations were correct, and I was in error. Commander duBois stated that I had saved her a day's work."

Tw'eak smiled. "Surprised Aurora didn't run that check herself."

"She would be in a holding cell if she had," Hawkins noted.

"You don't know Aurora duBois very well, do you?" Tw'eak laughed. It was true. With all the work she had yet to do, Aurora would probably find a way to short-circuit the holding field and get right back to work.

The interrogation of Mendreck continued. "As I previously stated, I was engaged in materials analysis."

"So you didn't see anyone on deck 2," Fontein demanded.

"No, sir."

"And you didn't hear anything?"

"If I had, sir, I would have reported it immediately, along with a full analysis of its cause."

"And you didn't see Commander Britton's body in the corridor, where we found it?"

"I was unable to do so, sir."

"You were unable to see?"

"Through the bulkheads, sir. The EPS relay is accessible from the corridor, but my materials analysis focused on the junction, which is only accessible through the work station adjacent to the turbolift."

"You were in a Jefferies tube the whole time?"

"Exactly, sir." Mendreck seemed to think for a moment. "Except for the time when I entered the deck via turbolift."

"Which turbolift did you use?"

"Port side, aft. I then moved through to the junction and commenced my analysis. Also, as my tricorder was scanning the materials it would not have detected life signs or anything beyond the adjacent bulkheads."

"Did you know Commander Britton at all?"

"I was able to recognize her. I believe I once had a brief conversation with her while she was walking through a corridor. She was ...what do you call it, when one makes a musical noise with one's voice?"

"Humming?" T'uni offered.

"Humming, yes." Mendreck nodded.

Hawkins chuckled. "She used to hum to herself all the time," he said to Tw'eak.

"Seems a little weird."

"No, no, she just loved to sing, but got reprimanded for doing it out loud once or twice when she was younger. So, she hummed instead." Hawkins shook his head. "I can't believe she's gone, really."

"You cared about her," Tw'eak suggested.

"Yeah." He looked up at Tw'eak. "We were going to have a little celebration of her life, down at the station pub later. I'd be glad if you could come."

"I'd like that. She sounds like the kind of officer I would've been proud to serve with."

"That she was... and more." Hawkins' eyes moved back to the screen, but their glassy look told Tw'eak he was no longer watching the interrogation.

"All right," she heard Fontein say to Mendreck. "Nothing further. If we have any more questions we'll contact you."

"I would be happy to answer any further inquiries you may have," Mendreck replied.

T'uni nodded, and Mendreck headed through the door, off-screen.

"It wasn't your fault," Tw'eak said softly.

"Hmm - what?" Hawkins looked at Tw'eak, startled.

"It wasn't your fault." Tw'eak inclined her head towards the screen. "Telsia, I mean."

"No? She was one of my officers. She was beautiful, she was..."

"She was security, more than capable of looking after herself."

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Do we have an established cause of death?" Tw'eak grimaced. "I'm sorry, I know she was your friend, but I was just wondering."

"Another of your engineer's people reported her body. She was asphyxiated but there were no obvious signs of physical trauma visible. It was like she had just fallen over and died, except for the look on her face..." Hawkins' face drained of colour. "Something killed her."

"I take it that she's had an autopsy."

"She will, probably any minute now. I asked for your doctor friend to lead, she's the most experienced medical officer aboard station."

Tw'eak's commbadge beeped. "Didaggo to Sh'abbas."

"Yes?"

"Admiral, I'd like you to come down to medical for a minute. Doc wants me to follow something up with you."

"Right now?"

"It won't take a minute."

Tw'eak looked at Hawkins, shook her head, and said, "On my way." She tapped her commbadge again to deactivate it. "Let me know the final score, okay?"

"We'll see you later," Hawkins replied. "Eighteen-thirty, J-deck."

"Casual, uniform, dress?"

"Oh, casual, definitely. We've got a few acts lined up, we're going to do it right, the way she'd want us to." He smiled. "Hopefully you have some appreciation for mid-twentieth-century jazz."

"Why is it always the twentieth century with humans?" Tw'eak asked with a smile.

"It's the last good one we had until the Vulcans came along," Hawkins joked. Tw'eak laughed and waved as she headed to the medical bay.

The walk to the medical bay wasn't a long one from security, and Tw'eak was in a good mood. She had appreciated Hawkins' situation - it must have been hard to lose someone he cared about, one of relatively few that he had by comparison to herself. There were undoubtedly others he'd known that he lost, but this one he felt the more keenly for who she was, and what she had meant to him.

Tw'eak considered as she walked if anyone might have the same depth of loss from her own life, and realized sadly that Va'kel Shon or some other random outing she might have enjoyed at one point in her life would pale in comparison to having someone serve alongside her with whom she had been intimate. This wasn't, of course, to imply that Tw'eak didn't have a few indiscretions to regret from among those she had served with, along with quite a few more indiscretions she regretted never having pursued. But what Neil Hawkins had shared with Telsia Britton was more than just an indiscretion - Hawkins had said himself that it could have become something more, if not for rank and duty. As ever, those two things together had come first. Perhaps if there had been time enough for them to rekindle their connection... but that had died with Britton. Without knowing her, Tw'eak felt sorry for the security commander's loss.

She entered the medical bay in a solemn state, and saw Zed in the adjacent office. "Good, you're here," he said, rising from a chair and meeting her in the doorway. "Come with me."

"What about my follow-up?"

"This is it," Zed replied. "Follow me up to the arboretum."

Tw'eak stopped. "Not until I know what this is about."

Zed turned on his heel in the doorway leading to the corridor. "C'mon, Admiral. Would I act like this for no reason?" Tw'eak stepped reluctantly after him, matching his pace all the way to the turbolift. They stepped inside. "Arboretum," he said, then added, "we can't talk yet."

"About what, Zed? Just give me a clue."

The Saurian shook his head, his golden eyes gleaming with a sort of fear. "No way, ma'am. Sorry."

The turbolift doors opened, and Zed led Tw'eak down the corridor to another, larger door, which opened onto a field laid out like a quilt of flowers, sloping downwards slightly towards a pair of rather large bay windows. The humidity washed over Tw'eak as she stepped through the door, and her lungs drew in a breath of fragrant air seasoned with the aroma of floral scent and pollen. Zed moved quickly down a garden path to a rosebed off in the distance, from which grew the most bizarre and decidedly inorganic stump of a Borg regeneration chamber. Tw'eak could see Doc and Octavia standing together at the edge of the roses. Both looked up at her as she approached.

"Here she is," Zed whispered conspiratorially. He looked around, panicked. It was at this moment that Tw'eak realized that Octavia was wearing a hand phaser at her side. She slowed her pace accordingly.

"This isn't your idea of aromatherapy, is it?" Tw'eak asked, trying to mask her growing tension.

"Admiral, we have a grave concern," Octavia said to her in hushed tones. She drew her hand phaser, leading Tw'eak to take a step backwards. But she then handed it to Zed. "Watch the door."

"Yeah," Zed said, speeding back down the path.

"I'm still waiting for-"

"The autopsy," Doc said softly, concealing her face behind her hand.

"The what?"

"For God's sake, Tw'eak, would you step closer please? Honestly, don't Andorians raise their children to keep secrets?"

Tw'eak drew herself into a triangular huddle with Octavia and Doc. "Is this better?"

"Thank you. The autopsy."

"On Commander Britton."

"Yes. She was killed psionically."

"She what?"

Doc turned to Octavia. "Getting sucked out of that hull breach damaged her hearing. It's my only explanation."

"Admiral," Octavia declared suggestively, "the doctor and I believe that the psionically-induced trauma which killed Commander Britton could only be created by a highly capable telepath."

"What kind of telepath? A Vulcan? A Betazoid?"

"Specifically, an Undine."

"An-?" Tw'eak staggered. "On this station?"

"So it would appear."

"How can you be sure?"

Doc tapped her head. "Bio-molecular traces in her brain cavity. Consistent with Undine activity. Either this Undine was trying to replace her, or she knew what it was and it wanted her out of the way."

"Regardless, it would appear that an Undine infiltrator is active onboard this station presently."

"Great." Tw'eak blew out her cheeks. "Hawkins is going to have a heart attack when he hears this."

"I don't think you should tell him," Doc advised.

"You what?"

"You really need to stop doing that."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Sorry."

"But I mean it. Let the investigation run its course."

"Without disclosing that there's a psychopathic shapeshifter onboard?"

"Hear me out. We can't trust any of them." Doc shook her head for emphasis. "But we need to check them each over, some place where they'll all be coming and going, surreptitiously, for signs of isomorphic injection or other indications of Undine replacement."

Octavia tapped her chin, thinking. "We could use your role as medical officer to suggest they all require physical checkups."

"No, that'd be too obvious. If there was some other way..."

"Scan them as they check in? Hawkins did verify our biometrics when we arrived. This may be a random spot-test."

"In the middle of an investigation we can't do anything that would stand out to that extent."

Tw'eak raised a hand, smiling. "I have a better idea. Hopefully you both have something to wear."


	5. Chapter 5

It was a busy night at the station pub. Off-duty personnel were there in numbers rarely seen, the bartenders were busily moving from replicator or back-room stocks to thirsty customers assembled at twelve tables around a small circular stage. The music that accompanied the singers, illuminated there by a pair of floating automated drone spotlights from overhead, was produced by a backing band composed entirely of holograms, and changed from one singer to the next to represent the song they'd chosen to sing. Talent ranged from on-key to terrible, some of them singing along to lyrics they read off padds or notes of their own, but it hardly mattered: the purpose was to honour their friend and fellow officer Telsia Britton.

Tw'eak entered into this milieu, wearing a black dress she had specially replicated for the occasion. Strapless, she hoped the scar along her shoulder wasn't visible, although her decision to wear her hair up had made it impossible to conceal the several scars on her neck and legs. She had considered wearing a stole, but it seemed excessive somehow, and since her dress came down to just above her knees, she didn't want to give the appearance of being too matronly, too much of an old blue lady. They had timed their entry just so, each of the officers accompanying her (except for O'Leary, for obvious reasons) carrying either a medical bag or a small purse which contained a passive scanner intended to check each of the officers' bio-signs against a reasonably older medical examination. Collecting the information would be simple enough, and Doc would then have the task of working with Octavia on the analysis. And, of course, if anything unpleasant should happen in the meantime, revealing the presence of the unexpected Undine, well... Tw'eak had a plan for that as well.

She moved towards the bar, nodding at Aurora as she passed her, who looked wonderful in a long electric-blue dress with a moderate split along one side. On the far side of the room she could catch the resonance of Octavia's Borg implants with her antennae, and she was vaguely conscious of Doc in a white pantsuit somewhere down the bar, in the company of O'Leary, who had decked himself out in a replicated-suede jacket and tie for the occasion.

"Ice water," she said to the bartender as she caught his eye. The bartender looked at her incredulously, but Tw'eak just nodded. There was no way she was taking any chances this evening. She had fought against Undine twice - first in the running firefight aboard the Repulse that had claimed thirteen lives before finally resulting in the creature emulating her captain being killed, and once when an ambassador had been exposed as an infiltrator before escaping. Tw'eak was certain she did not want to have to fight one again, but like so much else in her life, what was her choice and what was her lot rarely coincided.

From down the bar, O'Leary drifted over to her. "I'm glad you could make it," he said loudly. "Good to see you."

"Likewise," she replied. "It's been a long time since lunch yesterday."

"Don't I know it."

"Everything's in place?"

"Yeah. We're working the room now." O'Leary smiled at his admiral. "I only wish all of our adventures involved swanky jazz and getting out of uniform."

"Don't look at me. I'm not the one that's planning a wedding."

"Oh, no. Emma would never go for anything like this. She's a very... traditional woman."

"Really? What does that mean? My traditions involve four people at a wedding, remember."

"I mean that she'll want a few hundred guests, probably outdoors, with specific orders to the weather modification network that it start sprinkling rain the moment we have our first dance... that sort of thing."

"Sounds extravagant."

"You don't know the half of it." O'Leary rolled his eyes. "Thank God for replicators. If I had to pay for everything she wants, or trade for it like how Mom keeps the restaurant going, I would probably work myself to death."

"It's weird to think, you know, the old ways... working not to do the job right, but for an incentive, that you then use to trade as currency. I know the Ferengi still work like that, but it was never the Andorian way to-"

"Excuse me," she heard to her left. Turning, she saw Hawkins wearing a suit with wide lapels, a colourful tie contrasting with a white shirt underneath.

"Here we are," she said with a smile.

"Yes."

"Have you met my helmsman? Well, former helmsman, Lieutenant Denver O'Leary."

"No." He extended his hand. "A pleasure."

"As to you, sir. Once and future helmsman, shall we say."

"Indeed." Hawkins turned to Tw'eak. "Would you care to dance?"

"Not particularly. I have two right feet."

O'Leary leaned closer to Tw'eak. "Two left feet, ma'am."

"Whatever." Tw'eak looked at O'Leary. "This is quite a ...swanky party."

"Isn't it? I love this music. Telsia introduced me to it, of course. I really like it."

"No doubt." Tw'eak took a step towards Hawkins. "So how many people here knew that you and Telsia were... that close?"

"Only a select few. I took that precaution myself." Hawkins looked around. "One of them is Bram Fontein. I don't know if you had much of a chance to get to know him."

"He was working with T'uni on the interrogation?"

"That's right."

O'Leary stepped forward. "Oh, that reminds me, ma'am. T'uni asked me to let you know that she and three of the security personnel are still working down in the security office, they won't be in attendance."

"I actually have about eight people who are on duty right now," Hawkins added. "A couple of them frantically trying to switch shifts earlier, too, but I told them... their dedication to their duty is tribute enough. Telsia would've wanted it that way."

"Exactly," Tw'eak replied. She looked around the room. Octavia caught her eye and nodded at her as she walked across the seating area, taking a vacant spot at one of the tables while poking at her purse. Meanwhile, Doc walked towards the opposite door, also poking and prodding away.

"So what're you having?" Hawkins asked.

"This? Just water."

"Never off-duty, are you?"

"You could say that," Tw'eak replied with a look towards O'Leary.

"No, that's great. Tell you what, let me get the next one."

"Sure."

O'Leary leaned over. "I could use another beer myself." Tw'eak gave him a hard stare, which he only cottoned onto after a few seconds, responding with a sheepish look. "I'll go get one," he added after a beat.

"I've never seen a memorial service like this," Tw'eak said once she and Hawkins had finished applauding the most recent performer.

"I can imagine. Aren't people usually killed at Andorian funerals?"

"They don't fight to the death anymore - well... never mind that. What I mean is, usually don't humans have more sombre memorial services?"

"There'll be one of those tomorrow at oh-nine-hundred. You're welcome to attend, of course." Hawkins laughed. "I hope there aren't too many here tonight who are unable to attend for... shall we say, other reasons?"

"Right," Tw'eak said with a knowing nod. "So, about Fontein... you said he's been behaving differently lately?"

"Yeah. Just a lot more angry. He's been in the holodeck a lot - from what I can tell, playing rugby."

"Rugby?"

"Yeah. Bram grew up in Australia, one of Earth's continents. Rugby is one of several Earth sports that feature regular tackling and so forth. He told me he hadn't had a chance to play since coming out to the station, and very few onboard were willing to donate their bodies to that endeavour."

"I can understand. I played sevens for a couple weeks in the Academy... did really well until someone learned how sensitive these are." Tw'eak raised a hand to indicate her antennae.

Hawkins laughed. "Yeah, I understand."

"Admiral," O'Leary interrupted, "I think the Doc is looking for you."

"Probably needs to give me another physical." She inclined her head slightly towards Hawkins. "Excuse me."

Tw'eak and O'Leary moved to the bar. Doc stepped away to meet her a few paces from its edge. "We've got everyone."

"The whole set?"

"Yeah. I just checked. A couple of them are from unusual or unique backgrounds in Starfleet, so they'll be difficult to check, but since we're using their own readings as baseline, it shouldn't be that far off."

"What about the ones who are working with T'uni?"

"Aurora went down there as soon as T'uni called her. They've all been scanned and checked."

As though summoned by hearing her name, Aurora burst into the group. "I think I know who it is!"

"Keep your voice down, Commander," Doc admonished. "This isn't a safe place for loud conversations."

"Sorry." Aurora hushed her tone. "I heard Commander Fontein refer to this outing as 'an opportunity to snack on shrimp and crackers'." She looked around the group, anticipating a response.

"So?" O'Leary asked.

"So he's from Australia! They call them prawns in Australia!" Aurora nodded in an attempt to appear convincing. "It's- well, it's something!"

"I think I'd rather listen to the evidence," Doc responded dryly.

"Agreed. If we have it all together, wait a few minutes. Is Zed still in the transporter room?"

"Yes," Aurora replied. "He's standing by - I got T'uni aside for a minute while I was in Security and explained the whole plan to her."

"Good. Remember, if it reveals itself, we don't want it to be provoked into a fight, or into running. Contain it, then contact Zed."

"Right," O'Leary said. "And hope it's that easy."

"Exactly. All right, just be yourselves for a couple hours." She looked to Doc. "Any chance you can make a discreet exit?"

"Why be discreet? I'll be called away a couple times at my own funeral."

Tw'eak smiled, and her officers separated and milled about the room.

Ninety minutes had elapsed. As a number of people made their excuses and departed, a few tables were cleared, making room for an impromptu dance floor. Tw'eak had been cordially introduced to numerous officers whose names she could barely remember, danced with at least a couple of the better-looking ones, and generally enjoyed herself immensely. She had just taken up O'Leary on dancing to a slower melody when he said something unexpected to her.

"So Hawkins is definitely eyeing you up."

Tw'eak clenched O'Leary slightly, uncertain of that meaning. "Eyeing me up for what?"

"Ma'am, it's not my place to explain inter-species relations to a senior officer, but... he's eyeing you up."

"Yeah?"

"Definitely." O'Leary cleared his throat a bit. "You can do better, ma'am."

"What makes you say that?" Tw'eak struggled to keep her feet moving with the rhythm while paying attention to what O'Leary was saying.

"Well... nah, I've already said too much."

"You have not. Besides which, I always take what my officers have to say under advisement. You know that."

"I've heard stories, I got to talking with people about Hawkins, you know, because the security service around here has gone nuts over the Orion thing-"

"You didn't say anything to them about that, did you?"

"I didn't have to. Everyone on this station... it's like... you ever been to a small town? I grew up with the same people, they were all parts of the same families, everyone knew everyone else. That sort of thing."

"I know what you mean. It's half the reason I left Andoria."

"Well, this station... same thing. And... he's a player, ma'am."

"A player?"

"Yeah, you know. It's all a game to him. Guy with the most, wins."

Tw'eak's face fell. She hadn't admitted it but she had found Hawkins... if not necessarily admirable, then at least interesting company. The idea of being on equal rank and equal terms with someone made for less questionable involvement, as his with Commander Britton had been while he had been a captain and her superior officer.

O'Leary continued. "I guess I just got the sense..." His voice trailed off for a moment. "I really take pride in my relationship with Emma. I love her, and she loves me - for whatever reason. I get to tell her I had a dance with the finest admiral in Starfleet next time I see her. And she'll laugh and ask me how many times I stepped on your toes." Tw'eak smiled appreciatively. "I guess I just got the sense that you had that same sort of ideal in your personal life, ma'am. Maybe that's just me wanting to believe I'm not the only one who feels the way I do about those sorts of things..."

"No, you're right." The song came to an end, and Tw'eak separated from O'Leary, applauding the singer. She leaned over his arm and said, "Thanks for... stepping on my toes."

"Ma'am." O'Leary bowed his head slightly, and the two of them moved back towards the bar.

Tw'eak leaned herself against a barstool, not necessarily seated but inclined towards it. O'Leary had given her quite a bit to think about. If the station scuttlebutt traveled this quickly - who was divorcing, who were together, who were no longer together - then getting too involved with anyone was not in the cards. She remembered how Hawkins had been under the impression that only a few of his officers had been in that particular loop. Now it appeared more likely that the loop was as wide as the station's perimeter.

"...and I'm telling you, she was amazing!" Tw'eak overheard three people at the bar engaged in a loud, drunken conversation. She turned to O'Leary quickly, gave a quick nod, then looked off straight ahead, as if not paying attention.

"There's no way you actually slept with her," another male human officer replied. "I don't believe it."

"Yeah? Well, I don't care what you think." The officer turned to the third. "Or you. Or anyone."

The third officer, a Bolian, simply shook his head. "You're so drunk right now."

"So what? Ish that such a crime?"

"You're not usually like this, that's all."

"She cared about me!" He pointed a finger against the Bolian's chest, making contact. "ME!"

"I'm not going to fight you over her or anything, relax."

"Yeah, geez, Reuben, calm down."

"You wanna know what she told me? It's a good story - you want to know what she told me?"

"About what?" the Bolian officer asked.

"About this station! She hated it here." By now, a few officers had come to gather around, a few of them looking concernedly at each other. The officer one had called Reuben continued. "She hated all of you! Federation News Service direct to you!" He broke into a rhapsodic laugh for a few seconds. By now, the din had attracted Hawkins' attention, and he pushed his way forwards in the crowd. "Especially YOU, mister Rear Admiral, sir!"

"What about me, Reuben?"

"Telsia HATED you. She told me! You broke her heart. That's why she came to me instead. Wanted a real man!"

"Well, I'm sorry. We're going to have to go, you and I." Hawkins took a step forward, placing an arm under Reuben's shoulder.

Reuben, for his part, wasn't having it. "Whoa no. You're not just gonna hush me up."

Tw'eak gave O'Leary a sharp look. O'Leary pulled back his blazer to reveal a Starfleet commbadge pinned against his chest. If this was the Undine's moment to strike, they were ready to act against it.

Reuben gave Hawkins a shove, then made an errant swing in his general direction. Hawkins was no longer in place to receive the blow, however, having easily sidestepped it. One of those in the audience stepped forward and applied a Vulcan neck pinch to Reuben, and he fell harmlessly to the floor.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Hawkins said to the Vulcan officer who helped him pick up the fallen Reuben.

"Shall we return him to his quarters, sir?" the Vulcan lieutenant replied.

"Please," Hawkins said, and the two of them carried Reuben out.

After a few moments, the crowd subsided. The other human officer and the Bolian officer who had accompanied Reuben now rounded into each other, looking furtively at the crowd in the hopes of not having been seen there. As for Tw'eak, she looked to O'Leary and said quietly, "It wouldn't have been that easy."

"No, of course not," O'Leary replied with a laugh. "Another drink?"

"Not for me. I think I've heard enough- had enough for one night."

"Right." O'Leary nodded towards Aurora, who approached from behind Tw'eak.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"Old ghosts," Tw'eak replied. "I'll see you both in the morning. There's a memorial service - a formal one - at oh-nine-hundred. Let's make a showing."

"Yeah, for sure," Aurora said. She looked to O'Leary. "Hey, how come you dance with the Admiral and not with me?"

O'Leary shook his head. "I was just going by order of seniority, okay?" He smiled at Tw'eak, took Aurora's hand, and escorted her out to the dance floor.

As Tw'eak nodded and smiled at various officers on her way to the door, Octavia approached and took her by the arm. "May I also depart now, ma'am?"

"Sure, come along with me." Tw'eak and Octavia left together. "Have you heard from Doc?"

"Yes. So far none of the security officers are a positive match."

"Did she check Fontein?"

"He was the first one she did, and he checks out."

Tw'eak stopped. "So it's not him."

"No. She suggests we widen our search, starting with tomorrow's memorial service."

Tw'eak considered it a moment, then nodded. "All right. Seems a good place to start." She took a few more steps. "Now if I could only remember the way to my quarters."

"I may be able to assist you, if you are unable to find your way there."

"It's not what you think. I haven't had anything to drink all evening."

Octavia nodded. "Of course. However, if you are going that way, the arboretum is this way..."

"You go ahead. I'll be fine. Good night, Octavia."

"Good night, ma'am." Octavia turned and made her way down the corridor.

After a few minutes of wandering and getting her bearings, Tw'eak finally felt she was on the right path. She passed a Benzite lieutenant who looked familiar. "Hello, Admiral," the Benzite said.

"Hello..." She smiled. "You're out late."

"Ah. Well. I had several checks to make, but everything is in place now."

"Good." She continued walking, but came to a halt as the Benzite continued to address her.

"You may not remember me. I am called Lieutenant Mendreck."

"Yes, I remember," Tw'eak replied. He had been interviewed as part of the investigation.

"It was a good thing I was in that Jefferies tube at the time," Mendreck continued.

"I'm sorry?" Tw'eak was confused. How was he aware that she had been monitoring that interrogation?

"Yes, you see, Benzites are very observant. Especially when equipped with tricorders."

Tw'eak took a half-step backwards. She remembered Mendreck's statement, that the tricorder had been set to conduct materials analysis.

"Oh, you're probably wondering, how did the tricorder help? Well, an energy surge like the one that killed Commander Britton interfered with the results. And it changed everything."

"Did it, now." Tw'eak suddenly regretted being out of uniform. She realized just what was happening.

"Yes. Why bother replacing a weak, emotional human female when I can be so much stronger?"

A psionic pulse issued forth from the suddenly illuminated eyes of Mendreck, and the corridor seemed to become coalescent, almost fluidic, around them with the energy that issued forth from her attacker. Tw'eak realized in an instant what she should have figured out before; that Mendreck had, like a proper Benzite would, investigated an energy spike just like this one when it had disrupted his tricorder; that Britton had been about to be replaced with an Undine infiltrator when Mendreck arrived; that the cover story of an efficient officer, working overtime for Aurora on a materials analysis in the Jefferies tube, had been all too believable... She reached for the nearest comms button she could find, on a console at a nearby doorway. "Securi-"

But it was too late. Mendreck - or rather, the Undine posing as Mendreck took a step forward, latching his hand around Tw'eak's throat and holding her aloft, her dress pressing against her bare skin, one of her shoes flopping to the floor. For an instant the Undine psi-warrior returned to its former shape, then slowly began morphing, altering its appearance into an all-too-familiar profile - blue skin, a slight set of ridges on its forehead, blue-gray hair back and up, a scar visible on both its shoulder and its neck. She was now its target, and if she couldn't get free, she would also be its next victim.

The psionic attack upon her intensifying by the moment, Tw'eak gripped the Undine's wrist with her hand, finding its clasp impossible to break. There was no pressure point or weak spot in its joint - none that she could find, anyway. But there was little time to concentrate on that. In her mind, she could feel a presence, a psionic incursion like a bright orange flood, absorbing her essence as it came on, looking to steal her sense of self and use it as camouflage. Within her, she battled, using Vulcan mind control techniques she had learned over the years to regulate her emotions - now she used them to shield her personality from theft. Without, she swung her legs wildly, kicking and thrashing as it pinned her against the bulkhead, in hope of sweeing a leg or delivering a satisfying kick its ribs.

Suddenly, she remembered something - that Undine infiltration was so effective because they took on every part of their target's anatomy, every aspect of their identities, her strengths becoming its strengths, and her weaknesses... Tw'eak could feel her hold upon herself fading, her mental defenses almost gone. She knew she had one last chance to save herself. She let go of the Undine's wrist, took both hands to her infiltrator's antennae and squeezed them both, one in each hand, twisting them over and turning them as though she would knot them together.

The Undine-Tw'eak staggered, having experienced an unexpected and incredible pain response, and its grip on Tw'eak's neck weakened substantially. Tw'eak used this moment to wriggle free, and then kick the Undine in the midsection. Staggering, the infiltrator fell to the floor, and Tw'eak took the opportunity to return to the console. Spearing the comms button with her finger, she called out, "Zed! It's in the corridor with me! Repulse! Repulse! RePULSE!"

The Undine infiltrator struggled to its feet again, and as it began to move towards Tw'eak, desperate to finish the job it had started, she heard a delicate shimmering noise in the air. The transporter beam began to activate, and Tw'eak watched as the Undine version of itself, its antennae distorted at implausible and asymmetrical angles, dematerialized a few millimetres from her, dissolving into the pattern buffer of the transporter and out into space a number of kilometres from the station.

Tw'eak felt the bulkhead of the wall suddenly come up to meet her. The room became distinct, solidified once again. She could hear Zed's voice. "Didaggo to Sh'abbas. Come in, please!"

"This is Tw'eak." Tw'eak collapsed to the floor. "Tell me you got him."

"I had to re-materialize it in the main chamber before I beamed it into high orbit over Breshar. Thought I had you!"

"Well, you wouldn't be the first one to think that tonight." She rubbed her throat.

"I need to... I'm just following your orders, ma'am, but I need to verify."

"There's no way you could. It was in my mind, Zed. I don't know how much it learned, but..." Tw'eak shook her head. "It's me here, Zed."

"I'm on my way."

A security team, oddly enough led by T'uni, came around the corner at frantic pace. T'uni came to her side. She tapped her commbadge.

"This is Commander T'uni. Medical team to corridor Seven-Zeta immediately." She looked over Tw'eak.

"I'm okay," Tw'eak said, the bruising on her throat already becoming visible, a sickening mix of greenish-purple.

"I am uncertain of your status since I am unable to confirm whether or not you are, in fact, my commanding officer."

"Then take a look for yourself." Tw'eak took T'uni's hand by the wrist and guided T'uni's hand to the side of her face. "Go on."

T'uni drew her hand back initially, then reluctantly agreed. A brief mind probe followed, T'uni's presence far more delicate and practiced than the Undine's had been. It only took a matter of seconds, but T'uni nodded, satisfied. She turned to the waiting security team, who still remained with phasers drawn, one of them pointing a compression phaser rifle directly at Tw'eak. "I can verify that this is not an Undine, and I will take personal responsibility in the event that I am wrong." She turned to Tw'eak. "Much of the psionic resonance which I had experienced intermittently over the past few days has also dissipated."

"That doesn't surprise me. Anything to conceal itself."

"That would be logical." T'uni helped Tw'eak to her feet. "We should bring you to the medical bay."

"No need for that," Tw'eak replied as she saw Zed turn the corner, then increase his pace towards her. "Good work."

"I'll have to take a sample of your blood just to be sure."

"You go right ahead." Tw'eak held out her left arm, and Zed applied a hypospray, taking a measured amount in an instant. She had never been so happy to offer a sample of blood before.

"Let's get her to Medical," Zed declared a second later, having had a quick look at Tw'eak's injuries as she leaned against T'uni for a moment. T'uni and Zed helped her to the turbolift. "Must have been one hell of a fight," Zed added.

"You could say that," Tw'eak replied, still leaning on T'uni as the turbolift doors closed.


	6. Chapter 6

"You know, you better be careful," Doc quipped as she operated the dermal regenerator. "They don't make bio-synthetic replacement necks."

"I'll keep that in mind," Tw'eak replied, her voice a little hoarse, from where she lay on the bio-bed. She was wearing a loose-fitting medical ward uniform, neither a hospital gown nor an outfit she would wear for duty. Doc had decided it more practical than a little black dress to wear for a stay in the medical ward.

"No, no, don't talk. Don't move your head, either."

Tw'eak angled her antennae around, narrowing her eyes at Doc.

"ANY part of your head. Just hold still."

The dermal regenerator worked quickly to reduce the swelling and distortion present along Tw'eak's neck where the Undine had gripped her. Doc seemed pleased by the effect it had upon the wound.

"There. All done. Now... let's get the neural regeneration started."

"Neural regeneration?"

"The pattern of bio-molecular alteration in your brain is nearly identical to that of Commander Britton's. The only real areas of difference are in the lobe structures that support your antennae, which aren't nearly as badly affected. I'm fairly certain I can reverse it in a few hours, but I'll need to sedate you in order for it to have its fullest effect."

"I don't know - I won't forget who I am or anything?"

"It's neural tissue, not brain activity, that's affected. If you don't treat it right now, there may be long-term side effects. I couldn't tell you what, but I'd imagine it won't be good."

From the door, a youthful-looking security officer walked over to the doctor. "Um, Doctor? Commander Fontein wants to know if we're still needed."

"Not in the slightest. She's no Undine."

"You're... you're certain?" The security officer looked around the room as he spoke.

Tw'eak couldn't help herself. "BOO!" she shouted.

The security guard stepped backwards, suddenly vigilant, and promptly fumbled his hand phaser to the ground. Retrieving it, he pointed it at the two women, from whom a cascade of laughter could still be heard in the corridor after he and the other security officers had left the room. "What?" he said defensively as they moved back towards the security office.

A few hours later, the sedative having worn off, the neural regeneration complete, Tw'eak felt much better. Her head was clear, her sense of who she was right back to normal, she readied herself to get back to work.

"Now hold on a minute," Doc protested. "There are specific instructions with regards to neural regeneration and recovery that you need to be aware of before you go anywhere."

"Okay? Like what."

"You're confined to quarters for seventy-two hours."

"Seventy-two-? What about the project?"

"It can wait. Second thing. No stimulants or anything else like it. That means katheka."

Tw'eak shook her head gravely. "That explains why you're confining me to quarters."

"Exactly. You'll be more temperamental than a Draxxan cloud viper by the second day. I don't want you coming into contact with anyone but me and T'uni. But you're going to have plenty to eat, and you'll get to do a lot more napping."

"Those aren't things I've ever been particularly good at doing."

"Well, you'll learn how. And you'll have to accept that I'm ordering this. My medical authority overrides whatever you've got, and there isn't a thing you can do about it."

"Turn out to be an Undine after all?"

Doc gave Tw'eak an unimpressed look. "If you want to spend your recovery in the brig, I'm sure Hawkins would be happy to arrange something suitable."

"Yeah, right. His place or mine, you mean?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Oh, never mind." Tw'eak left the subject for a moment, and then came back to it. "I got so taken in with the idea of it, a single, available officer, maybe a bit like me, maybe a lot like me... until he proved to be anything but. And even if he had been, this really isn't the place. They all know everything about each other, they all talk about each other."

"That's not unexpected, of course. Most starships work like that - stations, too."

"I know, but I wanted it to be different. I spend all day, every day, aboard ship being someone to be respected, someone to be admired, someone to be looked up to and appreciated. All I wanted was someone I could feel that way about."

"Well, you want to know what I think?"

"What's that?"

Doc sat on the edge of the bio-bed. "I know this is going to be hard for you to admit, being you, but you're entitled to your feelings on this point especially."

"Am I? You spend so long in that uniform, it starts to become a permanent way of thinking."

"And you can't. Not really. Look, I'm fortunate in that I have found the kind of relationship you're seeking, and the one I found it with is an inspiration to me. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her. My heart is there, but my skills are needed here." Doc glanced over her shoulder at the empty infirmary behind her. "Well, maybe not here, but I know, in those moments when I'm most alone, that I'm not. Not really. Even in the worst event, someone's out there who will remember me the way I want to be remembered. You don't get that from family or friends, not the same way, anyway."

"You think that's what I'm missing?"

"This is the third time in the past two months that you've spent as a customer of mine. I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"I don't think I'm going to get very far blaming anything at this point. I just... I don't know. It goes back to being the one Andorian without a family, the one crew member who nobody can just ask out to dinner. But I don't want to feel sorry for myself." Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "I don't really want to feel anything."

"I had a conversation the other day with that operations officer of yours."

"Octavia?"

"Yeah. Routine check-up on my other favourite customer. Anyway. Once we got through the 'role model' and 'inspiration' stuff about you - which you and I both know is nonsense - she told me the one thing she had always hoped she'd be able to do is experience emotions regularly again."

"And has she?"

"Believe it or not, yes. A few of the songs she heard while she was helping us out last night seem to have jogged a few memories. It's something I'm planning on having her work with T'uni to try to open that door. But it was something else she said... about how if she could feel something she would want to learn how to keep it in control. She wouldn't want to let you down."

Tw'eak felt her face drop, her antennae tucking in towards each other. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"I guess I've just come to depend upon her so much, I never really thought that it'd be me that was holding her back." Tw'eak raised a hand to correct herself before Doc could speak. "Or rather, that she would hold herself back out of fear."

"I don't think it's fear. I think she simply appreciates what she means to you." Doc patted Tw'eak on the shoulder. "And that's not such a bad thing, either."

A few more hours elapsed, and Tw'eak was being moved back to her quarters. Doc walked her through the hall, still wearing a medical outfit and carrying her black dress with her as she continued down the corridor.

"I think this is it."

"Not quite. Security said you were another door down."

"Right." They walked on a bit further. "I really do have a sense of direction."

"No, I know. I got lost on the way back to mine the other night, too. Fortunately I didn't bump into any shape-shifting monsters."

The door opened, and Tw'eak stepped inside. "Right."

"I'll just come in to make sure you're comfortable, then it's quarantine for you."

"Doc..." The door whooshed shut behind Doc as Tw'eak turned to look at her. "I don't really know how else to put this, but... thank you."

"For what? For looking after my most frequent customer? On the house."

"No, I mean... for letting me talk about it. Without being all, y'know... T'uni about it."

"When you want to talk about your mind, she's the best there probably is. When it's your heart, you trust a doctor." Doc smiled.

"It's more than that. I guess what happened... in my mind, what I just went through? It was worse than anything I've had happen to me. It was an intrusion on who I was."

"It was more like a rape, to be perfectly honest."

"I- well." Tw'eak had hesitated at calling it that. "I guess I just don't play the victim really well."

"Victim?" Doc looked offended. "I've heard you called many things, but nobody would pretend you were a victim."

"But what you said, what you called it-"

"I said, 'more like a rape'. Not the same thing. Besides, that doesn't make you a victim automatically - far from it." Doc took a step and helped Tw'eak sit in a chair. "It was a violation of your mind, a... psionic assault. But you stood up to it, and in the end, you turned the tables, just like you always do. That doesn't make it go away, though."

"No, it doesn't."

"It's not always about being tough, or resilience. You have every right to feel vulnerable right now." Doc took a step towards the bedroom door, checking just to be sure it was empty. "That's the other reason I ordered you to be out of the way for a couple days. I know you'll probably talk to T'uni when you're ready, but I want you to have the time you need to recover from what happened. It wasn't your fault."

"The one time I get a chance to be free from ordering others to their certain deaths and I'm still not safe."

"Well, and I would imagine that you'll probably be a bit longer in establishing a sense of safety again. But it'll come. It'll help when we get this starship prototype into active service, I'd bet. But for the next couple days, just slow it down a little. Octavia can field most of the technical stuff, and the other officers all know their routines. If Currie or anyone has a problem, they can bring it up with me."

"I appreciate that."

"I'm just a tap of the commbadge away," Doc said, patting Tw'eak on the back. "Day or night, on-duty or off. Any time, Tw'eak." She gave her patient a quick smile. "I'll see you." She made her way out the door.

A few hours passed. Tw'eak had been at a complete loss for anything to do, so she had paced around for a while, tried to use subspace communications, which were locked out for some reason, and finally settled upon reading some middle-period war poetry by Sintriliihal sh'Thralnar, one of her favourite writers from her youth. The door chime came as a surprise to her, in the midst of a well-written scene, and she nearly vaulted to her feet at the surprise. "Come in."

If the door chime had not been a surprise, the sight of Lieutenant Birmal Dazz walking through that door certainly was. "Hello, Admiral."

"Dazz!" Tw'eak stood up and walked over, embracing her sensor officer. "Come in, please! I was wondering about how you were doing."

Dazz and Tw'eak moved to the seating area, where Dazz sat in an armchair while Tw'eak took up one end of a loveseat. "Much better," Dazz said in response to Tw'eak's question. "By now you've noticed that I'm almost breathing normally."

"Yes! How is that- I mean, you're doing really well."

"Doc made a few inquiries and had me temporarily transferred to Quebec Alpha for long enough to consult with a Bolian respiratory team from my homeworld. They provided me with a couple of what they call 'boosters', but which are really something like a pump or a life support unit, to support my lungs. They're specially built to withstand Bolian anatomy, and they're temporary. Doc can use the transporter to beam them back out again when my lung function normalizes."

"That's wonderful. And your colour's come back nicely - how do your hands feel?"

Dazz held up a hand. "Actually?" She played with the fingers a bit. "Occasional tingles and every now and then I drop something. But otherwise, fine." She smiled as she lowered her hand. "Back to regular duty."

"I hate to say it, but it must be nice." Tw'eak shook her head. "Ever since that fight against the Hirogen I haven't been fully one-hundred percent on-duty, and I would trade my antennae for a chance to command a starship again."

"Do you think that likely? I mean, you are an admiral now. I'm surprised they didn't break us up after the Bonaventure went down."

"They almost did. It's weird - they'll let me have whoever I want under my command as a rear admiral, but as a captain I was given limited discretionary choice over who served under me. Out there on the frontier I'd rather have people I can depend upon, but here? We're more socially connected than tied to our duty."

"Not sure I agree with you. I've talked to Aurora, O'Leary, and of course Doc and Zed - they're all fully committed to this whole project. And Commander McQueen looks to be a really exceptionally talented officer." Dazz caught herself and smiled. "Like you said... here I am talking socially with you and I would never have done so in a hundred years on the Bonaventure. Not like this, anyway."

"That's not true. We all have moments aboard ship where we confide in each other."

"Yeah, but not you. I mean, captain's prerogative and all that. It was always T'uni or Doc behind that ready room door, not me."

"So why did you come by? I'm not trying to be direct or anything, just curious."

"Well, I was wondering how you were doing. I heard that you'd nearly been killed, that you were recovering in here, and I know what that feels like, to be the one in recovery. Having you come to visit, having you bring me along to be part of this whole project... it's really exciting. And I'm glad to have the opportunity to return the favour, say thank you, that sort of thing."

Tw'eak felt herself blushing. "Well, thank you. I should've visited more often."

"You saw what those nurses were like, right? I hardly think they would've let you."

"No kidding." They shared a laugh. "Did anyone tell you what happened?"

"You were attacked by an Undine. They didn't really specify much of how, or why. I half-expected to see you in worse shape. If that makes any sense."

"The attack... it was almost entirely psionic in nature. I had been assisting Admiral Hawkins with the investigation, to a limited extent, and was somewhat familiar with the officer the Undine had killed and replaced, a Benzite lieutenant."

"Yeah, Mendreck. I heard they found his body aboard ship, too, hidden away - probably by this Undine."

"Wow, you've heard a lot."

"Sit in a replimat with a smile on your face and people around here are happy to tell you whatever you'd like to know." Dazz laughed. "It helped that I was in a grav-chair and looked like hell."

"Well, what do you know about Hawkins?"

"Hawkins? He's a little boy yelling orders from his father's chair." She shook her head. "That saying probably works better in Bolian. What I mean is, he doesn't really command the respect of the crew."

"I can understand why. He doesn't make things happen, he reacts to them - usually overreacts."

"That's what people are saying about him - he's clever, but he's not smart about it."

"O'Leary tells me he has something of a reputation as a ...player."

Dazz nodded. "Definitely. There were stories of him being involved with two or three other officers onboard over the past little while."

Tw'eak smiled enigmatically. "Nothing about me, I hope?"

"You? No, you didn't come up in that list. Although Commander Britton did. I doubt there's any truth to that. It'd be a big mistake, career-wise, for him to get involved with someone under his command."

"You're right, it was a big mistake." Tw'eak gave Dazz a wink. "But you didn't hear that from me."

Dazz giggled. "I read you." She shook her head. "You know... if they were involved like that, I'm surprised the Undine didn't try to frame him for the murder."

Tw'eak bowed her head at the mention of the Undine. "It had a change of plans."

"Really? How do you know?"

She pointed at herself. "I was the change of plans. It was going to pose as Commander Britton - I don't know how it got onboard, but it was, and it had every intention of infiltrating security. Who knows how deep it got into the project information, but as Mendreck it didn't have high enough clearance to learn enough."

"So it came after you. Wow. Imagine if it'd succeeded."

"I'd prefer not to. The failed attempt hurt enough for me."

"I'm sorry, I was just speculating."

"No, I understand, I just... when it revealed itself, it pinned me to the bulkhead by my neck, and then the attack began. I had this other presence invade my mind. You don't- have you ever had anyone try to contact you telepathically?"

"I served with a couple Betazoids in my time, a few Trill, and of course, lots of Vulcans, but I'm not other Undine before. But it was nothing like this. Then, they were trying to slow me down, hold me back... but this..." Tw'eak closed her eyes. "It was a kind of violation I can hardly even describe. I had my thoughts, all my own, but I also could feel it in here with me." She tapped her head. "And it knew my thoughts, and they became its thoughts... It was like the more I thought, the more it learned, the closer it was able to copy me. I can imagine it's something like assimilation must feel like as it happens, like it was becoming me in the most painful and horrible way."

"That sounds... awful." Dazz put a hand over her mouth.

"Anyway, I was able to break free, and since we had been looking for it anyway, Zed beamed the damned thing into space, and he personally assured me that it burned up in the atmosphere." She stared blankly. "Good riddance."

"Yeah, no kidding. Glad to be rid of it." Dazz laughed slightly, in spite of herself. "Wish I could've done the same thing once."

"What do you mean?"

"That story - I mean, in all seriousness, I'm really glad we dealt with that Undine like that, but what Zed did reminded me of a time, when I was at the Academy... I knew this guy, a human, who I won't name, and you know how Bolian girls have a reputation for, well..."

"Ah, yes, 'blue girls are the easiest'. I remember it well. In my case it was true for a little while there."

"Oh, in my case, too, although most guys stick to Andorians, out of fear of my whole 'acid girl' thing. Not this guy. He kept after me for weeks. Weeks! He knew my schedule, he showed up places, asking me to come out with him, to spend time with him, to go to things with him, to sit with him in classes. I think I went out for coffee with him once, and he was so boring, but he was obsessed with me."

"So what did you do?"

"At first, I didn't see it as a problem. We don't really do possessive in my culture - possessions are the things we trade, not the people we trade with. So I wasn't willing to say 'no' at first, not a firm 'no', anyway... until I felt pressured into saying 'yes'. By the time I felt that way, my dorm mate, Ithylla, had already gone to the Academy about him - although it turned out she thought he was stalking her!"

Tw'eak smiled. "Did he get the hint, at least?"

"Oh, he got himself in all kinds of trouble, written reprimand, that sort of thing. And he blamed me. One evening - and this was late in the term so it was a distraction I did not need - as I was walking back from class with Ithylla, he was standing outside the turbolift up to my floor of the dorm, and he confronted me. I didn't know she'd reported him, and he accused me of lying about him, spreading rumours. Ithylla told him off, but he still kept after me. It got really bad, and this Vulcan ensign from security came along and had to escort him out. I remember he was a Vulcan because he was the only one who wasn't yelling. Two Bolian girls, a human male, even a Tellarite from one of my classes got in on it for some reason. And here was this Vulcan, calmly asking us-" here Dazz imitated a Vulcan's flat tone of voice "-to return to our quarters while he escorted the cadet to the security office." Her facial expression shifted from a typically sour Vulcan look to a broad smile. "It was so embarrassing. I didn't take that same turbolift for a week afterwards."

"What happened to the guy?"

"Further reprimand, not just a warning this time. Security brought him to and from classes for a while. Eventually he left the Academy before graduation, I have no idea what happened to him. But that was ten years ago now, and I still every now and then find myself expecting him to show up and angrily confront me for something I had no idea Ithylla had done." She shook her head. "That was part of the reason I went into security at first. I was a pretty good shot, thought clearly, and, typical Bolian, cheery and personable. But I got so bored that I went for sensors instead."

"And I'm certainly glad you did."

"It's not really the same thing as what happened to you, but what I'm saying is, I don't want you worrying that every person who comes by to see you might be about to break into your mind and replace you. It can be awful having to shoulder-check every time you walk down a corridor or step out of a turbolift. Trust me, I know."

"Well, to be fair, I really should've taken a blood sample when you first walked in, just to be sure," Tw'eak quipped. "A bit late now."

"The fact that I walked in should've been your first clue," Dazz added.

Tw'eak laughed. "Exactly!" She and Dazz chuckled together for a moment before Tw'eak said, "Although I am really glad to see you up and in uniform again."

Dazz smoothed her sides with her hands. "I think I lost a little weight in that medical ward. This thing used to fit a little better."

"It's not like you would've gained any weight."

"Oh, the food was really good, they were feeding me all these high-protein dishes, spicy and delicious. But that was when I was awake. The rest of the time supper just made a hiss!" She tapped her arm with an imaginary hypospray and laughed.

"My favourite kind of meal," Tw'eak replied.

"I'm glad you're okay, though."

"Yeah, I'm okay. A bit lonely for contact, desperate to get back to work, that sort of thing."

"I know the feeling."

Tw'eak looked up at Dazz. "You don't have anyone back home you should be getting in contact with? Family, a husband?"

"We don't really work that way. Bolarus is a beautiful world, but our place as a people is onboard freighters and other ships, plying warp lanes. Even if I wanted to get in touch with my family I'd have to find out where to send my friendly 'hello'. What do you expect from a crazy people who worship warp power and trading?"

"Actually worship? I'd never heard that before about Bolians."

"That'd be because it's not what I'm trying to say. What's the word I'm looking for?"

"Treasure, maybe?"

"Yeah, sort of. It's the centre of our lives - a good clean freighter, a good working warp core, and a good safe trade route."

"For an Andorian, it'd be cold weather, creatures to be hunted, and a family to share the tales from the hunt."

"Oh, family matters to us, too. That's why most Bolian freighters are built with a 'family deck' Not the same as you're used to, exactly, but working life support, tales of good trades - bargains, rare items, that sort of thing, and a family to share the stories with... we'd count that as being a pretty good life."

"You don't miss it at all?"

Dazz considered for a moment. "Sometimes. It's funny, you know, I grew up my whole life with a morbid, uncontrollable fear of hull breaches, and being sucked out in one." She stood up. "Look at me now."

"You heading out?"

"Yeah. I promised O'Leary I'd work with Commander duBois to re-align the sensor distribution nodes in the main grid. He says there's a few blind spots on his navigation display. I think he just wants to give the orders for once."

"You think so?"

Dazz raised both hands in a conciliatory gesture, nodding her head. "He's a very capable navigator, experienced, good to work with..." She gave Tw'eak a sideways glance. "But he's been spending too much time in that simulator. Thinks he's in charge now."

Tw'eak sighed. "And me, confined to quarters."

"Yeah. Any message for him? Or anyone else?"

"Other than, 'drop by anytime'? No, not really. I'm really glad we had this time to talk, Lieutenant."

"Me too, ma'am." She smiled softly, looking down. "I, uh... meant what I said before. I'm really proud to serve with you - not just because you saved my life, either."

"The way I see it, if I saved your life, and Lio'wan saved my life, then the two of you can just negotiate repayment with each other and call it even."

"Lio'wan." Dazz gave an oddly satisfied smile. "Now there's an officer I would've liked to get to know better."

"He's already mated," Tw'eak said with slight disappointment.

"I know, but was he ever something to watch in action." She raised an eyebrow. "I never really thought of Caitians as attractive until I met him. He was really special."

"Still is."

"Yeah." Dazz looked over at Tw'eak. "Sorry, ma'am. A girl can dream, right?"

"Not if she's his commanding officer." Tw'eak gave Dazz a wide grin.

"Ha!" Dazz laughed. "That's great, I gotta remember that one." She continued laughing as she headed towards the door. "Gotta be careful, these lungs are rentals - I gotta have 'em back by Thursday." She pointed at her midsection and smiled at Tw'eak.

"Oh, that's awful," Tw'eak said, chuckling.

"I know, right? O'Leary thought that one up." Dazz gave Tw'eak a half-wave. "I'll see you, Admiral."

"Thanks for visiting. See you."


	7. Chapter 7

The day passed rather slowly for Tw'eak. First Aurora came to visit briefly; afraid to talk of the project, she talked about her sister Bianca until she was called away. T'uni had also come by during Tw'eak's dinner, but Tw'eak hadn't really been in the mood for the counselor's approach and as a result the Vulcan's visit had also proven brief. Rather than show up in person, Doc paged Tw'eak via commbadge a number of times just to be sure, and advised her that she was 'on-call' for the evening. For her part, Tw'eak wasn't sure if she took solace in being alone, or felt more vulnerable because of it. Either way, she figured, she was at greater risk now than she had been previously.

Part of it was that she was uncertain of the capabilities of the Undine. Suppose that the creature, in the middle of its transformation, had been able to connect to some sort of collective consciousness, as the Borg possessed, and had transmitted what it had learned to other Undine, who might even now be adapting themselves to pose as her. What had it learned? What did it know? And would its contact with Tw'eak lead to new and dangerous threats to her, or to Andorians generally perhaps, in the future? She had not asked because no one could answer her question authoritatively. Not enough was known of the Undine to be certain of the answers.

There was also the question of her identity. Had the information it had learned been copied, or severed, from her memory? She was reasonably certain that she was still who she was, but had she been altered in some way? It seemed unlikely, but it terrified her. To be different than who she remembered herself to be - and worse, to not know it... represented one of her worst fears.

She considered the possibilities as she readied herself for bed, and as she put her uniform away, she removed the commbadge, instinctively wanting to keep it with her, just in case. She rested it beside the bed, within easy reach but not in a place she would contact it easily. She had wanted to pin it to her sleepwear, but thought better of it. "Computer, lights." As she got herself under the sheets, she silently wished, for the hundredth time since she had arrived, that the room wasn't quite so empty. It would be difficult to find out the truth, but at least she would know.

After a few minutes, she felt herself begin to drift. She was startled awake by someone at her bedside. "Lights!" She sat up and turned to see the Section 31 agent again, holding the commbadge in his hand.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't take any chances."

"Of what, exactly?"

"I think you know."

"So you'd rather leave me to take all the chances?" Impotently, Tw'eak threw a pillow at the agent.

The agent caught the pillow, feigning astonishment. "Oh, aren't we a little spitfire. Well, temper, temper. You keep this up and I'm not going to be very willing to help."

"Some help you were. An Undine nearly kills me - and what good were you then?"

"Again, I remind you. I don't deal in temporal agency. I'm just here to support the program. The only timeline I have any knowledge of is the one we've already lived through."

"But you should have known. And you've got a complete idiot running security."

"Hawkins? Yeah. But he's a useful idiot."

Tw'eak sat up, ready to bolt out of bed.

"Hey, you shouldn't be getting up in your condition. You want a nice cup of- right, Doc said you can't have any katheka for a couple more days." The agent clucked his tongue as Tw'eak tucked her legs into a seating position.

"How would you know about that?"

"It's all in your file."

"You read my file?"

"I read all the files. How else can I do my job?"

Tw'eak fumed. Her antennae were clearly picking up the same signal, and it annoyed her. So did this agent. His arrogant presumption, his unlimited access - probably to her personal log as well, she figured - and his pointless insistence on temporizing and moralizing, all amounted to a negative impression in her mind.

"Listen, Tw'eak, what happened to you... that was unexpected. Completely unexpected. We're glad you're okay, of course, but things are taking a bit of a turn."

"Oh? What's the matter, are they all out of evil in your supply cabinet?"

"My, you really are a spitfire, aren't you. This is why we don't usually deal with Andorians... you're so noble in your intentions but so overwrought in your emotions."

"That's it. I'm not going to just sit here and be insulted."

"If you tried anything else, I would surely have to kill you."

"But I'm such an important asset to you, I thought."

The agent looked at the palm of his hand. "We have others. You were simply the most convenient. Besides, the officers you brought with you would work just as well with or without your leadership. As you noted the other day in your log."

Tw'eak grimaced. So he did have access to her personal log.

"And this Undine thing makes for a most capable alibi for us. Wasn't us, it was the shapeshifting monster from fluidic space!"

"Start talking. What do you want?"

"I was just going to ask you the same question. Especially given the fact that the Undine are undoubtedly going to come looking for answers to the question of what happened to that agent of theirs they haven't heard from in a while."

"What do they know?"

"Nothing, as far as we can tell. Our telepathic agents tell us that Undine transmit regular status reports, nothing more than a quick 'hello mothership, I'm fine, any new orders?' on occasion."

Tw'eak settled a bit. "That's actually reassuring. It was in my mind."

"And whatever it learned, it took with it. Ingenious idea, by the way, beaming it into space like that. We lose more good people like you trying to fight these things in open combat. My preferred tactic is a good orbital strike, but I'm old-fashioned like that."

"So when the Undine get here, they'll send, what, one ship? two?"

"Enough to rip this station apart. Which is why we're provoking the Remans."

Tw'eak looked at the agent as though he had revealed himself to be an Undine. "I don't understand."

"Well, if the Remans are stupid enough to attack Outpost Quebec Alpha, and of course they will be when they see what we're doing to provoke them, then we'll see a general increase of telepathic activity in the system, since Vulcan researchers and Reman boarding parties generally both use mind-to-mind combat methods in attack and defense."

"That would make for an interesting fight."

"Not for you, anyway. But the psionic resonance from that fight will be enough to delay the Undine scout force. We've also got a couple other methods we're employing - generating an ion storm on the far side of the system, a few probes with generators that will produce small-scale Tyken's rifts in-system..." The agent caught himself. "Ah, I've already said too much."

"Suicide pill for you, then."

"Not exactly. You see, you're the kind of agent we need more of - temperamental, sure, but you anticipate what comes next. We can keep the Undine from suspecting too much, at least for the time to come, but sooner or later they'll come in numbers. That may spell the end of Outpost Quebec. It's nothing we can't absorb - the freighters to the Romulan colonies can easily extend their routes until we get another station in place. It'll have a fringe benefit of giving us a stronger presence in this region of space, actually."

"You don't seem concerned about the loss of life."

"Oh, after a while, in this job, you stop counting millions dead. It's all part of the game. As long as our team's winning, we can take our lumps."

Tw'eak snorted. "The values of the Federation are never-"

"Are never open to question." The agent's tone became brusque. "Not least by the ones who are defending it."

"So what am I to do?"

"For the time being, as you were. Get the Avenger prototype ready. It's got a fight coming. We can't delay them forever. In the meantime, your defenses here are laughable."

"So assign us something with enough firepower to defend ourselves."

"A starship? Unthinkable. To put another ship in-system would mean another crew."

"So don't give us a crew. Give us the starship." Tw'eak held out a hand. "I agree - a ship even the size of the Avenger will require a crew of hundreds." She closed her hand into a pinch. "But a smaller ship, like an escort, could operate with a crew as small as, what, fifteen? Twenty?"

"Not well, but yes."

"If we automated absolutely everything, we could have a crew as small as ten. And then we could at least keep the Undine at bay. A small escort, like a Defiant-class starship, could easily take on one, maybe even two Undine ships. With a skeleton crew, maybe not as well, but I wouldn't want a full complement for system defense anyway. And a lot of the officers we'd need would be at loose ends in the event of an attack without a station to report to. I think our people would rather stand a chance of going down fighting instead of waiting for the station to collapse around them. I know I would."

The agent nodded in thought. "I knew you'd come around to seeing it our way in time."

"Don't go jumping to conclusions. You and Starfleet both expect me to complete this project. I intend to do exactly that. And if the time is right, I intend to command an Avenger-class starship. You better add that to the wish list, too. Don't think for a second that I'm going to settle for being reassigned to anything less."

The agent smiled. "I'll talk to my people, see what I can do. In the meantime, you're still on bed rest and confinement. So don't go telling people what they don't need to know." He took a half-step forward. "Especially that doctor friend of yours. She's the last person we want to deal with again."

Tw'eak nodded, thoughtfully, wondering what the agent meant by 'again'. "One last thing before you go. You don't seem to have any problem calling me Tw'eak. I'd prefer to be on a first-name basis."

"Why, were you planning on calling me at home?"

"Not in the slightest. Just so I know who to thank in my memoirs, let's say."

The agent smiled, laughing. "Corbin."

"Is that a first name, or a last name?"

"Corbin," he repeated as he walked into the next room. "See you 'round, spitfire." Just as before, he vanished, leaving Tw'eak to her thoughts, and another sleepless night.

The next morning, Tw'eak woke up feeling better than she had in months. Up early, although not quite as early as her usual oh-six-hundred, she had dressed in a flowing purple robe embossed with a golden-brown pattern along its edge, and a pair of loose-fitting dark slacks with low black boots. It wasn't what she would usually wear, but it was also nothing Starfleet would want to see her in on a bridge. She resisted the urge to make a cup of katheka, as hard as it was, and sat down in the sitting area of her quarters, watching out her window as Breshar I floated along. No one had interrupted her rest after Corbin had made his way back to wherever he had come from, and even Doc had yet to contact her.

After a few minutes sitting contentedly by herself, making use of her Academy training in observing planetary conditions and states, she became bored of the cloud patterns and generally uninteresting visible outer atmosphere of the planet their station orbited, and felt her eyelids becoming heavy. This was one of many reasons she had never pursued a career in the sciences. She remembered her conversation with Aurora about her sister the astrometrics specialist, and wondered to herself about Octavia's friend Larkin, who had been both astrometics and gravimetrics. There really was nothing better to do than make a mental short-hand list of people she wondered about. Her sister Dashii was the first name that came to mind. Hopefully out of trouble, she thought to herself. After all, I wouldn't want to be placidly watching a world go by while she was getting up to no good. And after doing so well for so long. No, wait, it's not like she's done anything yet. Or has she?

The idle speculation as to her sister wasn't exactly easy on her recovering mind, but it was the most serious business she had to concern herself with at the moment. Tw'eak pondered for a moment how long it'd been... probably a decade since she had been able to just sit back and relax on an idle morning. She had every intention of revelling in it. But how? Listening to music? Spoken-word performance of poetry like what she had been reading the night before? Worrying pointlessly about her sister? Okay, not that last one for sure. Perhaps she could cobble together what she needed and attempt another plasmonic sculpture. With a little help from Aurora she could pull one together - at least, its foundational aspects - before the end of the day. There was quite deliberately nothing better for her to do. Her eyes opened and closed... and then opened wide.

A flash of light, indistinct at first, then considerably brighter. Someone's ship had come out of warp. Undine? Remans? She felt herself start to panic a bit. No shape was distinct, no silhouette visible. Something was definitely out there. But there was a tachyon detection grid in place, and no cloaked vessel would be able to make it in-system without the station sounding general quarters.

Tw'eak leaned forward, now fully awake, considering the possibilities. She noticed a shockwave of blue energy cascade rapidly across the window from lower-left to upper-right - station defense fields had become active, probably the shields as well. So at least the station crew were responding to it. So what was it? No weapons fire yet. Perhaps Currie was trying to talk to the ship's commander, work out their differences. Given the highly secretive nature of their mission, no doubt a Starfleet response was already being organized from further out of the system at Quebec Alpha. Tw'eak reminded herself that it wasn't her responsibility, that she was supposed to be recovering. Plasmonic sculpture, she said to herself. Let's focus on that.

The comms notification startled her as she was visualizing her next project. "Admiral?" It was Currie. He sounded worried. "Do you have a minute?"

"I... um, hello Admiral."

"We've got a bit of a situation here. I would appreciate your input."

"I don't know if that would be prudent at the moment."

"Doctor Ellington was very specific about your recovery, and I know better than to cross her for no good reason, believe me."

"All right. Give me a minute to get changed and I'll be right up."

"Actually... hold on a minute." The comms channel beeped. Tw'eak was apparently muted at Currie's end. She got up and moved into her bedroom to change. After a few moment, another beep, and Currie's voice again. "Commander McQueen would like you to meet her in Transporter One."

"Transporter? Shouldn't you be talking to Hawkins about-"

"He's sending teams over now. Commander Fontein is establishing a command post over there as we speak."

"All right, then." Tw'eak pulled on her uniform quickly, leaning her head out the door as she changed. "Can you give me some idea of what I'm doing? Is this a combat mission?"

"Not as far as we can tell. Kit will explain when you reach Transporter One."

"I'll be there in five."

Now in uniform, Tw'eak headed towards the door -and stopped abruptly as it refused to open. "Damn." She tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Currie. Would you mind overriding the door to my quarters?"

"I'm afraid I can't. The room's under quarantine."

"Quarantine? Seriously?"

"Yeah. And before you ask, the transporter can't be used either. The computer locks out function when an area of the station is quarantined."

"Can that be overridden?"

"Not without medical authorization."

Tw'eak nodded. She knew that, but she also knew there was no medically valid reason for quarantine - after all, she wasn't an Undine, wasn't a health hazard, wasn't contagious... and so on. "Contact Doc Ellington."

"She's saying no, she wants Kit to handle it."

"So it was her idea."

"So I gather."

Tw'eak touched her upper lip with a finger, then said, "A transporter computer lockout isn't the same thing as a transport inhibitor field. Can one of your pilots use a shuttle's escape transporter to... well, break me out?"

"The pattern buffers aren't terribly accurate. Doing a point-beamout wouldn't be a good idea."

"I don't need a point-beamout. Use the shuttle escape transporter to get me to the shuttle, then use the station transporter to get me over to wherever we're going."

"Stand by." Currie sounded a bit more agitated. It seemed to Tw'eak that he might not be the most adaptable of admirals, as the whole process of breaking out of her own quarters seemed an exasperating one for him to consider. Still, what was she getting herself into, exactly? Currie's voice broke in again, still with an edge of irritation. "Okay, I have Lieutenant O'Leary working the shuttle escape transporter."

"O'Leary? My O'Leary?"

"Yes. He took a shuttle out this morning, told me he wanted to fly something real for a change."

"My O'Leary, all right."

"Stand by for beam-out."

Tw'eak stood clear of her furniture, in an open spot in the centre of the room, and fitted her personal shield belt firmly in place, always prepared. She heard the door open behind her, and Doc walked into her quarters.

"I know what's going on," Doc said. "You are under medical orders to remain here and recover."

"Quarantine?" Tw'eak asked incredulously. "You put me under quarantine. Seriously."

"That's right. It's for your own good. Until you're well enough, you're not going anywhere."

Tw'eak could sense a growing imbalance between the energy in the room and the energy around her. She knew what that meant. She looked at Doc, and said, "Whoops." The transporter beam soon enveloped her, and she caught a brief glance at the interior of a shuttlecraft before she arrived in a small transporter room, nothing like Transporter One on the station. Commanders Fontein and McQueen were waiting for her, along with three security personnel, all clad in armour and wielding phaser rifles in a semi-circle around the officers. On the wall behind her, a multi-function display was visible, depicting the internal arrangement of a Defiant-class starship. It was just what she had discussed with Corbin.

"Good morning, Admiral," Kit McQueen said, her hand phaser holstered at her side. "Welcome aboard the starship Mosquito."

"Mosquito?" Tw'eak was astonished. "What the hell?"

"We don't know either."

"I've got two other teams onboard," Bram Fontein added. "It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen. We can't get into main engineering, or any of the side rooms, but the corridors are empty and our scans don't detect any life signs."

"What happened?" Tw'eak asked.

"About ten minutes ago, station ops detected an incoming vessel at high warp, then the tachyon detection alarm sounded. Shortly after that, this vessel decloaked well within our defensive perimeter, and came to a halt. The really strange part is that no one is on board. We've scanned it twice, and Bram's teams are confirming it: no life signs. No crew."

Tw'eak fought the urge to smile. "I think I might know what this is about." She moved past Fontein to look at the systems display, and added, to herself, "A cloaking device. Nice touch." After a few moments of consultation, she turned to Fontein. "Ask Admiral Currie to find Commander duBois, tell him I need her over here right away."

"Certainly."

She looked over the other shoulder. "Kit, come with me to the bridge."

"We haven't secured that yet," Fontein protested.

"Believe me, Commander, if this is what I think it is, we're completely safe."

Tw'eak and Kit McQueen made their way out of the transporter room, down a corridor to a turbolift. "You know where you're going," Tw'eak inferred.

"Yes, ma'am. My first posting as a tactical officer was onboard the Boudicca. She was a Defiant class refit. My captain included a regular drill where we had to find our way to our lifepods or our duty stations in the dark. Turned out to be a good idea - the Boudicca was lost fighting the Borg out in Gamma Orionis sector, about nine months into my tour. She went down fighting. A lot of us who got out credited that drill for being the reason we made it alive."

"Interesting. I'd never given any thought to that kind of drill before." Tw'eak told herself to remember that for her next command.

"Captain Dauda was one of the best, ma'am. Saurian. You would've liked her. She thought of everything. Unfortunately, she... didn't survive."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"So was I."

The door opened onto the bridge. While everything was operational, no one was there to operate it. Tw'eak saw the station on the forward viewscreen, but a hand across her path forced her to a halt. McQueen drew her hand phaser instinctively, sweeping the room. After a brief moment, she waved Tw'eak in. For her part, Tw'eak nodded slightly to herself in appreciation of Kit McQueen's tactical instincts.

"Fontein to Sh'abbas."

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Go ahead."

"Commander duBois standing by in Transporter One on the station."

"Ask if they can beam her directly to the bridge."

"Aye."

Moments later, Aurora materialized on the far side of the room from Kit and Tw'eak. Her uniform showed signs of being hastily put on, wrinkles in the sleeve and a folded collar on one side. "Morning," she muttered as she straightened her tunic. "What's this about?"

"Take a look for yourself. Defiant class, cloaked, warps into system about half an hour ago. No crew onboard, no idea how it got here. But here it is."

This seemed to revive Aurora somewhat. "Wow. Let me see if I can get the sensors going."

"Admiral?" Kit held up what appeared to be a piece of paper. "This is addressed to you."

"Let me see that." Tw'eak was handed an envelope with her name written on it. "Oh, really." She opened the envelope and read the small black rectangular card enclosed, the writing on it in a silvery ink:

'Hello again. Hopefully this meets your approval. It was the best we could arrange at short notice. Command functions are available at your voice authorization. Please let me know how else we can accommodate your needs. Cordially yours, Corbin'

"This is really too much." Tw'eak shook her head.

"I don't understand, ma'am," Kit replied.

"Never mind."

"Admiral?" Aurora called from the engineering station. "I can't get anything online. It looks like command-"

"Command functions are locked out. Right. Computer, enable all command functions and remove lockout, authorization Shabbas four-tau-seven."

"Computer functions enabled," the onboard computer replied. "Automated defense sequence disengaged. Inquiry: Maintain automated control of engines and non-essential functions?"

Tw'eak turned to Aurora, who nodded. "Yes," she instructed.

"Automated control remains in effect. Standing by for further orders."

"This is incredible!" Aurora exclaimed.

Tw'eak moved over to her side. "What is?"

"The crew quarters, the cargo bays, even the main shuttlebay... they're teeming with pre-fabricated components. I was about to authorize mass replication of a lot of these components, but they're already here before I even needed to start the process. This could save us weeks, maybe months!"

"It's like they knew exactly what the project needed," Kit McQueen added.

Tw'eak bit her lip and remained silent.

"And there's enough photon torpedoes and phaser beam array sections to ready the ship's weapons as well."

Tw'eak's commbadge sounded. "Ellington to Sh'abbas. You better answer me."

Tw'eak rolled her eyes. "Sh'abbas."

"You get back over to this station, or I will get you back even if I have to take an EV suit and drag you back here."

"Stand by." Tw'eak slapped her commbadge a little too hard, and irked herself by the impact. "Aurora, contact the station, instruct the cargo transporter teams to start beaming everything that's needed directly to where it was to be stored. Modify your duty roster accordingly."

"This is so exciting!" Aurora responded, returning to her station.

"Commander, I want you to get Birmal Dazz, and Denver O'Leary, and maybe Octavia too. Get them over here and get this ship operational. I want the Mosquito ready to conduct system patrols and defensive operations within forty-eight hours."

"You're giving me command?"

"It's only fair. I know that admirals typically command more than one starship, but my area of responsibility is the Avenger prototype. If we can get it to basic operational status quickly, then my duty station will be there." Tw'eak was suddenly struck with an idea for a workable cover story. "I requested an escort for in-system patrol. A while ago now, actually, as it happens. Starfleet must really not have much to spare by way of crew." She turned to the display. "Nice touch for them to send so many supplies along with it. More secure than shipping these components by freighter. I think I know who to thank for it, too."

"I think I understand." Kit's facial expression betrayed this statement as false.

"The Undine that tried to replace me most likely has the ability to telepathically contact other Undine. They'll know something happened to it, most likely because it sent dying word that it had been discovered. Then they'll send more Undine, possibly a ship. Lucky for us now we have one of our own ready to fight back, but we need to be ready. In the event we're attacked this deep in-system, our main objective will be to preserve the prototype and get it out of here before it's destroyed." She turned to Aurora. "That means we'll need to rush basic operational status, get the engines and main deflector online, get navigational control and sensors working as well. Whatever it takes to get the Avenger moving."

"Those were my priorities anyway," Aurora said with a nod.

"So my job will be what, in that event?" Kit asked.

"At best, you'll provide a fighting defense of the station, and the prototype, against the Undine. At worst, you and the station defenses will provide the rearguard action that allows the prototype to live and fight another day." Tw'eak looked pained for a moment. "I hate to put it like this, but for all intents and purposes, in the event the station is attacked, everything but the prototype is deemed expendable."

Kit nodded grimly. "Now I understand." She looked over her shoulder. "I'd best get the phaser cannons calibrated."

"Aurora, as soon as we're ready, I want personnel and plans, as much as you can get, moved over to the Avenger. Store everything to do with the project in the prototype's own computer core. It'll save us having to worry about duplicate copies of plans and psionic attacks on specialist personnel if they're already stationed onboard the prototype."

"But that'll mean getting all the crew decks and crew support systems ready."

"I know." Tw'eak pointed at the viewscreen. "And in the event of an Undine attack, that prototype becomes a great big warp-capable lifepod for all the many, many people on that station who haven't had to fight back over the course of their careers. There's too much work to do for them to learn how to fight right now. If they're trapped on the station while the prototype warps away, we're going to be losing a lot of good people."

"I understand, it's just... we're already going to be short personnel." Aurora's facial expression changed from frustrated to insightful in an instant. "Wait a minute - I won't need anyone manning the industrial replicators! That'll get me at least twenty more personnel... it'll work, ma'am!"

"That's what I wanted to hear." Tw'eak smiled proudly. She walked over to Kit, who was leaning over the tactical console. "You have the bridge, Captain."

Kit looked up at Tw'eak, and smiled. "I wish I could call my mom on subspace. She'd be so happy to hear about this."

"Thank you for reminding me. Please lock subspace comms traffic out just like it is on the station. We'd all like to get in touch with our families right about now, but our work on the prototype is too crucial to risk drawing the attention of enemy listening posts and spies."

Kit winced. "All right." She looked up. "Can I call my mom real quick before I lock the comms out? Please?"

"I would love to, really, I would... but if I say yes to your request, then Aurora will insist on calling her sister 'real quick' as well."

"It's true," Aurora confirmed from her station.

"And it won't be 'real quick', because she loves talking to her sister - and about her sister, for that matter."

"Yup," the young engineer added.

"Just like I love my sister. And everyone on that station will wonder, well, I have a sister, or a brother, or a bondmate or a husband or whoever, that I want to contact via subspace-"

"Point taken, ma'am. Never mind." Kit raised a hand in defeat, although her face was smiling. She tapped the tactical console. "Restricting all subspace comms traffic to 'incoming only' and 'admirals' prerogative only'."

"Thank you." Tw'eak turned to Aurora, who was laughing to herself. "Now, if you'll both excuse me, I have a very angry chief medical officer to deal with back on the station." She shook her head. "Surprised she hasn't just beamed me back there in mid-sentence yet. Carry on, the both of you."

"Ma'am?" Kit said quickly as Tw'eak moved towards the exit. Tw'eak turned, and Kit saluted sharply. Tw'eak returned the salute, nodded firmly at Aurora, and walked off the Mosquito's bridge towards the transporter room, the same way she had come.


	8. Chapter 8

The weeks passed quickly. The components provided became bulkheads, corridors, rooms and systems. Aurora and her team had completed the project in seemingly-record time, all according to spec and all well within Starfleet safety parameters. As Tw'eak was being escorted on her tour, having just left main engineering, she found herself a bit wistful with her remembrances of the many starships which she had served on before. She recalled the Repulse's engine room, one of the smallest she'd ever seen. She remembered the towering height of the Sovereign-class starship's warp core, and of course, how the thrumming pulse of the beating heart of any ship she served on came to be an essential part of the daily experience. Seeing a warp core in a static, offline state made her slightly queasy, and she had probably rushed the tour a bit as a result.

But then, it was also possible that her rush had been because the next stop on the tour was the bridge. She and Aurora walked towards the nearest turbolift, followed by T'uni. They had seen the Avenger's shuttlebay, sickbay, the science labs, the impulse engine reactors, the transporter room, Tw'eak's own quarters, and now the engine room was ticked off the list. This was what she had been waiting for.

"Did you get that impulse manifold situation sorted out?"

"Oh, yeah," Aurora replied. "My redesign didn't take into account the change in bearing on the EPS manifolds across the deck. I figured on there being greater generation at the source, but I caught my error when I went back to the plans. We've passed that along to Starfleet already. Did you know they're already building eleven more of these ships based on our design?"

T'uni offered her opinion. "Given the demands of the front lines, I would imagine Starfleet will expedite their construction."

"Yeah. Some of the guys were saying maybe not even six weeks. Utopia Planitia already has all the tooling and everything ready to go for massive production - same with Vulcan and about twenty other shipyards. It'd be easy for them to build hundreds of these ships now."

"Good," Tw'eak replied. "We're going to need them. If the introduction of even just one more of these vessels into service liberates a world from the Klingons, or stops one Borg incursion, then our work will count for something. And that's all I can ask."

While Aurora and Tw'eak turned towards the turbolift, T'uni came to a halt. "With your permission, Admiral, I should like to return to Science and Research in order to ensure that the cloaking device is properly installed."

"Cloaking device?" Tw'eak looked to Aurora.

"We, um... we replicated the Mosquito's. I wasn't going to tell you yet."

Tw'eak looked at T'uni. "I was merely respecting the wishes of the chief engineer."

"I mean, we had space for one, right? So I thought it might be, y'know... kind of cool. A Federation ship with a cloaking device. You don't see that every day."

"Actually, Commander, there are several prominent Federation starship designs which, since the decline of the Romulan Star Empire rendered the Treaty of Algeron effectively null-"

"Thank you, T'uni." Tw'eak shook her head at Aurora. "I'm guessing you've already tied the cloaking device into the shield generators."

"Didn't have to - it was a design feature. One I didn't tamper with at all."

"So this is strictly for experimental purposes."

"Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Starfleet doesn't go sneaking around." After a beat, Aurora added, "ma'am."

"Good. Next time you decide we need more toys to play with, let me know what you're replicating ahead of time."

"Got it. Does that mean we can keep it?"

"If we end up with some kind of bizarre outcome, like suddenly we have invisible crewmen or the ship changes colour or whatever... you're out the first airlock."

Aurora looked mildly shocked as her commanding officer pointed an accusatory finger at her, but shifting her eyes from that hand to her face proved that Tw'eak was joking. "Oh! Okay. Right. Sorry, won't happen again. Although if you ever find out what a tachyokinetic converter is, please let me know."

"Sure. C'mon." Tw'eak stepped into the turbolift. "We'll see you later, T'uni?"

"Unless I am suddenly bombarded with chroniton radiation, in which case I will be invisible." The Vulcan waved her hands slightly, as if to make herself seen.

Aurora laughed. "Main bridge," Tw'eak declared with a huff as the turbolift doors slid shut.

"I bet you're excited," Aurora said after a moment.

"I suppose." Tw'eak shrugged, seemingly indifferent. "I'll hopefully get to see this often enough not to be surprised. Besides, we've run simulations plenty of times. Maybe not simulations that involved cloaking devices, but regardless. The setup is good, I know all the officers by now... nothing I haven't done before."

"But this is all real, it's all finally happening. Isn't that exciting?"

"Yeah."

"I mean, even after all that time in the holodeck, something about being there right next to that warp core when we ran the first few tests... it was something way more special. Maybe because it meant something special being here for real, I don't know. But I just loved the fact that it was my engine room."

"See, but it's the first engine room you've had to command. The first time you've been in charge of it all on your own. I can remember that feeling well. For me, stepping onto the bridge of the Bonaventure for the first time, sitting in that captain's chair, looking around... that was worth remembering."

"I think this will be, too." Aurora giggled a little.

Tw'eak half-smiled. "We'll see."

The turbolift slid to a stop, and the door opened. Aurora ushered Tw'eak to go first, and she stepped out into a small alcove leading to the bridge. Standing below and to the left of her captain's chair, Tw'eak took in the array of stations and the officers busily preparing for their duties. O'Leary sat at the helm; Dazz manned the operations console. Octavia was seated in the captain's chair, with a padd in hand, busily annotating something. To her left, Kit McQueen was at tactical, while Ensign Eli Reichardt was at the secondary operations station to her right, monitoring sensors and balancing shields. The bridge was slightly more spacious than the Bonaventure's had been, and was certainly longer from the viewscreen to the captain's chair, which seemed slightly further back in the room. Along the back wall were auxiliary, science and engineering stations. Tw'eak's ready room was also at the back, where the observation lounge could also be accessed.

"Captain on deck!" Aurora announced. As one, the officers of the USS Avenger looked up at Tw'eak proudly.

"As you were." Tw'eak moved towards the captain's chair, and Aurora walked along with her. "Octavia."

"Captain." Relieved of command, Octavia stood to one side and took the first officer's chair. "We are standing by for your authorization."

Tw'eak, however, hesitated to sit. She turned to face the viewscreen. "Computer, please note that as of this day and time, stardate 99163.2, I am assuming command of USS Avenger by order of Starfleet Command."

"Command authorization noted and granted," the computer replied.

"Thank you." Tw'eak took a look around at the expectant, admiring faces of her bridge crew. "Hello, everyone."

A murmur of acknowledgement and a few smiles greeted Tw'eak as she looked around. Perhaps the biggest smile was from Aurora, who had been right. Tw'eak was quite excited.

"How are the engines, Aurora?"

"Right where I left 'em, ma'am!" Aurora laughed. Tw'eak shook her head, smiling slightly. "We're ready to power up the warp core and commence operations. Just say the word."

"Power us up, please."

"Aye aye, Captain. Warp core startup sequence initiated."

"Impulse engines are on standby," Dazz remarked.

"Main deflector activated and ready for navigation," Reichardt acknowledged.

"Shields and weapons ready, alert status green," Kit noted.

Tw'eak moved towards the chair, still reluctant to sit. She turned to Dazz. "Have all stations report in ready to clear spacedock."

"Aye, ma'am," Dazz said.

"Clearing moorings and all power connections," O'Leary noted. "We're ready for free flight."

Tw'eak sat down, at first hesitantly, then comfortably, while gazing about at the interior of her bridge. "Hello, ship," she said to seemingly no one in particular. "Hope you're ready."

"The board is green, Captain," Octavia said to her. "We may proceed whenever you are ready."

Tw'eak smiled, leaning back in her chair. "Just a minute." She tapped her chair's computer console. A ship-wide hail sounded, and Tw'eak could imagine her voice echoing throughout the ship. "This is the captain speaking. In a few minutes we'll be getting underway, setting out on what's known as a 'shakedown cruise' for this vessel. By now you know that Starfleet has received our finalized, authorized plans for this new class of starships, and will soon be introducing them to general production, and before long, the front lines of service across the Federation. My thanks is due to Admiral Currie, to his team on the station, and to all of you for your hard work. I don't need to tell you that you can be proud of your service in your particular roles in the design, development and assembly of this prototype. But I do want you all to know that I'm proud to have had the opportunity to take part in this project, and that I have an immense respect for the work you have done in order to put this magnificent vessel in working order. We'll try to bring her home in one piece, don't worry. And once again, my thanks to you all. Sh'abbas out."

"Nicely said," Octavia noted.

"Some of them haven't been to space before. The least I can do is remind them that things are supposed to go badly on a shakedown cruise."

"I don't think they will."

"Let's review the course of events."

Octavia held out a padd. "We will clear the Breshar system, taking a circular course to evade being seen from Outpost Quebec Alpha, take a brief warp flight from here to the Ponor system, where we will conduct sensory exercises and assure our scientific equipment settings and navigational alignments. We will then conduct live-fire weapons testing on an abandoned series of monitoring satellites and drones in order to calibrate phaser accuracy and torpedo yields. We will also be running a simulated yellow and red alert status, using drones equipped with holo-emitters to test sensory tracking and power level balancing during combat, along with shield distribution." Octavia tapped the padd again. "We've also taken the liberty of replicating a cloaking device identical to the one from the Mosquito, so that we'll be able to test that and its effect on power loads and distribution as well. The whole process will take the better part of a day, after which we will effect any necessary repairs and modifications before concluding our shakedown cruise with a transwarp flight to Earth Spacedock, where we should hopefully arrive in time for some of us to be the guests of honour at the re-launch of USS Bonaventure."

"Right, that's coming up pretty soon."

"I was wondering if you remembered," O'Leary joked over his shoulder. "Some of us need those promotions, y'know. I'm gonna need the increase in pay that goes with it after I'm married."

Octavia looked confused. "To what form of payment are you referring to? Starfleet does not maintain-"

"Octavia," Tw'eak replied. "He's joking."

"Oh." The liberated Borg considered for a moment. "I would laugh, but the real joke is that I'm getting paid more than you are, then."

O'Leary looked back over his shoulder, surprised. "I- nice one, ma'am." For a moment, the typically witty O'Leary sat silently.

Tw'eak smiled politely. "All right. If everyone's ready, let's do this. O'Leary, half-power thrusters until we clear the station, then lay in a course for Ponor II, warp eight."

"One-half thrusters, aye."

The grand form of the new USS Avenger, first of her class, slid by the edge of her shipyard cradle for the first time. In the windows of the space station stood many of the officers, such as Hawkins, Fontein and Admiral Currie, who had contributed in their own ways to the successful outcome of this building project. Tw'eak watched on the viewscreen as the massive cage-shaped shipyard was no longer visible peering over the edges, and a wave of exhilaration swept over her. She could hear, and sense, the electromagnetic presence of the warp field, the deflectors and navigational shields, the ship around her coming to life. Aurora had been right. She was excited.

After a few minutes along a straight-line path away from the station, O'Leary announced, "now clear for warp speed to Ponor system. Course plotted and laid in."

Tw'eak looked to Octavia briefly with a slight smirk, and in conscious emulation of a Starfleet legend she had once served with, she raised a hand, pointed, and said, "engage."

The sleek lines of the warp engines momentarily lengthened, accompanied by an immense flash of light, as the Avenger leapt free of the system traveling beyond the speed of light.

The ambient noise of the bridge began to shift to a more quiet hum. "Now entering the Ponor system," O'Leary announced. "Heading: Ponor II, full impulse."

"Very good," Tw'eak replied. She turned to the engineering station. "How did that go, Aurora?"

"Efficiency rating is at about 93%, slightly lower entering and exiting warp."

"Are you happy with that?"

"Well, Starfleet operating parameters say 90% are good enough. But those aren't my operating parameters, if you know what I mean. I can get her better than 95%, I just know it."

"Something to work on."

"Captain?" Kit tapped at her console. "I'm detecting a substantial transwarp signature within the system. Looks consistent with Borg activity."

"Borg?" Tw'eak looked at the viewscreen. Ponor II's mass was visible as a distant yellow spot on her screen. "What the hell are they doing here?"

"I have no idea, ma'am."

Octavia accessed some information at her chair. "None of the planets in this system are inhabited. Ponor II is a Class-F planet, uninhabitable even to the Borg."

"Are you getting any sense that they're here?"

"None at all. I should caution you, however, that the Borg may have adapted to that ability of former drones, such as I am. I may not be able to overhear their plans, as it were."

"Right." Tw'eak was concerned. This ship wasn't properly equipped for combat, at least, not in any actual sense of the word. Yes, there were shields and weapons, but the crew was mostly comprised of yard hands and specialists, who had never served together on a starship before - and for some of them, this was their first time on duty aboard one at all. The situation was far, far less than ideal to be taking on such a relentless and formidable foe.

"Shall I place the ship on yellow alert, Captain?" Kit asked.

"Not yet. I want to be sure that they're actually here before we scare anyone on the lower decks."

"Aye."

"We are now approaching Ponor II."

"Standard orbit please, Mr. O'Leary." Tw'eak got up from her chair. "Anything on sensors, Dazz?"

"Possibly, Captain, but I believe Ensign Reichardt would be the person to ask."

"Right. Sorry, old habit."

Dazz smiled. "I understand."

"Ensign?"

Ensign Reichardt worked his console. "We're getting all sorts of data from the planet below, but nothing to indicate any life forms."

"What about around the planet? Tachyon resonance, maybe some form of ion trace or quantum signature?"

"Nothing as yet, ma'am. I'm looking, though."

Tw'eak motioned for Octavia to follow her to one side of the bridge, and her first officer got out of her chair and complied. "Resonance from a Borg transwarp signature and nothing here. What do we do?"

"I would suggest notifying Starfleet of possible Borg activity-"

"All the way out here, though? For what?"

"There are plenty of targets of opportunity for a Borg vessel or fleet. The home system of the Iconians is known to be in this sector block, as are numerous former Romulan possessions. Any of these would be fairly easy targets for the Collective to assimilate new technology."

"There's also this ship, which they would no doubt love to get their hands on."

"Of course. However, I would consider it unlikely. One particular prototype would make a good target for assimilation, but this ship is not built specifically to fight them, nor would it be likely for them to have a foregone awareness of our whereabouts in order to seek it out. Borg do not spy."

"That we know of," Tw'eak said, tilting her head slightly. "Maybe they've adapted to conduct espionage, too."

"Also unlikely. Were that the case, you would have to confine me to the brig as a potential spy."

"No, that won't be necessary."

"I wasn't suggesting that as a likely outcome, merely pointing out that-"

"Captain!" Kit caught Tw'eak's attention. "Something's de-cloaking right ahead of us."

"What is it?"

Kit scanned her instruments, and looked over to Reichardt, who replied meekly, "it's big."

"On screen. All stop."

The shape that appeared ahead of the Avenger was roughly three times its size. While the colourization and shape of certain components of the hull looked vaguely Romulan, the rest of it had been rended with jutting components of metal and glowing arcs of energy. It was as though one ship had begun growing from within the other's hull, and the result looked chaotic, catastrophic, and intensely menacing. Several serrated edges and runners of cold, dark grey hull components pointed down upon the Avenger from around its centre section in a manner not unlike a massive talon in space about to close on hapless prey.

"Tactical analysis?"

"Target's hull mounts multiple plasma-disruptor beam banks, multiple fore and aft torpedo bays holding what appear to be plasma torpedoes, and offensive tractor beam emitters - shield capabilities and hull strength both well in excess of our own... recommend we withdraw and report to Starfleet."

"I agree, Captain." Octavia's face looked grim. "This is either an assimilated Romulan craft or something far worse."

"And I don't hear anyone telling me I'm going to be assimilated today, so 'something far worse' it'd appear to be." Tw'eak moved back to her command chair and sat down. "Hail them."

"Are you sure that's wise, Captain?" Kit's voice sounded strained. "We can't withstand an attack, especially not against their fore weapons."

"Whoever they are, they've revealed themselves for a reason. They might just think we're investigating the transwarp signature, and maybe they'll explain themselves."

"Somehow I doubt it."

"Just make sure that cloaking device is ready if we need it."

"Hailing frequencies open, Captain," Reichardt advised.

"This is Admiral Sh'abbas of the Federation starship Avenger hailing unknown craft. Please respond. We wish to know your intentions."

A few seconds slipped by. Tw'eak looked to Kit, who appeared more alert than she'd otherwise ever seen her. Octavia also looked to be at the ready, although it was hard to tell if she was all that worried since her facial expression seldom changed.

"Unknown craft," Tw'eak said after another few seconds had gone by, "I say again: please state your intentions in this system." She considered for a moment, and then added, "We await your response." She turned to Kit and put her fingertips against each other, as widely as she could extend her fingers in a rounded shape, and spun her hands about her wrists. Then she made several poking gestures. Kit nodded her understanding and reached for her console, to ready weapons and raise shields.

The screen shifted from the threatening shape of the unknown vessel to its interior as contact was established, showing an empty command chair just ahead of a bulkhead emblazoned clearly with the ancient symbol of the Romulan Star Empire. Tw'eak gave an alarmed glance to Octavia. This was not what one associated with the present-day Romulan Republic. That could only mean one thing: their adversary in space was loyal to the Tal Shiar. Tw'eak had known that the Tal Shiar had been seeking a technological edge through the adaptation of Borg technology, but this represented a massive breakthrough on their part.

The chair was occupied by an officer in the old Romulan uniform, adorned with numerous decorations. As she sat down, Tw'eak felt a fool for having left her ship's defenses inactive in the face of such a clear threat. This would call for a little stalling action to give Kit time to power up all the defensive systems. The dark-haired Romulan gave a haughty look of imperious command. "Admiral Nerala Koval. Romulan Star Empire. I arrest you and your crew in the name of the Tal Shiar."

"I... don't think you understand. We are on a peaceful mission-"

"I assure you. It is you who do not understand. Your ship will be impounded as property of the Tal Shiar. Whether it is in its current state or smashed beyond repair by this battlecruiser is a choice I leave to you."

"Oh." Tw'eak tilted her head back, giving Koval a look of disbelief. So stalling wouldn't work, she thought. This called for a more direct approach. "You'll have to excuse me, it's just... having been in Tal Shiar custody once or twice, I don't recall you people ever being capable of stopping me before. Actually, come to think of it, you Tal Shiar types aren't really terribly capable of much, are you. Must be hard for you." She looked down, touching a hand to her lips. "Well, no, actually, that's not true. I'm sure you regard cruelty and the torture of innocents to be among your highest forms of achievement, don't you?"

Koval's eyes narrowed at Tw'eak. "I would consider it unwise to taunt me, Admiral." There was a bitter hatred in her voice, undisguised.

"Of course you would. All those medals you're wearing... clearly not someone to be trifled with. What was I thinking?" Tw'eak stood up and took a few slow, deliberate steps towards the viewscreen. "I don't think I'll let you arrest us today... Admiral. Give my regards to Hakeev. It's been a while." Her use of the Romulan's rank carried with it the same acid tone that Koval had herself used. She turned to face her bridge crew, consciously turning her back visibly from Koval's perspective. "Ensign, lose this channel."

As Koval began to protest, Reichardt cut the feed. "Channel closed."

"I'd say that was something less cordial than she was used to," O'Leary noted.

"Probably a lot less submissive," Dazz added.

"Red alert. Give me thrusters. Let's not sit here and wait for them to open fire - evasive maneuvers."

"We're moving," O'Leary noted.

"Pattern kappa-four."

"Kappa-four, aye."

"The Romulan vessel is powering weapons," Reichardt noted.

Tw'eak looked to Kit. "And ours?"

"All ready and good to go. I guess the calibrations will have to wait."

"You can calibrate as they go. I'm not worried, Kit. I'm confident in you."

Kit pursed her lips and looked back to her console, consciously working not to let her commander down.

"They're firing," Dazz noted. The ship shook mildly. "Glancing shot against our shields. They can't turn at the same rate we can."

"They're trying to lock onto our hull with some sort of kinetic cutting beam," Kit added. "It's not getting through our shields."

"A cutting beam like that would require more power than a typical singularity core could probably generate," Octavia noted.

"So for now, it's just a beam." Tw'eak saw Octavia nod in reply. "That's good to know. Keep us moving, O'Leary."

Kit looked up. "Should we open fire, ma'am?"

"Not yet. Like you said, we're better off getting free of them."

"I have sensor analysis of their vessel completed," Reichardt said. "Shall I transmit to Starfleet Command?"

Dazz shook her head. "Our subspace comms system will be offline - it's routed through the deflector."

Tw'eak pursed her lips. "Do we call that a design flaw?"

"No, ma'am," Aurora noted. "The subspace antenna assembly draws a lot of power in order to access subspace-"

"I know, Aurora," Tw'eak replied, cutting her off.

"We're starting to shake them, ma'am," O'Leary observed.

"That may not be a good thing," Kit added. "They'll have forward weapons locked onto us, and when they fire at us-"

"Take us closer to the planet, helm."

"Ma'am?"

"Into the upper atmosphere."

"May I remind the captain that Ponor II's upper atmosphere is composed almost entirely of hydrogen compounds that are extremely volatile?"

Tw'eak gave Octavia a knowing look. "So much so that detonations in the atmosphere can cause volcanic activity on the planet's surface. Yeah." She raised her voice to call out to Kit without breaking her stare. "McQueen, remind me what the main weapons of that thing out there are?"

"Plasma-disruptor hybrid beam arrays-"

"Exactly." Tw'eak's look towards Octavia now included a slight smile. "Let's just hope the Tal Shiar don't do geology." She got up out of her chair and moved to O'Leary's side. As she moved, the ship was struck again twice in rapid succession. "Shields?"

"Holding at sixty-seven percent," Dazz noted.

Reichardt called out, "re-distributing shields to compensate."

"Denver - when we get inside, take us down as far as you can without the shields buckling."

"The rate they're firing at us? We're lucky they aren't buckling already."

The ship was hit again, knocking Tw'eak and forcing her to grip O'Leary's chair. She steadied herself. "I know, but as soon as you detect that they've ignited the atmosphere around them, I want you to initiate hazard emitters and punch us clear - put that planet on our one-eighty and keep it there as long as you can."

"This is nuts, ma'am."

"Trust me, it'll work."

"Aye aye. Taking us in."

The Avenger was struck by a plasma torpedo which detonated harmlessly against the shields. The kinetic cutting beam flashed against its shields but did little damage. However, the hot green glow of plasma-disruptor beams continued, many of them blasting away shield energy.

"Dazz, can you jam their sensors?"

"Only for a couple seconds..."

"That's all we'll need."

"Aye. Sensor jamming suite active."

"Kit, return fire. Just a couple shots from the phasers."

"We're getting awful close to that atmosphere."

"I know. But I don't want them to lose us. Not just yet."

"All right. Phasers firing." After a few seconds, she reported, "Direct hits from all shots. Their forward shield is at eighty-nine percent."

"Excellent. Again?"

"Firing." The noise of phasers fired in anger could be clearly heard through the hull. "Six impacts out of seven. Their forward shield is about seventy-five percent or so."

"Good shooting." Tw'eak smiled appreciatively at Kit.

"We're about to lose sensor jam," Dazz said.

"Now entering the outer atmosphere, descending at a rate of half-a-kilometre per second."

"Increase our angle, make it a full kilometre."

"At that rate-"

"Do it. For five seconds. I want to be all curled up in a blanket of atmosphere when those fireworks start."

O'Leary and Dazz shared alarmed glances at the forward stations. "Increasing angle, aye," the helmsman reported.

"Shields aren't holding very well - we're at thirty-six percent," Reichardt noted.

"Aurora, give me emergency power to shields. Whatever you've got."

"I'll try, ma'am." Aurora worked at her console. "If I wait until the moment of ignition and reverse the shield polarity, we might be able to ride out the force of the plasma energy that ignites."

"Good idea."

"Romulan vessel is still pursuing us," Kit advised.

"They must not realize," Octavia added.

"They've increased speed," Kit acknowledged. "We're out of their weapons range."

O'Leary looked over his shoulder. "Can I at least pull our nose up now?"

"Sure, start taking us out."

"The Romulan - holy shit!" Kit's eyes went wide at her console.

Tw'eak didn't hesitate. "Get us out of here!"

Throughout Ponor II's atmosphere, a massive conflagration was in the process of burning off a cascade of hydrogen. As it did, plumes of flame and lava began to rise from the planet below, some of them reaching high enough to lick the underside of the Avenger's shields. The intense heat blackened the hull and caused the ion exhaust of the impulse engines to glow. O'Leary initiated a rising maneuver and, with fire raging all around it, the Avenger corkscrewed through the atmosphere as it clawed for the edge, and open space again.

Sensors went white, their activity impeded by the scorching presence all around the ship. This meant conact with the Romulan vessel, caught between the force of the detonation against its weapons ports and the force of the updraft of volcanic activity from below, had been lost. But that hardly concerned Tw'eak as she watched the viewscreen as the flaming clouds rushed on by, finally replaced by the great black vacuum of outer space. The Avenger was free of the atmosphere, having shaken its pursuer and left the Romulans to their hellish fate in the pyre of Ponor II.

"We did it!" Aurora exclaimed.

"Oh my," Octavia stated placidly. "That was... exhilarating."

"No kidding." Tw'eak leaned forward, looking at Dazz. "Ship's status?"

"I don't know how we still have an outer hull, but we do. All systems nominal... shields at seventy-six percent."

Tw'eak looked back towards Aurora. "Only you would get us through that with more shield power than we went in."

"Yeah, I guess..." Aurora shrugged sheepishly.

"Good work. Good work, all of you." She turned to Kit. "Initiate cloaking device, please."

"Aye, ma'am. Activating cloak."

Tw'eak leapt out of her chair and moved towards the viewscreen, which was still showing Ponor II behind them. She peered at it, looking for a clear sign of what had come of the Romulan vessel. "All stop, bring us around. Let's see if we can find out what happened to them."

"Sensors are a little mangled at the moment," Reichardt noted. "I'm getting telemetry now. It... appears there is a new transwarp signature present in the atmosphere."

"They jumped to transwarp?" O'Leary was incredulous. "In an atmosphere?"

"They tried to jump," Octavia corrected. "I sincerely doubt they were successful."

"I'm not reading any debris or signs of a quantum singularity detonation." Reichardt looked up. "I'd report it as inconclusive, ma'am."

"That's good enough for me." Tw'eak looked to Kit. "Now that the excitement's over with, how about we get on with the show?"

"Resume our shakedown itinerary, you mean?"

"Precisely. Oh, and... could you please contact the Mosquito? I think it might be helpful if they're in-system for the duration of our time here."

"Agreed," Octavia said. "I was just going to suggest that."

"I'll hail them as soon as the subspace antenna is back online," Reichardt noted. He looked to Aurora.

"Yeah. That was pretty awesome, wasn't it, Captain?"

"It really was." Tw'eak waited a moment, letting her engineer revel in it. "The antenna please, Commander."

"Oh, right!"

"I got it," Dazz said, chuckling.

Tw'eak smiled at Aurora, who blushed fiercely. "Return course to Ponor II, please, Denver."

"Course laid in and plotted," O'Leary acknowledged.

"Full impulse, whenever you're ready. And lower the cloak, as well."

The Avenger made its way back in-system, where having already used its weapons once to good effect, it would spend the next day perfecting the targeting systems' accuracy against holographic drone targets of varying types, among other tasks. Tw'eak was hardly concerned, though. The Avenger had performed magnificently, as had her crew. She felt confident that the worst of this shakedown cruise was well and truly behind them now.


	9. Chapter 9

After two much less eventful days testing, changing, calibrating and modifying, the USS Avenger was at transwarp, moments from arriving in the inner Sol system. Tw'eak was in her command chair, appreciating the ambient noise of work from her bridge crew situated about her. The experience of the last few days had proven invaluable for her to get a sense of how the ship - not a simulation, but the real Avenger class starship - would work. Combat drills, emergency simulations, tests of various starship systems at the limits of their functionality... the human expression was that the ship had passed with flying colours.

Such was not the case, however, as the crew had realized over the time which had followed. The extreme heat and volcanic fires of Ponor II had somehow caused the ship's outer hull to react, giving the ship the look of being charred black. It was the only real fault, and it had been a harmless colourization rather than a serious hull malfunction. One of Tw'eak's worst nightmares had not come about- abandoning ship and awaiting rescue with a next-generation starship hull potentially awaiting salvage by the Tal Shiar. She remembered well how the theft of the USS Prometheus, pathfinder for its class of starship, had set that program back months. She also remembered well how a massive Tal Shiar adapted battlecruiser had proven more than a match for the Avenger, and she worried to herself that maybe for all her efforts, this class of ship might not be enough to turn the tide like everyone was hoping.

"Now approaching Earth Spacedock," Dazz announced as the ship came out of transwarp.

"Wait'll they get a look at what we did to her," O'Leary quipped dryly.

"Now, c'mon," Dazz objected. "It's just a little less shiny than when we left port."

"A little less- Dazz, are you serious? Like, did you do any EV?"

"Once, yeah. Had a bit of a panic attack being out in space by myself again, especially without a clear shape of starship to orient myself to."

"You see? That's what I mean. There's a reason we make 'em so we can see 'em, am I right?" O'Leary looked over his shoulder.

"I don't think the choice of exterior colour is a conscious one," Octavia replied. "It rather comes about due to the particular light reflection your eye perceives." She tapped her head on the side housing a Borg eyepiece. "It looks a lot different to some of us."

Kit McQueen interrupted. "Captain, Earth Spacedock has cleared us for mooring. I have Admiral Quinn on comms for you."

"Put him through, please." The screen changed from a view of the familiar blue marble of Earth in the distance, Spacedock clearly discernible like a small moon above and to its right, to the interior of Admiral Quinn's office. The admiral himself was dealing with some matter on a padd, which he handed back to an adjutant as he turned towards the screen. Tw'eak stood up from her command chair as he offered a friendly smile. "Hello, Admiral - or should I say, Captain?"

"Whichever you'd like, sir. We're due to arrive in spacedock in about... Dazz?"

"Eight minutes, thirty-seven seconds," Dazz reported.

"Then, sir."

"Excellent. One of my aides tells me you've given the ship a bit of a ...paint job?"

"Not exactly." Tw'eak nodded to Octavia, who began transmitting a detailed report on the Tal Shiar and their battlecruiser. "We ran into some old friends. Specifically, the Tal Shiar."

"I see." Quinn's face turned grim. "We're receiving the report now."

"They've taken to utilizing adapted Borg technology in their warbirds, sir. One of their commanders, an Admiral Koval, I believe her name was? She attempted to apprehend us. We were able to utilize Ponor II's atmosphere as a means to escape." Among other things, she hesitated to mention.

"I look forward to reading your report - and I'll forward a copy to Admiral T'nae, since she'll no doubt want to notify ships around Starbase Sierra of the potential threat."

"That would be logical, sir." Tw'eak felt a nagging need to explain herself. "We chose not to engage directly given the value and importance of the prototype."

"Oh, no need for excuses. Given your record I'm sure you would've bloodied their nose even if you'd been forced to resort to throwing stones at them."

Tw'eak smiled. "That's sort of like what we ended up doing." She tossed her head to one side. "It's... all in the report, sir."

"Well, now I really am curious. But it'll have to wait until after the festivities. I have your Pike Medal here on my desk, and I'll be very happy to present it to you later today. One of few parts of this job I still enjoy, to be honest with you."

"I look forward to it, sir. And if this prototype is anything to go by, once this class of starship enters wider service, hopefully your job gets to be a little easier."

"One can only hope, Admiral. See you on Spacedock. Quinn out." 

The medal celebration, the commemoration of the old Bonaventure, and the launching of the brand new USS Bonaventure, NCC-91867-A, under the command of Captain Tucker Sharpe, had proceeded so rapidly that Tw'eak found herself wondering if she'd even made a speech. She had, of course - kept it brief, with the proud lines of a brand new Akira-class starship (which Starfleet had re-allocated from the production lines once the old ship had proven to be more efficient to scrap for energy than repair) looming in the space just beyond, visible through the shielded open wall of the repair bay which was their reception area. Admiral Quinn was giving a final address to the assembled company, but for Tw'eak, she was only able to focus on the feeling of the brown leather case in her left hand. She still hadn't been able to put the Pike Medal down on the table. It rested in her lap beneath her hand, a precious thing, something she had always wanted if she was sincere about it. She had opened the case, felt the soft fabric and cold metal of the award, and felt a bittersweet sort of pride. Earning it had come at a terrible price. The same was true of all her commendations, including those she was to present to those who had survived to attend today.

She looked around briefly, once again very impressed with the massive reception area which Repair Bay Seven had been re-purposed to serve as for the day. The equipment and worker bees had been stowed, some of them festooned with floral garlands and other decorations. Starfleet had also seen fit to place a floral arrangement in the number '78' at the edge of the forcefield, representing the number of crew members who had been killed when the Borg probe had struck the Bonaventure. There was also an oversized version of the ship's plaque on one side of the flowers, with an equally large ship's crest to its right. Seating for the full crew complement of the new ship, in a curved perimeter of chairs around a raised platform, had been more than possible. Upon the platform was a head table for the assorted Starfleet brass, along with herself and Captain Sharpe on either side of the speaker's platform. While she had paid tribute to him in her speech, Tw'eak had not yet had an opportunity to talk casually with her former first officer, now this crew's commander. Nor had she seen anyone else she had known except for those among the Bonaventure's crew who had come over with her from the Avenger.

Tw'eak focused on Admiral Quinn's voice again as it rose to a crescendo. "And so I say to you, proud crew of the Bonaventure... may you continue to strive in all your endeavours to aspire to the noble memory of those whose ultimate sacrifice helped safeguard the Alpha Quadrant from its destruction. May you continue to serve as proudly and as nobly as those who served with you in this great starship's predecessor. And may you continue to strive, and persevere, in the hopes of that great day when the last cannon, the last torpedo launcher, the last beam array fall silent at last, and the galaxy returns to peace." He took a half-bow as he concluded, and the room rose in a standing ovation. Tw'eak finally put down the Pike Medal on the table, and stood in unison with all the others present to applaud.

As Quinn stepped back from the podium, Tw'eak found herself looking not at him or Sharpe, or even the assembled crew, but at the lines and form of the new Bonaventure. Fond memories of her first command came over her, and she felt a bit overwhelmed with her own recollections. Suddenly Admiral Quinn was before her, offering a hand to shake. She wiped a tear from her eye, returned his handshake, and shook her head. She felt her antennae recline inwards, an Andorian equivalent of blushing, and she forced herself to regain control of her expression. Clearing her throat, she looked out over the assembled mass and picked out Lio'wan, head and shoulders above the crowd, applauding where he had been seated between Dazz and O'Leary, and smiled.

The applause died down, and Admiral Quinn returned to the podium. "Before we proceed to the dinner and reception which will follow, which I'd like to remind you all will be held in Assembly Hall D, that's D as in Delta, I would like to call upon Rear Admiral Sh'abbas, who won't be the only one receiving a decoration today."

Tw'eak stood up, gathering a larger box from the table beside her, which she handed to Admiral Quinn. The Admiral accompanied her as she walked down the edge of the raised platform and stood before the podium, which Sharpe now occupied.

"I would like to call upon the following officers of the USS Bonaventure, NCC-91867, to come forth and receive the Starfleet Medal of Commendation from Admiral Quinn and Rear Admiral Sh'abbas for their service aboard ship between stardate 99104.0 and stardate 99125.1 - Lieutenant Morl. Lieutenant Birmal Dazz. Lieutenant Evan Chowalski. Lieutenant Denver O'Leary. Ensign Stral. Commander T'uni. Lieutenant Zolnaen Didaggo. Commander Aurora duBois. Commander Morkniar."

Before the crowd assembled representatives of almost every major world in the Federation - Tellar Prime, Sauria, Vulcan, Benzar, Bolarus and Earth - to be presented an award by admirals from Trillius Prime and Andoria. As Tw'eak bestowed the awards on each of them, their reactions differed. Morkniar, the Bonaventure's chief engineer, seemed quietly pleased, while Morl seemed ornery, not unusual for a Tellarite. Dazz looked as though she wanted to say something witty, but thought better of it. The same seemed true of O'Leary. For his part, Chowalski didn't seem to know what he was doing there, and his apprehension was obvious. The Vulcans T'uni and Stral both remained passive as Tw'eak presented their medals, while Aurora was having a hard time keeping her hands at her side, giving her commanding officer an immense smile which Tw'eak had a hard time not reciprocating. The last in line was Zed, who kept furtively glancing over at Aurora, distracted by her intensity. He rolled his eyes slightly with a smirk as Tw'eak presented him with his medal, and Tw'eak clucked her tongue at him a few times softly.

"Congratulations to all of you. You may return to your seats," Sharpe instructed. The crowd applauded, and the officers turned to face them for a moment before making their way back into their seated areas "Admiral Quinn and Rear Admiral Sh'abbas will also be presenting the Starfleet Decoration for Conspicuous Gallantry in recognition of bravery above and beyond the call of duty demonstrated by officers of USS Bonaventure between stardates 99104.0 and 99125.1. I would like to call upon the following officers to present themselves: Commander Lio'wan, Commander Eight of Twelve..." Sharpe hesitated for a moment. "And Captain Tucker Sharpe."

The crew murmured for a moment, then applauded their captain. As Sharpe made his way down to the edge of the platform, Tw'eak could see for the first time that he walked with a limp, a legacy of the damage to his legs caused by the Hirogen attack upon him. He presented himself at Tw'eak's far right, making him the last to receive his commendation. As one, Octavia and Lio'wan shifted their position so that they stood to Sharpe's left, causing Tw'eak to present him first and foremost with his award. Sharpe looked from Octavia to Tw'eak, surprised. Tw'eak smiled. As she pinned on the Decoration, she said, "Congratulations, Tucker."

Sharpe made a whispered protest. "I thought it was supposed to go in order of-"

Tw'eak leaned in. "You're a captain now. Not everything goes by the book. Remember that."

Sharpe looked to his former commander and nodded, then saluted sharply. Tw'eak returned his salute, then came to Octavia, and presented her with the Decoration. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." Octavia's facial expressions were hard to read at the best of times, but the silent pride she felt in her recognition and receiving the Decoration was self-evident. She saluted Tw'eak with the precise parade-ground shape one would have expected.

Then Tw'eak took another step, standing before the man who had saved her life, the big Caitian flight deck officer. Lio'wan's tail twitched slowly but in regulated time behind him, and he looked desperately out of place at attention. "Congratulations, Lio'wan."

"Ma'am." The massive build of Lio'wan's chest gave Tw'eak a bit of a reach to pin on the Decoration, but as she did, she felt herself suddenly become as elated as Aurora had been at receiving her medal earlier. In lieu of a salute, and quite unexpectedly, she put her arms around the bulky midriff of the Bonaventure's new first officer and embraced him as tightly as she could. The crowd, and for his part, Admiral Quinn as well, broke into laughter at the sight of a lithe, diminutive Andorian shan nearly knocking over an immensely tall and well-built Caitian.

The reception that followed had been a blur to Tw'eak. So many hellos, even more farewells, another hug for Lio'wan, updates on people's status or state of mind... and a great many "thank you"s. But in the midst of it, Admiral Quinn had worked his way into the frame, sidestepping Ensign Chowalski and his wife, to ask Tw'eak a question.

"Can you make a ten-hundred meeting tomorrow morning?"

Tw'eak smiled at her admiral. "Of course, sir," she replied instantly.

"No, I mean it. There are... a couple of things we should discuss."

Tw'eak's face turned more serious. "May I ask what?"

"Nothing too concerning... just the future."

"Ah. Generally, or mine?"

Quinn gave Tw'eak a mock-sincere look. "Temporal mechanics and theory." He grinned and shook his head. "Of course, yours. Specifically, your next command."

Tw'eak smiled. "I'll be there, sir. Looking forward to it."

The one truly memorable conversation she'd had was that she finally had the opportunity to meet Doc Ellington's partner, Dr. Kimberley Hewson, one of the chief xenopathologists at Starfleet Medical. She was nothing like Doc - where Doc was boldly witty, with a short and greying crew-cut, and the decisive hand motions of a surgeon, the long-haired blonde Hewson was subtly clever in her turns of phrase, graceful in her motions and elegantly clad in a dark blue evening gown. She and Doc played off of each other so wonderfully that Tw'eak felt more like she was at a variety show than engaged in cordial conversation.

"I must say," Hewson said in parting, "that it has been such a pleasure to meet you, Admiral."

"If it wasn't for Doc, you probably never would have. She saved my life at least twice."

"I didn't say anything," Doc quipped as Hewson looked at her quizzically. "I don't like to talk about work when I get home."

"Maybe you'll tell me, then," Hewson said, giving a half-sincere frown at Doc before looking to Tw'eak.

Tw'eak held out her right arm across her chest, half-lowered, and gestured to it with her left. "This, for instance. It's a bio-synthetic replacement. Even I can't see the joins at the shoulder anymore when I take my shirt off." She raised her chin slightly and her right arm came up to indicate her throat, where the scar of the kut'luch remained. "And I nearly bled to death from here, but Doc kept me stable long enough to repair the severing of both major arteries and one of the major veins - along with half my trachea."

Doc lowered her head. "All right, all right." She turned to Hewson. "Tw'eak had a nasty habit of putting herself in harm's way back when she served as tactical officer on the Nelson." She looked up at Tw'eak. "Hasn't broken that habit, either."

"Shirley, just once I would like someone to offer you a compliment that you didn't spit back in their faces." Hewson's tone sounded serious, but she was smiling at her partner.

"Not my fault - I find them unpalatable."

Tw'eak pointed threateningly at Doc, surprising her. "You saw what I did to Lio'wan back at that ceremony. Do you know why? Because he saved my life."

"No."

"Yes. He carried me into the lifepod-"

"No, I mean, you wouldn't DARE."

Tw'eak extended both arms, to embrace her. "C'mere, you."

Doc went to move backwards, but a sashay of blonde hair and a pair of arms around her waist made escape impossible. "Go on, get her!" Hewson shouted in encouragement.

Tw'eak bore down on her target, squeezing her chief medical officer within an inch of her life. She ignored Doc's protests and threats of having her relieved of duty.

"Thanks for the assist," Tw'eak said to Hewson as she stepped backwards.

"Any time. If anyone knows how hard it is to get their arms around her, it'd be me." Hewson smiled proudly at Doc as she added, "isn't that right, doctor incredible."

Doc was blushing fiercely, her dark brown skin lit up in a reddish tone. "Not in front of the customers, Kim."

"If you're ever in the neighbourhood, Admiral, please stop by Medical Headquarters in Buenos Aires and say hello." Hewson's head was inclined in a sincere manner.

"Of course - and please, call me Tw'eak." She shook Hewson's hand and turned to Doc. "Have they said anything about you about your next posting yet?"

"As usual, I'm the last to hear about anything," Doc joked.

"Right. Admiral Quinn wants to meet with me tomorrow to discuss it."

"Oh, that's what that's about."

"She wasn't kidding," Hewson added. "Last to hear anything." She took a step closer to Doc. "Now, if you don't mind, Doctor, I'd like to get you home before nightfall."

"Not in front of Tw'eak-"

"So I can show you the new front walkway." Hewson clucked her tongue in distaste. "Really, now, is that all you can think of?"

"I should go," Tw'eak interrupted.

"Of course. A pleasure meeting you, of course."

"And you as well, Doctor." Tw'eak looked to Doc. "Ten-hundred tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't hurt yourself in the meantime."

Tw'eak had spent that evening unable to sleep. Part of it was the reception - champagne had always bothered her stomach - but her anxiety over the next morning made it well-near impossible to settle. Awaiting news had always been like that for her. If only Quinn had given her a hint - a starship, a new project, a backwater space station someplace... what? She gave some consideration to looking up what assignments were available, but she doubted that Spacedock computers would simply tell her as much. She had checked her own personnel file anyway just to be sure. She was listed as having just relinquished command of USS Avenger, which was true enough. But there was no new entry thereafter. Her frustrations led her to a long look down towards Earth below, watching as ships came and went from the spacedock entrance above her.

The next morning came early, leaving her feeling like she had gone to warp without inertial dampeners. She struggled to scrape herself out of bed, stretched, took a lengthy sonic shower to work out the pains in her back and neck, and after dressing in a fresh dark uniform, indulged in a cup of replicated raktajino - nothing like katheka but far stronger and more readily available. She was done well ahead of time, and wandered the decks of Earth Spacedock aimlessly for an hour and a half in anticipation of the meeting.

At oh-nine-fifty-six, she abandoned a second cup - this one of Vulcan spice tea, to settle her nerves - and arrived punctually three minutes later in Admiral Quinn's office. To her surprise, Octavia, Doc and Aurora were already there. Aurora and Octavia both rose from their chairs, while Doc, who stood behind looking at a galactic map, turned to see her walk in. None were smiling, all looked a bit worse for wear from the night before, and all were in thankfully impeccable uniforms.

"Good, we're all here. Ensign?" Quinn gestured to one of his liaisons, who handed padds to each of the four officers. "As you'll see on the roster, I'm assigning you to the USS Warspite. I originally had hoped to put you on the Bellerophon, since it was to have been the first production Avenger-class starship, but after consultation with my tactical team, I thought you might find Warspite preferable."

"May I ask why?"

"Her weapons have yet to be installed. Given your open-ended recommendations in your report on the Avenger class starship, I thought you might like to be able to arrange her tactical dispositions as you saw fit." Quinn gestured towards the padd in Tw'eak's hands. "However you decide, there are some other matters to be attended to, which will affect your bridge crew."

Tw'eak looked at the padd, which listed a series of transfers of personnel. "Almost all of them."

"Indeed. I hate to break up your crew, but it's time. We're short of good officers, and I have it on good authority that nobody likes to bring you bad news like this."

"It's true," Aurora said with a quick giggle.

Tw'eak read from the list, mostly to herself. "Wow, good for O'Leary."

"We have an upcoming project, involving a new class of patrol escort. He's a very capable test-pilot, and we hope he can help us fine-tune the Tempest class starship as he did with the Avenger."

"Oh, good, Kit McQueen actually gets the Mosquito after all."

"Indeed." Quinn chuckled. "That was an easy one. She's a fine officer, and she'll make a good captain in her own right, as many of you will-"

Tw'eak blinked, interrupting the admiral. "Commander T'uni will be joining Starfleet Intelligence." She looked up from the padd. "Really."

"Given her capacity for breaking down Orions under interrogation, that one was a matter of time. As was Lieutenant Dazz."

"I see that. She's being tracked into the command ranks?"

"It was an application she made during her recovery - well, the first one, anyway. She was accepted the second time out. I'm surprised she didn't discuss it with you."

"As am I. Will she be promoted as a result?"

Quinn shook his head. "Only if she's successful. We have lieutenant commanders in charge of ships - from all three branches of the service, too. We just don't have time to train them all the way up to the rank of Captain anymore. We need capable crews for ships." His eyes darted as he spoke between Aurora and Octavia. "Which brings me to my next question."

Aurora had noted Quinn's gaze and looked at Octavia apprehensively. Octavia, for her part, was placid as always.

"I have starships waiting for each of you, if you'd like them. Now, I know you will no doubt decline, Doctor Ellington."

"You'd be right," Doc replied. "My place is in a sickbay."

"Of course." He looked to Octavia. "Commander?"

"I am prepared for the possibility, but I would respectfully decline. I do not feel adequately adapted to the ranks of command in order to consider myself worthy of the privilege."

"Most of your duties would be straightforward, a small crew. You wouldn't be a hundred light years from here." He checked a padd. "The Livingston. Miranda class."

"While I appreciate the offer, immensely, I feel I have much more progress to make in becoming not only a command officer, but also in continuing my recovery from my lengthy captivity in the Borg."

"And you feel that serving with Admiral Sh'abbas would be the best means to that end?"

"She is a capable officer, and an example worthy of emulation." Tw'eak felt herself blush and incline her head slightly in Octavia's direction. "When the time is right, I will accept command with the pride the service demands. But not yet, sir."

"Very well." Quinn looked to Aurora. "Which leaves me with you, Commander duBois."

"Me? Really?"

"Really."

"I... wow."

"The Steamrunner-class USS Olympia."

"Steamrunner? Oh- that's... wow, I served on one of those when I was just an ensign, I know it inside-out, just like the Avenger."

"Indeed, it was convenient that it was available. One might call it an opportunity."

Aurora looked at Quinn, stars in her eyes, then noted that Tw'eak was studiously avoiding eye contact. For Tw'eak's part, she was simply trying to avoid swaying Aurora's decision, but she could hardly have known that her evasive stance was doing exactly that. "I'm not sure I'm ready, either, sir, like the commander said, sir... not yet, sir."

"You're sure?"

Aurora closed her eyes, thought it over, swallowed hard, and replied, "yes, sir," in a meek tone that sounded slightly disappointed.

"I'm sorry if I seem to be pressuring any of you - as I said, we have a shortage of good officers, and the rear admiral is certainly fortunate to have you aboard the Warspite."

Doc spoke up. "Can I ask, sir, about Lieutenant Didaggo? I didn't hear him mentioned."

"Ah yes. He's listed in the officer pool, he would be available for selection, although he has requested a sciences assignment, rather than continuing as a combat medic. I should also point out that an old friend of yours was in touch with me, regarding Romulan Republic officers serving in Starfleet on exchange programs. Would you be interested in participating?"

"Certainly," Tw'eak replied. "I'd be happy to do just about anything to help the Romulans out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that. I've assigned Centurion Tavian to your roster as well. He's a tactical officer. He comes highly rated by the Republic, although their ratings system may not be as ...rigourous as ours." He stood up. "There's one other thing. We have a small number of defectors whom we've been able to persuade to our side over the years - from the KDF, the Tal Shiar, a few Jem'Hadar... even a Tholian. Most of them are very capable, very talented officers. If you're comfortable with them on board, they will also be available as part of your crew selection process as well."

"We're really diversifying, aren't we?" Tw'eak asked with a half-smile.

"Given our personnel shortages, anyone who's willing to serve loyally is welcome to the opportunity."

"Even aboard one of these brand-new Avenger-class starships?" Doc inquired. "That's quite a security risk."

"True, but I fully expect the Warspite to be one of the finest ships in Starfleet service, capably run and well secured against any unpleasant breaches or leaks. Besides which, many of these defectors have their own agendas, and I need officers who can build teams, who can embody the idea of infinite diversity in infinite combinations, and conduct themselves without prejudice or personal feelings towards them." Quinn looked at Tw'eak. "You've handled yourself well with the Republic, and shown yourself to be as capable in diplomacy as you are in combat. I know you can work with them."

"To be fair," Octavia declared, "none of you have any cause to trust me, either."

"But you're not a Borg anymore!" Aurora exclaimed.

"Point taken," Tw'eak concluded, turning back to Quinn. "Thank you, sir. Is there anything else?"

Quinn sat back down, reaching for another padd. "Last thing. Starfleet Academy is holding a special series of guest speaking engagements called the James T. Kirk Guest Lectures and Symposium on Starship Command. And since you'll have nothing better to do until the Warspite is armed and ready for combat, I was quite hopeful that you'd be willing to take part."

"Public speaking engagements aren't really one of my areas of expertise."

"You did just fine yesterday - in front of a bigger audience."

"I had been in command of that 'bigger audience' for four and a half years."

"Still... given your experiences in command, especially aboard...what was that ship, the Renown?"

"Repulse, sir."

"Yes. That business with your captain being replaced with an Undine. It might make a good subject."

Tw'eak fought the urge to protest. Any further trepidation on her part would be a futile endeavour. "Just let me know when, sir."

"I'd also like you to be a presence around the Academy for a few days before and after. Nothing stressful, just be around, show-the-flag, that sort of thing."

"I see."

"Can I come?" Aurora asked. "I haven't been back to the Academy since grad."

"I would not object to such an assignment as well." Octavia looked to Tw'eak. "Although in my case, it would be for different reasons... I have no recollection of my time at the Academy."

"Don't look at me," Doc insisted as the room's attention drifted to her. "I'd be more useful at Starfleet Medical until we go back to space. It'd be nice to see what Kim's up to these days."

"Very well. I can arrange all of that." Quinn smiled. "Any other questions?"

"Not presently, sir."

"Good." Quinn stood up. "You'll do fine, I'm sure. Good luck all the same. Dismissed."


	10. Chapter 10

The grounds of the Academy had been just as Tw'eak remembered them. Some had been newly constructed after the Breen attack when she was a cadet, but the slope-sided structures with shuttles buzzing here and there overhead, the gardens and walkways, the rounded buildings and the rectangular dormitories... all were as comfortable to Tw'eak as they had ever been. She had been here for five days, almost instantly re-acclimatizing to her old routine of a morning run, a quick breakfast after a shower, and a cup of katheka in hand wherever she went. She and Octavia had attended two of the lectures in the series which Admiral Quinn had asked her to be a part of, and she was so far enjoying herself, although she had no idea what else could be said on the topic. As was part of her usual routine now, she sat with Octavia in a shaded area off the main pavilion, looking out as the cadets hurried this way and that. A padd, an empty cup which had once held a full measure of katheka, and a fallen leaf which had drifted errantly to land at its edge, sat upon the small table between them. The warm ocean breeze and the smell of flowerbeds in bloom were both unfamiliar and comforting all at once to Tw'eak, and she re-positioned in her chair.

"I can't say that I feel at all qualified to be here," she began.

"As your first officer, it's kind of alarming to hear you say that."

"Oh. I mean the lectures." Tw'eak smiled. "I feel much more qualified aboard a starship, if that helps."

"Yes, thank you." Octavia offered a sort of grin of her own. "I have, as you know, attended several lectures and tutorials, as well as partaken in a number of activities. Nothing is sufficiently stimulating to provoke my remembrances of my days here."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I had a lot of fun at the Academy, but then, I don't really know what you would have done as a botanist. There was a lot of simulator time, weapons training and practice. Those useless practice weapons, only worked half the time- I'm sorry, I don't remember if you did basic weapons training here. Pain in the antennae, the whole arsenal of them."

Octavia's voice was clipped. "Lieutenant Jermyn qualified, yes."

Tw'eak paused. "You refer to her as though she was another person altogether, just someone on the duty roster."

"I have come to accept the notion that, for most intents and purposes, she very well may have been. The facts and details of her life do not touch upon my existence, now that I have been liberated from the Collective. I was told to expect as much."

"No doubt. From what I've read it would be like a sort of post-traumatic stress, a flashback, for you to experience a connection to your former self."

"It has happened before. It is always... most unpleasant." Octavia brushed her hair aside as she looked down, then shook her head to throw it backwards. "At any rate, the absence of Commander T'uni from our next posting will require me to begin another doctor-patient relationship in order to support my ongoing duty assignments." She looked over at Tw'eak. "That also will prove most unpleasant."

"Tell me about it. One of my best friends and she doesn't even tell me herself that she's been transferred. I have to hear it from the Admiral - and then hide my surprise at the news."

"I must admit I was more surprised at Lieutenant Dazz's decision to enter command."

"I wasn't. She's going to make a brilliant officer. She may make full admiral before I do."

"That doesn't seem altogether likely."

"She might. You might." Tw'eak leaned in a bit. "You had your chance at command."

"I doubt it would have proven an altogether positive experience for me. I have no such ambitions. I would imagine the crew would view me as a ...Borg queen, shall we say?" Despite the joke, and her attempt at a wry expression, Octavia's eye was clearly not as mirthful.

"Comes up a lot, doesn't it. The prejudice, I mean."

"I have often considered having my scars and Borg implants replaced, but I have grown... accustomed to them. The Borg eyepiece regrettably functions beyond what is available through Federation technology, so to replace it would represent a regression. Further, regeneration would have to occur on a regular basis regardless as my body has adapted to that as well, so to condition to a bio-synthetic ocular implant, to say nothing of the skull reconstruction..." Octavia looked away. "It would be futile. I cannot disguise what I am."

"We could try to change that even with your being what... who you are."

"How?"

"Well... We don't have to call you Eight of Twelve anymore. Or Octavia, either."

"Curious. Would you revert to my former designation?"

"No. We could select a whole other name for you. You could choose it for yourself."

"It would be irresponsible. Falsifying my records to conceal my identity-"

"Nobody said anything about falsification!" Tw'eak protested.

"Those who wished to learn more of my service record would become suspicious once they learned I had altered my designation. Consensus would be impossible, and crew cohesion would fragment. It would undermine their confidence."

"More so than knowing you're a liberated Borg?"

Octavia considered for a moment. "In my present state I arouse curiosity, even pity. To pose as some new identity would result in... unpredictable outcomes. Rumours." She shifted uncomfortably. "I dislike such things."

"Rumours are known to happen. You'd be surprised at how many stories circulate about me being intimately involved with people."

"It is a subject I would more happily avoid, as I have learned recently."

Tw'eak inclined her head. "That's right, I never did ask you how that was going."

"It has ceased." Octavia's tone was unmistakeably definitive. "I have no further purpose for Commander Larkin."

"A bit harsh, don't you think?"

"I do not. His repeated inquiries as to when we would see each other again were becoming inconvenient."

"I think he likes you, a great deal, if he's asking about that."

"But he is aware of my assignment - or at least, he became aware of my assignment only recently. I had to explain my reasons for my lengthy silence with minimal reference to classified information."

"I know. I talked to my sister two days ago, and you'd think I had come back from the dead." Tw'eak smiled at the memory of her conversation with her sister.

"He also makes continual references to individuals whose behaviour I cannot account for, such as Jeanice."

"Jeanice? Another woman?"

"Indeed. His second in command. He insists to me that I am apparently 'making her jealous'. It was neither my intention nor my desire to do so."

"He could just be saying that to make you jealous. Old trick, that."

"Regardless, I severed our last communication due to his insistence that our interaction was having such an effect upon her. To be the cause of a breakdown in the cohesive performance of an astrometrics unit is unacceptable."

"Octavia..."

"I have since received nineteen separate communication attempts from him."

"And when did you sever this communication?"

"Thirty-nine hours, seventeen minutes ago."

Tw'eak shook her head sadly, laughing in spite of it. "You broke his heart, Octavia."

"I... I do not understand."

"You've never been in love - well, not that we know of, of course."

Octavia looked puzzled. "Of course."

"It's not a rational, cohesive process. Sometimes it forces people to make hard choices."

"But such hard choices, as you call them, would result in rejection from the greater whole."

"Yeah. You're right. But they get made anyway. I remember when Dashii fell in love with this Andorian privateer, Qaz. She left her bond group - actually, that was the first time she left Andoria. I was on Vulcan at the time, and of course I got the call via subspace to go and find her. Two of my brothers were already at the Academy and couldn't exactly leave. So it was up to me. By the time I brought her home, I was already full of regrets. She was only fourteen or so, but to be honest, what she and Qaz had... I would give my entire career in Starfleet to have that kind of life."

"I do not believe you when you say that."

"No, Dashii was always stupidly impulsive. It wouldn't have lasted - the way she handles men..." Tw'eak held up her empty cup of katheka. "Like I go through these. They're pleasing, they serve their purpose, then... off they go. And sometimes after comes heartburn."

Octavia shrugged. "I am sorry I cannot understand her attitude."

"Neither can I. But still, to just go... to leave everything behind, for the sake of love... I don't know, it's a powerful fantasy. Nobody seduces you when you're an admiral, anyway. And even then, you always wonder who they're working for - Tal Shiar? Klingon Intelligence? The Syndicate? And so on."

"Indeed. I have come to realize that emotional reactions are a constant negative influence. I often inquired of T'uni whether I would be a suitable candidate for the kolinahr ritual."

Tw'eak's eyes went wide with alarm. "Seriously? I don't know if that's a good idea."

"To be purged of emotional-"

"Yeah, if you're Vulcan. I don't think you can hold yourself to that. I couldn't."

Octavia turned her head towards Tw'eak, intently staring at her. "I didn't realize you had attempted the kolinahr ritual."

"No, I wasn't eligible. But I learned a lot. One of the most important things the Vulcans taught me is that guilt, anger, hatred... those are emotions, too. You seem to be pretty angry with yourself. I'm not a counselor, but if I were to hazard a guess I'd say it has something to do with your assimilation - and living with the consequences of it."

"I have not fully adapted to my return to civilization. I find the limitations I encounter to be intensely frustrating."

"But capping the wellspring of your emotional expressions, even your frustrations, isn't a good idea either." Tw'eak smiled. "I've learned that one the hard way."

"I see." Octavia tilted her head and looked upwards. "I haven't considered this."

"Your tone there, for a while, about Larkin, about life... you got to sounding awfully Borg. That's not like you."

"Perhaps it is, and the rest is just... so much failed attempt at adaptation."

Tw'eak felt her antennae move in a piteous fashion and forced them to remain neutral. She didn't want Octavia thinking that her commanding officer felt sorry for her, too. "Or perhaps the adaptations are stronger than you give them credit for being. You can take it from me, as your captain and your friend. You're doing very well and I'm proud to serve with you."

"Of that, I have no doubt, and I appreciate it. However, my concerns are for those on this duty roster - that they will see me as inferior, as less than a complete officer, because of my experience in the Borg."

"You know, last evening, listening to Admiral Janeway's address to the cadets... I was glad you came to that, by the way."

"It was an honour to meet such an esteemed Starfleet admiral. I must admit... she seemed sincerely curious about me."

"No surprise there, she helped Seven of Nine back from assimilation, and she was taken by the Borg far younger than you were."

"Indeed. That was before Project Ascension was started."

"Project Ascension wouldn't have ever even happened without Seven of Nine. And a lot of ex-Borg would've had a much harder road back."

Octavia nodded. "You were saying."

"Right. Listening to her address... I thought to myself, I've got nothing to top this. She went all the way to the Delta Quadrant and back again. This is who they should be listening to about leadership and the meaning of duty."

"To suggest that your experiences are somehow less valid or less worth discussing since they do not involve the Delta Quadrant would be - ah."

"I think you see what I'm getting at. I might feel that way, but it's not going to stop me from putting my little talk together and doing my best. Heck of an act to follow."

"And so I should proceed as well."

"Yeah. Another example - do you know who the captain of the new Enterprise is going to be?"

"I do not."

"Va'Kel Shon." Octavia looked appropriately impressed. "See? Pays to listen to rumours every now and then, although I heard this one from a fairly valid source."

"May I inquire as to who?"

"The future captain of the Enterprise. Ran into him the other day. Told him about the Warspite. He's excited for me, he says - then he tells me that. You're doing great! I'm doing better." Tw'eak gave a frustrated expression.

"He would be the first Andorian to captain a ship with that name, would he not?"

"You're not helping."

"Ah." Octavia went silent.

"He's got a bond group... children... and now this. Some Andorians have all the luck."

"You once explained the Andorian concept of fortune to me. I don't think it has been altogether unwilling to shine on you from time to time."

"No, I know, but I feel like less of an Andorian for my condition, for not having anyone waiting for me at home - for my home not even really being Andoria at all anymore... he's living the proper Andorian life - duty, family, service, honour..."

"I am uncertain as to whether it would be inappropriate for me offer a suggestion."

Tw'eak caught herself, realizing she was descending into bitterness. "No, please."

"You will have to forgive me if my understanding of Andorian bond-sharing is incomplete, but would it not be possible for you to ...become adopted by a bond group?"

"Adopted?"

"Perhaps the term is inexact. Presumably there might be a bond group who have lost their shen-mother, and seek another?"

Tw'eak found herself immensely cheered. "A collective in need of a critical component."

"Precisely."

"I had never given that any consideration at all. Perhaps - no. Not yet. Maybe when I'm retired I'll go back to Andoria and see if anyone's looking for a wicked stepmother." Tw'eak felt herself tearing up slightly at the prospect of it. It wouldn't be completely Whole - after all, she could never be involved in the shelthreth, for instance - but it would certainly make a better end for her than never having made the attempt. "Thank you for the suggestion."

"If I may offer another..."

"If it's anything like the one you just made, I'm warning you, I'll have to signal for emergency beam-out. Won't do for these cadets to see a grown admiral cry."

"On the contrary." Octavia turned her attention to the padd on the table, re-activating it. "We have yet to complete our duty roster."

"When does Admiral Quinn expect that, again?"

"Tomorrow."

"Oh." Tw'eak straightened her uniform tunic. "What's left?"

"All of Tactical, Security, Science and... two Operations departments remain."

"Well, then. Let's do this." Tw'eak stood up, taking her cup in hand. "Just as soon as I come back with more katheka."

Octavia did not look up as Tw'eak made her way across the pavilion for a refill, but if she had, she would see a grateful and purpose-filled grin spread broadly across Tw'eak's face.

That evening was a lengthy one. Tw'eak had no idea whether the notes she had put together would prove to be of sufficient length for her talk, or if the subject - her experience on the Repulse, and the decision she had made to stand up to the Undine impersonator - would be of sufficient interest. She sat at the desk in the guest quarters she had been assigned at the Academy, musing over her points in order. She didn't like the idea of going in with an established, full-length text. Ever the tactician, she knew it was highly unlikely that she would be able to simply read off of a padd and hope nobody fell asleep. The few public-speaking engagements she had partaken in had been mostly effective for this reason. It wasn't something most people would be comfortable doing, but as Tw'eak reviewed her points again, and then once more, she felt herself craving a cup of katheka. The one downside to being at the Academy again was that now she had rank, and pull enough to get herself a cup of whatever she wanted at whatever hour she wanted it. She was debating whether this constituted a privilege of rank or a disadvantage when her desk terminal began flashing with an incoming subspace transmission from the Starfleet Judge Advocate General Corps. Suddenly unnerved, Tw'eak answered the call, and then instantly relaxed.

"Hello, shreya," she said in a flat tone.

On the screen was an older Andorian shen female, her face a slightly shaded and worn version of Tw'eak's own. "How did you- oh, that contact screen still reads JAG Corps, doesn't it? Simply ruins the element of surprise," came the reply, in a voice that filled Tw'eak with a mixture of anxiety and familiarity. This was the redoutable Chief Magistrate Zhrallathratri Sh'abbas, Tri, as she was known, pronounced like 'tree', and Tw'eak had never seen things the same way. A constant workaholic, Tri was rarely at home but often in contact, using her voice and expression via subspace communication to make her feelings known and enforce her wrath within the household. Even from light-years away, the pressure Tri had placed upon Tw'eak had been more than Tw'eak had been willing to bear. It had driven Tw'eak to run away from home once, and now it left her full of trepidation - the last thing she needed on the verge of a public appearance like the one scheduled for thirteen-hundred tomorrow. "I keep asking them why they insist on putting everyone I call in the path of a swarm of ice bores, but it's part of the work we do, after all, having the Corps logo on the screen and all that. I need to invest in a private terminal, I think. But hello, darling, so good to see my dear, dear Twaiheak! It's been too long!"

Tw'eak played a hunch and asked a question in an effort to forestall her mother's inquisition. "How's work been?"

"Oh, aren't you simply a dear to ask. Quite well, in fact! We've managed to locate the wreck of the Harpoon, a Saber-class starship lost during the Dominion War, and we've recovered thirty-seven bodies. You must remember me talking about it... no? I'm simply overjoyed to have found it, actually. It's taken me six years to track this down, ever since it was brought to my attention, and I'll be so glad to be able to answer the question of what happened to this ship. Wrecked in the Algira system, of all places. Have you ever been out that way? Dismal place - but the Detapa Council was kind enough to let us take a look around"

"I have been to Algira, actually, just last year. There were True Way Cardassians and Jem'Hadar- "

Tri Sh'abbas seemed to barely notice Tw'eak's comment. "It was something of a mystery, the kind that actually started for me with one of my cases. One of the station masters at Minos Korva was tried for apparently falsifying records of when the Harpoon had left the system. I was representing him at the time, and of course, he was exonerated due to a lack of evidence. It was one of my finer moments, actually. They had no evidence to corroborate his involvement convincingly, simply none at all."

"Right." Tw'eak fought the urge to impulsively react to her shen-mother's all-too-typical way of speaking, as though she alone stood between right and wrong in the courtrooms of the Federation.

"But the question remained, what had happened to the Harpoon? The widow of one of the officers, the chief engineer, I think, asked Starfleet to send someone to find it, and I simply insisted! My team and I, that is, my forensic exam group. They're simply a wonderful group, all so dedicated to the cause. We get along just like a family!" Again, Tw'eak repressed the desire to suggest that perhaps 'family' wasn't a subject Tri was able to speak to with any expertise. "They all work so hard for me. I must say, I was really impressed with the work they did - it's so important, you know. No one else is doing what I'm doing out here, my team and I, working to investigate what happened to all those missing ships Starfleet has had out over the years. They just keep on sending more ships. Oh, the work never ends. I'm just glad to bring the quest to an end, after so long. I tell you, it's kept me anxious about it for years, simply years."

Tw'eak wanted to ask if her shreya had contacted the widow to assuage her anxiety, quip about the noble intentions most people would usually have for seeking the honoured dead, or even just snarkily point out that she, too, had never-ending work. But long experience dealing with her shan mother had taught her otherwise. "Maybe I should let you get back to it, then." Tw'eak shifted uncomfortably in her chair. It occurred to her that much of her childhood had felt like this, pinned and wriggling in a chair, struggling with her antennae, her eyebrows, the corners of her mouth, the tone in her voice. She sincerely wished she could just use a holo-emitter instead, now that she had attained rank and years enough to acquire one.

"But I haven't even asked about you yet! Tell me what you've been up to, my dear!"

"Just busy - very... very busy. Operational secrecy, you know."

Tri waved a hand at the screen. "Where you've been might be a better question. You can answer that, can you? Blasted regulations. I can never get in touch with anyone - that's part of the reason I wanted to talk to you. You haven't heard from Dashichal at all lately, have you?"

"No, I haven't. As far as I know she's still with the Majestic."

"Oh, I know, but I can't seem to get in touch with them. I'm worried something has happened."

"If you want, I can contact Admiral Quinn and ask him-"

"No, no! If I wanted that done I could do it myself. I simply wanted to know if you'd heard from her. I don't want to overturn the quadrant just to say 'hello' to my baby Dashii." Tri's eyes shifted around on the screen. "Where are you right now, exactly? Earth?"

"At the Academy, shreya."

"The- which one? There are so many. It's not Andoria, anyway." She lowered her tone contemptuously. "Or Vulcan. Tell me you won't do that again."

"Starfleet Academy. San Francisco, Earth."

"Oh, THAT Academy. Of course, my darling, very good. They've finally found a place for you off the front lines. Dreadful, that."

"No, I'm... only here for a couple days. At Admiral Quinn's request."

"That's lovely! Really quite lovely. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun." Tw'eak began to object, but thought better of it. She could feel her patience begin to run out. "I hadn't heard from you in some time, I thought I simply must contact my Twaiheak and see how she's been. I saw your little ceremony was mentioned on the Federation News Service earlier this week... what was that ship called? The Bellerophon? It was an Earth name, anyway. Aren't they all, really."

"The Bonaventure, shreya," Tw'eak practically growled.

"Ah, that's it! The Bonaventure. How's that been going, anyway?"

"She was destroyed nearly three months ago fighting the Borg. I'll be taking command of the Warspite in a few weeks. It's a new Avenger class starship."

Tri's facial expression appeared somewhere between confused and revolted. "Is that one of those very long flat ones, dear? I can never tell them apart."

"No, that's probably a star cruiser you're thinking of - Warspite's a battle cruiser, built a lot like... um, the Sovereign class, only smaller."

"Right." The look on Tri's face was one of sour bewilderment. Tw'eak wondered how someone with such long service in Starfleet could be so completely clueless about starships. Then again, she had been a 'desk officer' rather than a deck officer for much of that career. "Well. I'm sure you'll do just fine. You weren't hurt again this time, were you? Your charan simply couldn't bear it if something should happen to his Twaiheak, you know! After that business with your arm, it broke his heart, poor thing."

The reference to Tw'eak's chan-father nearly made tears come to her eyes. It had been so long since she had spoken to her charan, the one who had so often told her stories of the stars and fired her imagination, stories of starships and their intrepid crews, stories of legendary heroes of Andoria, like Thy'lek Shran, and especially of the adventures of Phedral Sh'lara, captain of the Constitution class USS Dosalnar, the first Federation starship with an all-Andorian crew. He had been a better storyteller than any LCARS unit or school teacher that Tw'eak had ever had, and he had been the only one of her parents not to condemn her for skipping off to Vulcan as she had. He was also Tw'eak's only other surviving parent, and she had not seen him in years. This was entirely of her choosing. He was the source of the only happy memories she still held from her childhood, and she had long since recognized that the only way to preserve her memories of people was to keep them at a distance.

Tw'eak focused on her mother's apparent agenda - as always, transparently obvious in her manipulations, driving Tw'eak towards a desired goal. "So what do you want me to do, mother?"

"Want? I show how concerned I am for you and your well-being, and that's your response."

"Of course it is." Tw'eak's response was as frosty as an early Andorian morning. "Let's get to the point, I have a lot of things to do." She narrowed her eyes. "Comes with the rank of rear admiral. I'm sure you understand."

Tri's mood shifted suddenly from pouty to ebullient. "Rear admiral? My Twaiheak? Oh, I'm simply delighted to hear it. Why didn't you say so before?"

"I don't recall having a chance, between the part where we talked about you, and the part where we talked about you..." Tw'eak could feel her temper start to flare, and she let it ignite.

"Come, now-"

"Then there was Dashii, oh, and then me, and then you again. Did I miss anything important?" She leaned forward slightly. "About you, perhaps?"

Tri Sh'abbas snorted in anger on the screen, leaning away from it and shaking her head. "Well, I can see I was mistaken to think you would be concerned about your poor sister. And me, for worrying about her, too. If that's how you feel-"

Tw'eak cut her off. The idea of Dashii in some sort of distress - one that she hadn't brought on herself and deserved - was laughable. But that was hardly the point. "It's not about Dashii, is it, shreya? You only contact me when you have something to brag about."

"Oh, stop-"

"I've served Starfleet for YEARS and never once have you acknowledged anything I've done!"

"That's not true, I talk about you all the time with my team, and I'm always so proud-"

"Your team. Never to me."

"Well, why didn't you get in touch with me about this promotion of yours? I would've come to this ceremony if you had told me it was happening. I would've found the time to attend."

"I'm not- fine, shreya." Tw'eak felt her anger snuffed out by the immense thanks she felt in her heart that the universe had arranged for Tri to be on the other side of the Alpha Quadrant during the commissioning of the new Bonaventure. "You want me to call Dashii. That's fine, I was going to call her anyway. I've been out of subspace range for the past few months working on the Avenger project, top security starbase, that sort of thing. Far from family, I'm sure you understand that. So I'll contact the Majestic, see how she's doing, tell her to call you."

"Thank you," Tri huffed. "As if that's too much to ask."

"I'm sure you'll hear from her soon," Tw'eak added with feigned courtesy. "Do let me know if you haven't, say in a couple weeks. I'm sure I'll be aboard ship by then, so we'll have to see what we can do."

"Certainly." Tri leaned in a bit. "And do take care of yourself, Twaiheak. I would hate for anything to happen to our little rear admiral, now."

Tw'eak gritted her teeth, her antennae held aloft as if they were cast in neutronium. "Goodbye, mother. Best of luck with your... work."

"Farewell, my darling. You simply must get in touch with me more often."

Tw'eak nodded and brought her hand down angrily, chopping the communication closed. She ruffled her hair and leaned back, only just now realizing that she had been holding her breath for the past... only ten minutes? How was it possible for her shen-mother to have such a masterful ability to turn her inside out? Whole battalions of Hirogen, squadrons of Klingons, the entire Borg collective would not be able to make such an emotional impact upon her. Perhaps her shreya would finally care enough when one of those enemies made a wreck out of her next command. Even then, it might be worse with Tw'eak being unable to speak for herself, her shen-mother channelling a lifetime of dramatics into a lengthy, and doubtlessly very public, grief, just as she had for each funeral she'd attended for siblings, or her thaan-father, or her zhen-mother. That was the last time she had seen her family, the five surviving members of it, together, all in one place. And of course, it had been all about shreya then, just as now.

The memory of her dead siblings and parents, coupled with the phony concern her surviving mother had just shown for the valiant crew of the Harpoon, made her feel overwhelmed with violent, brutal emotion. It was no way for a rear admiral of Starfleet to feel, even if it was all too Andorian a response. Tw'eak focused her primal rage into the air, closing her hand around a tiny ball into which she mentally channelled all of her desperate feelings. It was a technique she had learned on Vulcan as a means of visualizing her control, exiling her emotions into a space beyond her mind and body, and then allowing them to, as she opened her fingers, dissipate into the air like a foul aroma. She inhaled deeply as she raised her arm, and when her hand once again released its empty grip, let out her breath completely.

She then closed her eyes for a moment, focused on her inner sense of direction, and considered. Despite Tri's obvious knack for self-importance, it occurred to her that it was unlike Dashii to not contact her at all. Dashii shared many of her shan-mother's traits that Tw'eak did not, such as her ability to turn any occasion into a show in which she starred, and her ability to twist the emotional responses of others to their advantage. Dashii was at least cognizant of the fact that Tw'eak hated those things in their shen-mother, and consciously tried not to twist her older sister around her finger too often, out of a sense of respect that Tri had never managed. But for her not to have heard from Dashii was enough to raise Tw'eak's suspicions. Dashii might have restricted herself with Tw'eak, but her conversations with their shen-mother were a source of endless amusement for Dashii, and for Tw'eak as well when she would hear the stories from her zhen-sister at a later time.

"Computer, can you establish subspace contact with the USS Majestic?"

"Working," came the computer's reply.

"I'd like to speak to Lieutenant Dashichal Zh'abbas, please," Tw'eak added, and leaned back in the chair to wait for the connection to be established.

The main assembly hall at Starfleet Academy was a cavernous amphitheatre. Tw'eak peeked out from behind the doorway leading to the podium, at the assembled audience of cadets and others. Beings from across the Federation were present, and she spotted quite a few Andorians in the seats. To her left, Octavia, who had accompanied Tw'eak despite having heard the rehearsal version of her commanding officer's remarks, smiled softly when she caught Tw'eak's eye. This made Tw'eak take another look through the doorway, unable to return her smile.

"Nervous?" asked Commander E'genn, Admiral Quinn's chief science officer. He had beamed down from Spacedock in order to introduce her in the Admiral's stead.

"Not exactly. I'm more... concerned."

"About what, ma'am?" Octavia asked.

"I'm not certain my shen-mother isn't in the audience." Tw'eak looked from E'genn to Octavia. "I don't want her to embarrass me."

"I thought you spoke to her yesterday."

"From all the way out in the Algira sector. I know. But you know... warp engines..."

E'genn laughed quietly. "I'm sure you'll have nothing to worry about. Your mother is Magistrate Tri Sh'abbas, right?"

"She is." Tw'eak pursed her lips.

"Right. Half of Earth Spacedock would be upside-down if she had shown up."

This reassured Tw'eak considerably. "So you know my mother."

"Only by reputation." E'genn's face was hard to read, being of a species that was almost mule-like in appearance, but he seemed to be smiling.

"Then again, it might explain Admiral Quinn's unavailability to introduce you," Octavia suggested.

Tw'eak looked at her first officer unappreciatively. "Remind me why I brought you again?"

"I am here of my own volition." Octavia appeared confused. Tw'eak shook her head and waved dismissively.

"Looks like it's time," E'genn said. "Good luck."

"Thank you." Tw'eak allowed E'genn to pass into the assembly hall, and she turned towards Octavia, still shaking her head.

"Are you certain you've prepared adequately?" Octavia asked quickly.

"It's a talk about something that actually happened to me. I think I can handle it."

"Have you reviewed the chronology of events?"

"Yes, you were there, remember?"

"And you are certain your narrative fits the theme of the-"

"Octavia. Are you trying to make me more nervous?"

"No." She looked away for a beat, allowing Tw'eak to relax for a moment, only to tense at a follow-up question. "Am I?"

"A bit. Yeah"

"I apologize. This is my last chance to be your first officer until this is all over with."

Tw'eak smiled gratefully. "I know. Thanks."

She looked over in time to hear Commander E'genn say, "...gentlebeings, may I present Rear Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas."

Tw'eak grimaced slightly at E'genn's mangled pronunciation of her name. She looked towards Octavia. "Here goes." She moved towards the doorway.

"Break your legs," Octavia said with a grin.

Tw'eak stopped and looked back. "I don't think the phrase includes both."

"Oh. Right. Break one leg, then."

"Will do." Once again, smiling while shaking her head at her first officer, Tw'eak went through the doorway and took the podium.


	11. Chapter 11

The audience's applause receded, and Commander E'genn returned to the stage. "That was most informative - and very interesting as well. On behalf of Starfleet Academy, I'd like to thank Rear Admiral Sh'abbas for her time." Applause, again, and Tw'eak extended an appreciative hand skyward, waving to the audience. After a moment, E'genn spoke. "Does anyone have any questions for the rear admiral?"

Questions. Tw'eak hadn't anticipated questions. She looked at Octavia, who gazed placidly back at her. Careful to control her reaction, Tw'eak adjusted her hair on one side and kept her antennae in precise station-keeping.

E'genn indicated a cadet near the back, who rose. A female Saurian with a pinkish complexion, she called out her question. "When did you first suspect that Captain Corlett had been changed? I mean, when did you first notice the difference?"

"I... well, there were a lot of things that had happened, really, by that point, and they all came together. Remember, being replaced by an Undine agent was, at that point, not really something we suspected. There have been plenty of switches, replacements, clones, changelings... throughout Starfleet's long history many captains or other officers have been replaced. But a being from fluidic space was not a likely choice, despite the reports from USS Voyager thirty or so years ago that something like this was going to be attempted - and probably already has in ways we never caught. But even if I'd had it specifically in mind I might have missed it. If I'd approached it from the perspective that the captain was a Founder, from the Dominion, or a surgically-modified Orion, or a clone, like Praetor Shinzon was of Ambassador Picard... I would've only alerted the Undine agent's suspicions and stopped nothing. But to get back to your question... I think it was the increased amount of time we spent discussing shipboard matters. The Undine was very interested in personnel, in their affairs and their associations, far more than Captain Corlett had ever been. It felt to me like all of a sudden he had no idea who these people were. In fact, I think I called him on it once or twice. But really, it was a constellation rather than a supernova, if that makes any sense. There were a lot of little things that didn't match up. When someone starts foregoing their morning coffee, either they want to make that change, or something else has changed. Being observant is always an asset in an officer. Are you all writing that down?" Tw'eak looked around the room, to laughter. She glanced back at the cadet. "I hope that answers your question."

The Saurian cadet nodded and sat down. E'genn indicated a young Andorian female to Tw'eak's right, very much like Tw'eak herself must have once looked. Her white hair, unlike Tw'eak's still its natural colour, twinkled slightly as she stood up. "Hello."

"Hello."

"I wanted to ask how... when you said earlier that you were able to use your... how being Andorian was so helpful in uncovering the change. How did you do that, exactly?"

"Ah. I just want to... can I quickly apologize to everyone? When Andorians get the chance to ask Andorians about how being Andorian is great, you know, for Andorians... we do this sometimes." She smiled, and once again, her joke was warmly received with chuckles from the audience. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, Cadet, but you probably know as well as I do that we -Andorians, I mean, in case I wasn't clear- have a distinct perception of our surroundings, relying upon our antennae to discover things like electromagnetic fields and so on. We use this sense the same way Betazoids or Vulcans can use telepathy ...well, and Trill as well, I should add. We start to get a sense of the familiar after a few months, being around the same people aboard a starship. You get to be able to tell a Bolian from a Tellarite, even in the dark - and not just by silhouette, either!" Tw'eak's smile faded as she recalled the Repulse's bridge crew. "Unfortunately, I was the only senior officer aboard who was Andorian, although our helm officer was a Vulcan, and between the two of us we were able to use our perception abilities to tell that something was definitely not the same about Captain Corlett. It was something I talked about at length earlier, but Spodar and I were able to prevail upon Doctor Kennedy and show clearly that there was something different. That was where it started - with the three of us. And of the three of us, only I survived."

"Thank you." The Andorian cadet looked as though she had more to say, but she returned to her seat.

E'genn looked around the room. "Any other questions? Yes."

Tw'eak followed E'genn's pointing hand to spot a familiar face in the crowd. She could recognize the giggling from where she stood. "Commander Aurora duBois, USS Warspite. I had a question."

"This is my chief engineer." There was a murmur of recognition throughout the crowd. "Usually I'm the one asking her questions, like 'why aren't we there yet?'," Tw'eak added, receiving a few laughs in return.

"I just wondered, ma'am, how this whole experience influences your approach to command today."

"Well, as I said before, service in Starfleet is full of surprises, and, as James Kirk was fond of saying, there are always... possibilities." Tw'eak took a breath, and continued. "But really? The one thing I think it really reinforced for me was that, even as a fairly seasoned tactical officer, even as good as I thought I was at the time... I wasn't ready for that. I very nearly resigned my commission over it, actually. We made a lot of mistakes and it cost four of my friends their lives. The only reason I survived was because I was working a console to activate the transporter and get that Undine beamed off the ship. Doctor Kennedy, Lieutenant Spodar, Lieutenant Ren Fratid and Commander Yar Shevchenko... they were the ones who paid the ultimate price. To say nothing of Captain Corlett, whom I was honoured to serve with and proud to call my captain. I never wanted to bury any of my friends again." She shook her head. "I still don't."

Her eyes wandered to the young Andorian cadet who had asked the question earlier. "There's an expectation, for young Andorians, that we'll grow up and give all for the cause. My clan in particular, we value the traditions of service and of sacrifice. That's why half of my family have been killed in action since I graduated from this place. But the truth is, that's what motivates me - what they died defending, the fact that they died defending it... the hope, one day, that we can return to a peaceful galaxy again. I wouldn't feel right doing anything but defending what they did, what others like them still do... the people I care about, whether it's aboard ship with me, or in the service someplace, or back on Andoria where I grew up... I don't intend to let them down. It's... it's sort of a selfish thing, really. I know my limitations, but I also know my strengths and my service record. There are places where I can still make a meaningful contribution in Starfleet, and the day that I no longer feel that way, I'll turn in my commbadge and call it a career. But I serve with a lot of good people, just like Commander duBois and my first officer, who's also here tonight, Commander Eight of Twelve, whom we call Octavia." She signalled to Octavia with a wave of her hand. "Stand up and say hello, Octavia."

Octavia stood, smiled and offered the crowd a half-bow. They responded with a smattering of applause in turn. Tw'eak felt a surge of pride, and looking around the room, noted her audience rapt in attention. There were few side conversations, and from every being present, their full focus was directed at her. She felt unworthy of the opportunity presented to speak freely of these things she felt, but she would be damned if she would let self-doubt keep her from making the most of it.

"What motivates me," she continued, "is the knowledge that there are good people like this across our galaxy - better than me - people who serve the uniform, and the cause of the Federation, day after day out of a faith that while our civilization isn't perfect, we're making it closer to perfection with every new discovery, with every new voice we add to the whole. Our adversaries are formidable, and they continue to threaten us, but they can't be allowed to change who we are, or what we intend to achieve. What we have, together, as a United Federation of Planets... they can't take it from us, or assimilate it out of us, or whatever. They don't seem to have figured that out yet, however. And I don't know about you, but I have every intention of explaining it to them, whether through the universal translator or through force of arms." She smiled at her audience. "That's what Andorians call 'diplomatic overture'."

The audience laughed, and Tw'eak brought her remarks to a conclusion. "This whole experience I've described for you was a horrible tragedy. We lost a lot of good people. If I'd stepped away from that place that the universe has chosen for me, in the service of Starfleet... then our enemies would have already won. You never forget the dead - especially not dead civilians, which you'll encounter too often, and never get used to seeing. But you keep going, in recognition of the fact that, if you don't, there might be a lot more losses without you. And you always remain prepared for the worst-case scenario, for the no-win scenario, which I understand many of you have already faced in simulation. All you can do is the best of what your training and your experience prepare you to do. And you'll prevail, knowing that everyone depends upon you... and you won't, you can't let them down." Tw'eak looked up at Aurora with a mixture of pride and anxiety. "You'll have what it takes when the time comes. They're counting on you. And I will be, too." She paused for a moment, then added, "thank you very much," and stepped back from the podium.

The crowd sat in silent reflection for a moment before Commander E'genn returned to the podium. "Once again, the Academy would like to thank Admiral Sh'abbas for attending and for being so enlightening this evening. We will continue this series of lecture discussions next week, and hopefully Admiral Quinn will return to introduce our next speaker. Until then, good evening."

Another round of applause followed, and Tw'eak once again raised a hand to wave to the crowd. She worried that she had scared them. She worried she hadn't scared them enough. Mostly though, she worried. So many young faces in this crowd - including Aurora's, Octavia's - so many capable, talented young people desperate to get to space and show the galaxy what they were made of. How many of them would be given the chance to come back, as she had, and count the cost?

The next morning had come and gone before Tw'eak could collect her thoughts. She had declined the opportunity to beam up to Earth Spacedock to dine with Admiral Quinn, citing an exhausting workload the next day. This was not far from the truth. Maintaining her Academy-level workout regimen, despite having been away nearly thirty years, had proven difficult but within her abilities. She had probably lingered a little too long in the shower afterwards, however, rubbing and stretching every muscle - synthetic and original material alike - to get herself prepared for the lengthy meeting which would follow. Three hours that morning had been devoted to selecting and screening crew members for the USS Warspite, and she, Aurora and Octavia had fleshed out the majority of the rosters, although they were still undecided on several important positions, notably tactical officer and helmsman.

Tw'eak had suggested they consider the matter closed until after dinner, and had gone back to her quarters, taken her hair out of its customary bun, and dressed into Earth casual clothing - a fabric known as denim for her trousers, and a light woollen sweater. The mid-Pacific breeze blowing across the San Francisco harbour would have been cool to some, but to an Andorian it was comforting, and she roamed the grounds of the Academy at length, not really thinking about anything in particular. It was relaxing, the absence of any duty, and as she took in the view, dominated as it was by that ancient landmark known as the Golden Gate, she felt herself to be as agitated as if she were seated on a ship's bridge instead of a park bench. Over her head, a hornet's nest of shuttlecraft - all around her, a constant shuffle of cadets on their way here and there... and inside herself, a complete lack of harmony, a total loneliness she could scarcely understand.

It was, of course, a key part of what made her who she was. She had always stood apart, somewhat. Certainly, she could call upon friends or former crewmates - not as many as she might like, of course, some of the best of them having long since been dismissed - but at her core, once again, the absence of a meaning outside of her Starfleet service that defined her life became an issue. She had started here, so many years ago, had set out among the stars in her first service. It had been a point of pride, for her, to be able to contact Va'Kel Shon and tell him that she had gotten the Enterprise for her first assignment... the same Va'Kel Shon who now served as captain of a completely different starship Enterprise... was that it? Shon had been so far from her thoughts, for so long now, that she found herself startled to think so bitterly at his new assignment. It was an honour, for all Andorians, to see a captain of Starfleet's flagship from among their species, certainly one of the best and most capable officers either Andoria or Starfleet had ever produced. Tw'eak did not see herself as standing in Shon's shadow so much as having been totally eclipsed by his accomplishment. It was hardly worth comparison. The Warspite was hardly a command to be frowned upon, but there was only one Enterprise.

Tw'eak wondered what that left for her. She considered, for a moment, what she would be like as an instructor at the Academy. As a tactical admiral she could have her pick of assignments, ranging from weapons training to advanced doctrine to strategic analysis - or even something more exciting, like adversary threat analysis. She had faced nearly all the Federation's many terrors, and what were bedtime stories to frighten children were, sadly, memories and scars alike for her. She noted, nearby, the monument of the eternal flame dedicated to all those who had gone before and charted the way to the stars. So many of those she had known - parents, siblings, friends, fellow officers - would never have the opportunity she enjoyed right now, to sit placidly in a space unaffected by war or conflict, and remember.

She supposed that was part of the problem. The war with the Klingon Empire continued in its dismal fashion, albeit the news from the front lines was good of late. The Tal Shiar's involvement with the Elachi and the Hirogens, the conflict between the Borg and Undine, the Romulan Republic's nascent struggles with the Tholians and - if the rumours she had heard were true - servants of the ancient and terrible Iconians... she knew that her new assignment to the Warspite would bring her and her crew into harm's way soon enough. It was why she was having such a difficult time of the recent crew selection, she finally mused to herself. She knew whoever was upon that roster would become her responsibility, would ride with her into the Valley of Death. They would be committed, loyal, unswerving in their duty. They would be so young, all of them. She remembered her shock at realizing, in record after record, how so many of these ensigns and lieutenants were barely more than half her age. She had found herself reflexively checking their marital status, or consciously avoiding the selection of longer-lived races such as Vulcans, on the irrational basis that if they died young it was somehow the more tragic for all the time they would otherwise have lost. When Octavia had called her on it, she found herself surprised to note she had done so with such frequency.

Tw'eak heard a footfall to her right, and a shuffling noise of a uniform being brushed into place. "Excuse me," she heard someone ask. She looked up to see, in the half-light, an Andorian cadet - the same one who had asked her a question the night before at the talk.

"Hello again." Tw'eak smiled and stood up. "I'm sorry..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Admiral, I just... hello."

Tw'eak nodded. "This will never do, for an admiral to be so completely ambushed by a cadet. Not only did I not hear you coming, but I don't know your name."

"Oh! Thenirtalilini sh'Iltyrav, ma'am." The cadet saluted, sharply in parade-ground fashion. "Most everyone calls me Lini, ma'am. I'm sure you know how it is."

"Yeah. Always thought I was lucky Twaiheak shortens to Tw'eak. My parents had all served, they tended to pick names with easy short forms to remember." She sat back down, and indicated for Lini to sit next to her, which she did, sliding as close to the opposite armrest as was physically possible.

"I wish I could say the same - though I'm ninth-generation Starfleet." She rolled her eyes and brushed her hair back as she looked at Tw'eak, making brief eye contact before looking out over the water again. "Second-generation tactical, too."

"You're tac? What's your specialty?"

"I'm an armoury officer, ma'am. Ground weapons and personal shield specialist."

"That's a difficult assignment."

Lini nodded, her antennae straightening as she became more comfortable. "I know. Lots of inventory to manage, different weapons and schematics for different sorts of missions, to say nothing of all the different away team setups and their kit configurations..." Her antennae went bolt upright in embarrassment. "...but I'm sure you would know all about that. Ma'am."

Tw'eak smiled as reassuringly as she could. "You could say so. A girl can never have enough pulsewave assault rifles."

Lini laughed and nodded. "I really like the new Romulan plasma ones we've had a chance to see, as part of our exchange with the Republic? You know the ones? I really like plasma as a weapon type, it seems like what I'd use if I was beaming down."

"I know what you mean. I lost an arm to a plasma pulsewave."

Whatever confidence Lini had started to develop in her conversation skills vanished, and her antennae tightened inwards, almost shaping a triangle. "You... did?"

"Yeah." Tw'eak raised her right arm. "Synthetic. That was a long time ago. I made a stupid mistake, brought a beam rifle to fight in close quarters. And I paid for it. A good armourer would've talked me out of it, since I thought I knew everything. Obviously I was wrong. Took me six or seven months to recover. But I got back out there eventually."

"I... well." Lini seemed to still be recoiling as she spoke. "I was kind of surprised to see you here, ma'am, really. I thought you'd be... you know, on your way back out there by now."

"Not anytime soon - it'll be at least a month before my next assignment is available. The Warspite is only just being fitted out at Utopia, we'll be a while yet."

"That just sounds so... I'm not sure I'll ever be able to qualify for command. Starfleet tends to prefer space specialists to command roles."

"That's not true in the Marines. Besides, you could always qualify as a tactical officer and a ground specialist once you've served aboard ship for a couple years. There's always something to work towards in Starfleet."

"Even for you?"

"Well..." Tw'eak shrugged. "I'm at the first point in my career where I can request a roving commission rather than a specific patrol duty assignment or be at the service of Admiral So-And-So this week, Admiral Someone-Else the next week. It'll be a brand new experience."

"Oh, no doubt." Lini finally seemed to be at ease, although given how frequently her eyes would flutter from looking directly at Tw'eak back out over the harbour, Tw'eak knew she was by no means confident in her comfort level.

"You're still at a point in your career where your decision-making and your responsibilities won't impact upon anyone who doesn't beam down - unless there's a boarding action, of course."

"Yeah, we studied boarding actions... they, I don't know. They seem kind of exciting."

Tw'eak laughed. "You're an Andorian, all right."

Lini seemed to look sad, suddenly. "Yeah..."

"Still, everything seems exciting out there until it happens to you for real - and then it's afterwards, when you realize the danger you were in, that you have this... I don't know how to describe it. You see every day that comes after a little differently." Tw'eak looked over at Lini. "Do you have bond mates?"

"No, actually." Lini squirmed on the bench. "It was part of what I wanted to ask you about, if I can."

Tw'eak gave the cadet a sideways glance. "I'm not sure I understand."

"Well... after the talk last night, I went back to my quarters and I looked up your record." The cadet raised a hand. "It's not that I didn't believe you or anything, I just... wanted to know more about you. So I started there. And then... I read that you have Sh'landas syndrome."

"Yes, I do."

Lini leaned forward slightly, looking at the ground. "So do I."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "I see."

"And it's not... I'm sorry, I just... it's not that I wanted to ask you about that-" The words seemed to all be trying to come out at once from Lini, and her antennae once again angled sharply inwards.

"At ease, cadet," Tw'eak said softly, placing her hand on Lini's shoulder. "I know exactly what you mean. Nobody wants to acknowledge it or speak of it, do they?"

"No! And I just... it's so hard... I can talk to a counselor about it, like anything, but nobody understands it!"

"How long have you known?"

"Two years. I was supposed to be bonded after my first year at the Academy. But of course, they can't be sure when they test until you're, y'know... fully developed."

"And there isn't a treatment for it."

"No! I... I mean, you can lose an arm, legs, antennae, but that? The chirurgeons just throw up their hands and talk about how statistically rare it is, how much you have to adapt to it. How am I supposed to adapt to not being a Whole person?"

Tw'eak felt herself wilting slightly, although remaining cognizant of this young cadet's full attention being paid to her. "I... wish I had an answer for you. I really do."

"They... it gets so much focus, all our lives, they tell us about being Whole, the heart of the family, all of it... and then it's taken away from you... I haven't gone back to Andoria since."

"I don't blame you. I ran away before I joined the Academy - I'm sure you noted the year-long gap in my record that I spent on Vulcan."

"What were you doing on Vulcan?"

Tw'eak grimaced, and it was her turn not to return eye contact. "Not being on Andoria."

"But... it's so hot on Vulcan. It's funny, all my classmates tell me it's cold out today. I wore a skirt, it's so nice out."

"Never could bring myself to wear skirts. I don't know, it felt... too strange not to go out in some kind of thin fabric, the thinnest I could replicate. I didn't want to get too used to bare skin against the elements. Went against my whole upbringing."

"I like them. On certain occasions. My boyfr- er, never mind that."

"No, go ahead. You have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I just... I can't believe I'm talking to an admiral about skirts and boys."

"Lini, let me tell you something... something I was thinking about before you came along. To reach my rank, at this age, means that I've had to go back to Andoria quite a few times - every time, for a funeral. Family, friends... and there have been many funerals I've had to attend off-world, too. I don't have many friends left. I don't know anyone else who's had to deal with Sh'landas syndrome, either."

"I'm really just very glad to be able to talk to someone who's been there," Lini interjected, her face bright with appreciation. "I don't feel like I can talk to anyone. My parents don't get it, my siblings, even my shen-sister doesn't understand. She's so happy with her bond group... seems like everyone is except for me. It's kind of lonely." The cadet's words softened, her face became withdrawn, solemn.

"Yeah... I know exactly what you mean." Tw'eak smiled, grateful that Lini had just taken the words out of her mouth. "So tell me about this boyfriend of yours."

At the mention of it, the invitation to share what would otherwise be an unthinkable affair for an Andorian, Lini once again resumed her youthful, chipper tone. It boosted Tw'eak's spirits wonderfully to hear, and while she was guarded with what she chose to share, she was quite glad to freely speak of things she had hitherto kept entirely to herself. The two of them sat and talked well into the afternoon, and while Lini missed a late class as a result, it had been a far more worthwhile experience - for both of them.


	12. Chapter 12

That evening, Tw'eak invited Aurora and Octavia to meet her at the Academy shuttlebay. It was an unexpected, last-minute idea of Tw'eak's, and had been surprisingly easy to have her request for a shuttle put into reality. She was starting to think that maybe this admiral's rank might be worth the trouble after all.

"I didn't expect to go on a shuttle ride," Aurora said shortly after she arrived. She was, as always, the last one to do so. "Where are we going?"

"Climb in," Tw'eak said with a smile. "I'll explain on the way."

She and Aurora sat along one side, while Octavia took the operations chair next to the pilot, whose hairless head and pleasant demeanour indicated he was a Deltan. "Hello," he said after a few checks of the controls. "I'm Lieutenant Aewon, and I'll be your pilot."

"Commander Eight of Twelve," Octavia replied. She seemed somewhat put off by the Deltan. Tw'eak thought to herself that it may be simply that Octavia had never encountered the particular energy and seductiveness of a Deltan before. Then again, Tw'eak knew, Octavia hated surprises.

"Are we all aboard, ma'am?" Aewon asked, turning to Tw'eak.

"We are. Let's get underway."

"Very well. Setting course." Aewon turned back to his controls and initiated the shuttle lift-off sequence. "Academy control, this is shuttlecraft Hypatia requesting permission to lift off."

"Hypatia, Academy control," a voice relayed through a speaker. "Stand by for clearance... you are clear for lift off on vector 17 Bravo."

"Hypatia, one-seven Bravo confirmed... airborne."

Tw'eak felt her stomach flutter as though it too had just lifted off once the shuttle's nacelles cleared the ground. A brief rush of inertia as the shuttle's thrusters found their aspect and they were off. Tw'eak took a quick peek, leaning forward, to see the green hills of Earth, the vast expanse of the Pacific, and the curve of its warm, moist atmosphere being left behind.

"So," Aurora said after a moment. "Where to?"

Tw'eak offered only a wry smirk as a response.

"According to the shuttle logs, we-"

"Octavia! That's cheating." Tw'eak feigned protest.

"Oh, now she knows. And you know. Why can't I know?"

Once again, Tw'eak merely smirked.

"I bet the helmsman knows." Now Aurora offered a smirk of her own. "And I could order him to tell me!"

Tw'eak furrowed her brow. "I'd belay your order."

This deflated Aurora's sense of prerogative. "Aw, damn it!" She went from flustered to secretive with an unexpected rapidity, leaning in towards her commander. "This isn't... y'know... some sort of..." She mouthed the words 'section thirty one' in an exaggerated fashion.

"No, not at all." Tw'eak gave Aurora a look of alarm. "What gave you that impression?"

"No! No, I just- what?" Aurora laughed nervously. "Never mind."

"Right." Tw'eak offered another suspicious glare. She was fairly certain Aurora was being paranoid, but now that paranoia was becoming contagious.

"May I simply tell Commander duBois our heading, Admiral?" Octavia asked, her voice slightly exasperated. "The suspense is clearly causing her an undue level of stress."

"Now clearing Earth atmosphere," Aewon interrupted. "We're free to go to warp whenever you'd like."

Tw'eak ignored Octavia's request. "If you would, please."

"Engaging warp engines." The shuttle leapt into warp speed and, after a few moments, unexpected turbulence began to buffet and tumble the small craft.

Tw'eak stood up with some difficulty. "Status?"

"Something wrong with the engines, ma'am. A misalignment or- no." Aewon stared at his console with amazement. "That can't be right." He looked up towards Octavia.

"I can confirm the lieutenant's statement. According to these readings, we are traveling via some form of quantum slipstream. Our current speed is substantially faster than warp ten."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't understand, the shuttle should be tearing itself apart," Aurora added, reaching a hand to the steady, unshaken bulkhead. "A shuttle this size wouldn't even have a quantum slipstream drive installed."

"The controls aren't responding," Aewon noted. "All navigation functions seem to be locked out." He tapped a few more controls. "Correction. All functions are locked out."

"This would appear to be intentional," Octavia reported. "I have discovered the presence of a series of subroutines programmed into the shuttle computer." She looked at Tw'eak. "Our heading appears to take us towards the Omega Leonis sector block."

"Klingon space?" Tw'eak mused. She shook her head. Why would Klingon intelligence - or someone, anyway - go to such lengths in order to fling a shuttlecraft across the galaxy? Was she the target? Or was this all a case of bad timing?

The shuttlecraft began to slow down, and Tw'eak felt herself breathe something of a sigh of relief to feel the ship return to impulse. Her antennae leaning forward and angled inwards, she stepped forward to look outside, expecting to see a Klingon battlecruiser or Orion slaver hovering right above them. Nothing was there. "Anything on sensors?"

"All sensors systems are offline," Octavia replied. "So are the engines. However, our shields are up and life support is normal."

"I don't even have RCS," Aewon said, futilely pressing buttons on his console. He shook his head. "If I could just get thrusters, we could at least look around a bit better... even viewscreen control would be good right now."

Tw'eak scowled. "Did we stumble into a trap? This certainly isn't the Bajor system."

"Bajor?" Aurora stood up. "We were going to Bajor? Aw, I always wanted to go to Bajor."

"Bajor VII is where they're building Warspite." Tw'eak grimaced, sharing Aurora's disappointment. "I thought we could go take a look and see our new home."

"I recommend we arm ourselves and prepare for the worst," Octavia said after a moment.

"That seems reasonable. Aurora, pass out the phaser belts from the arms locker over there."

"Right."

"Lieutenant, see if you can at least get an idea where we are."

"I can try. If I'd been able to follow the star patterns I could attempt to astrogate our pathway here, but I had my head down trying to steady the shuttle. I'm sorry."

"It's all right. Octavia? How about you?"

"As far as I can tell, the star patterns are incorrect."

"What does that mean?"

"Maybe we're upside down?" Aurora asked sincerely as she handed phaser belts to Aewon and Octavia.

"There is no upside-down in space," Octavia corrected.

"You know what I mean. Inverted z-axis."

"Of course, but this is not the case. The positions of the stars are not consistent with observed patterns from the Omega Leonis system block."

"So we're further than that?" Tw'eak asked.

There was a buzzing notification. "We're being hailed," Aewon said.

"Let's hear it."

"-repeat, unknown shuttlecraft, this is the starship Bonaventure, please respond. This is the USS Bonaventure hailing shuttlecraft, requesting communication. Repeat-"

"The Bonaventure?" Aurora said as the voice repeated itself.

"The Bonaventure has patrol orders that would place them a great distance from Omega Leonis," Octavia added.

"Yeah, but how do we know we're in Omega Leonis?" Tw'eak leaned around, trying to look out the shuttlecraft's windows. "And where are the launched flights? You'd think there would be a runabout trying to tow us or something."

"Our shields are up," Aewon responded. "It could be preventing them from tractoring us."

"Shields do not typically impede tractor beam effectiveness," Octavia replied.

"Let's face it, those aren't standard-issue shields, so anything's possible. If they held up under that kind of strain to get us here, wherever here is..." Tw'eak continued looking around and, leaning far off to the right, she saw it. "Or perhaps... whenever..."

Approaching slowly, off the starboard side, she could see a sheen of reflected light from a white shape, its saucer section and warp nacelles just visible as discernible concepts. As it approached and became a clearly recognizable starship profile, she could read its registry - NCC-1000.

"Is that-?" Aurora began to ask as the Bonaventure came into view.

"The first ship of her class," Tw'eak said, dryly cutting her off. "A hundred and fifty years ago..."

Octavia looked up at Tw'eak with considerable alarm. For her part, Tw'eak simply looked back at the ship as it hung in space before them, neither growing nearer nor moving away.

"Uh, I'm getting something." Aewon tapped at the controls. "It's a different hailing frequency, I think-"

"Hello, Tw'eak." A voice from the back of the compartment caused all four officers to turn. Tw'eak had her phaser out. "I wouldn't use that. You'll destroy the whole aft compartment."

"Corbin!" Tw'eak found herself staring angrily at a holo-projection of the Section 31 contact she had last seen while they had been stationed in the Breshar system. "What, was sneaking into my bedroom not fun enough for you anymore?"

"I had nothing to do with this."

"Why do I not believe you?"

"In fact, I'm here to help you through this. It's over my head, but I'm just trying to make sure you don't get in over yours."

"Oh really? And how's that?"

"There's a mission you were being considered for - given that you've found yourself here, I take it they chose you for it!" Before Tw'eak could interject, Corbin continued. "In two hours' time, the Bonaventure - that Bonaventure out there - will be destroyed."

"Let me guess... that's not how it happens in the timeline."

"Very good," Corbin replied with a bit of a sneer. "We need you to stop it from happening." He nodded towards the Bonaventure. "Obviously it'll require you to get over there to fix."

"What are we up against? How does it happen?"

"The information is all there in the computer. Oh, you'll want to mask your energy field. This shuttle is built for covert operations - you'll be completely invisible for a period of time. You'll have to act quickly. They know you're here but they can't scan the interior of the shuttle, so they'll be curious."

"I don't understand - why us?"

"I know. I tried to tell them, Tw'eak, really, I did. We had important matters to still carry out. You're good for more than just starship command, but for now I wanted them to leave you alone, let you get your command organized. Looks like they disagreed."

"I... can't promise you we'll succeed."

"That's what worries me. We usually only send expendable assets on these kinds of missions. Perhaps I was too quick to praise you in my reports. Fighting off an Undine hand-to-hand like that... that's no small feat!" Corbin shook his head. "Ah well. There's always more where you came from, I suppose."

Tw'eak saw Aurora's face snarling into a knot of rage, and put a hand on her chief engineer's shoulder. "We'll see what we can do."

"Do that. I'd like to say we'll see each other again, but-"

"Lieutenant... can you close that channel?"

"Maybe?" Aewon pressed the button and the holo-emitter disconnected. "Yep."

"Accessing computer database," Octavia declared, turning to her station.

"I can help," Aurora said, squeezing in next to Octavia.

Standing back from the window now, Tw'eak looked across through the window at a starship whose design her great-great-great-grandparents may have served upon and wondered at the reason why.

The fervent, frantic efforts of her three crew members made Tw'eak feel hopeful, if not quite reassured. Here she was in - when? the 23rd century? - facing the namesake of the ship she no longer commanded. There was some mission to be performed, some outcome to be prevented (or perhaps made to happen?), and her crew was tasked with doing so by a shady member of a reprehensible organization that continued to operate as tumours do within the Federation.

Aewon, the Deltan helmsman, was the first to speak. "I've input the current star setup into the computer and I have a reasonable idea of the present stardate."

"Which is?"

"Sometime in the 2230s."

"That puts us... wow." Tw'eak considered for a moment. One hundred and eighty years in the past. "So what do we know about what happened then?"

"Not much," Aurora admitted. "I never liked history."

"Well, let's see. The Earth-Romulan War is over, the Federation exists, as does Starfleet... the Klingons are a fact of everyday life, and the Enterprise is probably still commanded by Christopher Pike."

"That would appear to be correct," Octavia noted. "According to historical records, USS Bonaventure is declared lost in 2237. Its last report, taken from an emergency buoy, indicated they were engaging with an unknown enemy of considerable power."

"The fact that they launched an emergency buoy tells us they didn't expect to survive."

Octavia nodded, her face concerned.

"So what are we going to do?" Aurora asked. "We can't just beam over there and expect to be taken seriously. 'Hey, don't fight anyone!' They may have just been defending themselves."

"I'd be willing to bet on that. Those are still Starfleet officers over there. They're only going to engage for defensive purposes. Still... if we could get an idea of who..." Tw'eak turned to Aewon. "Are we in the Omega Leonis sector block?"

"No. Tau Dewa. If I'm not mistaken, the Azure nebula should be about ten light-years... that way. And the Carraya system is about a light-year in that direction. Gravitational sensors confirm some sort of field consistent with a star system at that distance."

Tw'eak sat in her chair. "Tau Dewa... the Romulans probably aren't out this far yet... and if there's no Romulans, there won't be Hirogen either."

"We can't be sure of that," Octavia noted. "The Hirogen could have accidentally happened upon this region of space through their various technological means."

"Somehow I don't think that anything we're going to encounter here will originate in the Delta Quadrant."

"Iconians!" Aurora exclaimed. "It's Iconians, isn't it!"

"It could be, but... well, how would we know?"

"It seems unlikely that the Iconians would engage with a single starship," Octavia considered.

"That's true," Tw'eak added. "And I doubt the Bonaventure would've gotten a buoy launched if they had. What little I know about Iconian ships... they're big and they're incredibly powerful. They would simply tear anyone apart who got in their way."

"Maybe a planet-killer? Or a whale probe? Or maybe they got pulled into the Delta Quadrant and never made it home?" Aurora looked around, and, realizing she sounded ridiculous, mumbled, "Crystalline Entity..." and went back to her computer screen.

"Of course," Tw'eak concluded.

"Really?" Aurora replied.

Octavia's voice was completely unenthused. "Really."

"No, not any of that - Tholians. We know the Tholians are still active - and they have an active interest in time travel and future technology." Tw'eak leaned forward and looked at the clean hull lines of the Bonaventure and her trim, straight warp nacelles. "They'll make contact with the Tholian Assembly and then be captured."

"So how do we go about helping them?" Aurora asked.

"Infiltration." Tw'eak moved to the aft compartment and retrieved several armbands containing emergency transporter sequencers. "Am I correct in saying that we could successfully beam in and out of this ship while its shields are still up?"

"Absolutely." Aurora smiled brightly. "Their shield cycles have variances of whole microseconds. We could beam all of Earth Spacedock through those shields."

"And not be detected by onboard sensors?"

"Don't know about that. We could replicate uniforms, though... to blend in."

"I sincerely doubt that I would be so capable," Octavia noted.

"That's true," Tw'eak noted sadly. "You can stay out here with the shuttle." She turned to Aewon. "You'll come along, though."

"I... can't help but think I'd be pretty obvious, too."

"Not the way I have planned. If I can pose as a security officer and say that I captured you trying to board the ship, they can go through the process of interrogating you and trying to figure out your time-travel mysteries. Octavia can beam you back at any time."

"I can conceal a commbadge in your outfit that is constantly in transmission. We can work out a phrase or term that allows me to know you need emergency beam-out."

"A safe word?" Aewon smiled. "But what's my role?"

"Let's see... this shuttlecraft has Academy markings, does it not?"

"It does."

"So you're here for historical research. You don't want to say anything - and don't you dare say anything - but you're a civilian researcher and you can't believe they found you." Tw'eak whirled a hand around. "Tell them you were assured the shuttle would be invisible, maybe tell them that any attempts to board it by someone other than you will result in it self-destructing."

"There's a corbomite device on board," Aurora added helpfully.

"Corbomite," Tw'eak confirmed. "Just try to impress upon them their importance and your interest in them."

"But... Captain, I'm in a bit of a difficult position here."

"Admiral," Octavia corrected.

"I... As a Deltan, I can be far more... persuasive than might otherwise be admissible. I took an oath as a Starfleet officer to ...be very careful with other humanoids."

"I appreciate that, but in this case, if you can see some way to use that ability of yours to turn a situation in our favour, it could make the difference."

Aewon looked distinctly uncomfortable. "It's not something I would want to commit to unless I was certain it was unavoidable."

"Of course. I'm not ordering you to do that, just... saying it might be an option." She turned to Octavia. "Any way we can replicate him some hair?"

Octavia was clearly not expecting the request. "Hair."

"Hair. If we can conceal that he's a Deltan, it might make a difference."

"I will see what can be accomplished. Without a surgeon, however, such an effort will be quite obvious."

"Obvious to us, yes. Obvious to them, not knowing he's a Deltan? I'm not so sure." Tw'eak looked back towards the small replicator unit in the shuttle. "This thing is capable of making historical uniforms?"

"I'm working on that now," Aurora noted.

"Good." She turned to Aurora. "Let's see if we can't get you into shield control - see if you can boost the power to the shields. Tholians tend to use tetryon beams, thermionic torpedoes, really advanced stuff compared to what a crew of this era would expect. Let's see if we can't give them a fighting chance."

"What about weapons?"

"Short of taking out the beam bank units we're not going to be able to do much to help - just make sure, once the fighting starts, that you're someplace where you can boost the EPS flow as much as possible, get me emergency weapons power as it's needed."

"Got it."

"I will do my best to keep the shuttle safe," Octavia said after a beat. "I doubt it will survive a sustained attack by the Tholians, so to prevent its capture I will initiate the self-destruct sequence if necessary."

"Absolutely. With any luck it won't come to that."

Octavia took a brief look at the transporter unit on Aurora's arm, then pulled it towards her. "Admiral... these are subspace transporter units. They are far more powerful than those typically equipped aboard shuttles."

"How can you tell?"

Octavia tapped her eyepiece. "I can distinguish the subspace modulator's resonance from that of a typical pattern buffer." She looked at Aurora's arm again, then considered. "These will be visible, and quite obvious, to the crew of the Bonaventure once you beam over."

"We'll have to conceal them under the uniform sleeves." Tw'eak considered. "Or beneath the belt. Or something. I don't know. Let's just get the uniforms replicated."

"Already have yours ready to go, ma'am," Aurora noted. "Red for tactical - lieutenant's rank okay?"

Tw'eak sighed. "It's been a while, but yeah. No sense pretending to be an ensign at my age."

"Replicating now. Boots will go after you take the fabric portion out."

"And a phaser-two. I'll have to look convincing."

"It's up after the boots," Aurora said with a smile.

"Admiral," Octavia interrupted. "With the subspace transporter units active, I could conceal myself in the Carraya system and still manage to co-ordinate all aspects of the mission."

"You might as well. I'd just as soon not have to account to Temporal Investigations for every last piece of this thing."

"Agreed."

"All right." Tw'eak took a step towards the replicator and removed the uniform. "Aurora, there's something wrong."

The replicator hummed, producing a pair of long black boots, as Aurora turned to look at her admiral. "Ma'am?"

"There's no pants."

"I know."

Tw'eak flustered slightly, her antennae bending inwards. "You expect me to beam over there without any pants?"

"Yep!" Aurora giggled. "It's regulation."

"I believe what the lieutenant commander is inferring is that you are currently holding a uniform skirt," Octavia gently noted.

Aewon laughed. "Skirts nowadays are a bit more... sensible."

"I'm going to feel like I'm at a Betazoid wedding in this," Tw'eak quipped. "All right, people. Eyes front." She reached back to unfasten her uniform tunic and change into the relatively sparse fabric of the all-red early Starfleet skirt outfit, well aware of the irony in the fact that her Section 31 handlers had seen fit to throw her head-first into a temporal incident wearing nothing but a slightly larger-than-regulation red shirt. At least the boots are comfortable, she thought.


	13. Chapter 13

"All done." Aurora stepped out of the aft compartment of the shuttle dressed in an engineer's outfit. She carried with her a tricorder and a small packet of tools.

"Are you going to be able to find your way around?" Tw'eak asked from the forward compartment.

"I went over the schematics while you were getting Aewon's hair on. Should be no problem."

"Good."

"This is so uncomfortable," Aewon added.

"How do you think I feel?" Tw'eak snarked.

"At least you don't have to crawl through Jeffries tubes on your bare knees," Aurora commiserated.

Tw'eak stood up next to Aurora, gesturing towards Aewon to join them. "All right, I think we're ready."

"Personal shield units should not be carried on this mission," Octavia noted as she turned to face them.

"Aw, really?" Aurora protested.

"Anything that could potentially show up in scans as proof of your not belonging to the crew should be left here."

Tw'eak deactivated her personal shield unit and pulled it loose, handing it to Octavia. "And I thought I felt naked before," she quipped.

"Stand by for transport."

Octavia manipulated her console and then the transporter beam took hold. A shimmering radiance fell over the three, and then Tw'eak found herself staring at a colourful, antiquated corridor. The noise and ambient harmonics of the engine changed, as did her sense of the electromagnetic and other fields that were present about them. She turned to Aurora. "Good luck. Get going."

"See you!" Aurora turned and walked quickly down the corridor in the direction of the shield control area.

"Now," Tw'eak said to Aewon, "if you go down that way, say about ten or twelve paces, I'll call out to you and draw my phaser."

"All right. I'll try to look suspicious, I guess."

"Go." Tw'eak ducked into the corridor bulkhead, concealing herself from sight. Aewon made his way down the wall, skulking very carefully.

"Intruder alert - deck seven!" a voice sounded from overhead. So they had noticed, Tw'eak observed. She drew her phaser, checking to ensure it was on stun, and moved quickly after Aewon, who was a good distance ahead.

"Hold it!" she called out. Aewon looked back at her, and ran. Tw'eak gave chase, dashing past a corridor intersection and nearly knocking over a pair of science officers. "Stop right there!" she yelled as she took to one knee and fired her phaser. The bolt of energy struck a nearby bulkhead, leaving a burn mark. This startled Aewon, who stumbled, landing at the feet of another security officer. Tw'eak looked up to see a tall, well-built Andorian towering over the Deltan. A rapid response hadn't been what she had been expecting. Nor, for that matter, had been another Andorian. He looked just as surprised to see her, and kept glancing in her direction as he apprehended Aewon.

"Who are you?" the Andorian asked as he picked Aewon up off the floor.

"I'm... Lieutenant..." Tw'eak had the presence of mind not to use her own name. The memory of the young shan she had met at the Academy, Cadet Lini Sh'Iltryrav, came to mind. "Sh'Iltryrav."

"You new on board?"

"Yeah," Tw'eak said, nervously gushing. "Something like that."

The Andorian looked towards the bulkhead. "Hard to hit a moving target in a curving corridor, isn't it."

"Got him second shot," Tw'eak lied, then added, "They're not going to take that out of my pay, are they?" with a smile.

The Andorian laughed. "I'm Lieutenant Thralin Ch'abbas. Good to have you aboard."

Tw'eak froze in place. Her eyes widened, and her antennae leaned as far forward as they could. There was no way this was... "Thralin-?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I... it's... probably nothing, but... I think our families might have known each other, back on homeworld."

"Really? Hey, small universe, isn't it." He smiled at her. "Come on, let's get this guy to the brig. I'm sure Captain Peacock will want to question him."

"Right." Tw'eak took a position flanking the corridor, phaser still drawn, as they made their way along. Playing as if acting on instinct, she kept watch fore and aft as they moved.

"You can stand down," Thralin noted. "There was only one transporter beam, and the shuttle seems to have self-destructed." Aewon, for his part, was doing an excellent job of staying limp in his arms. "Anyway, when did you come aboard? I haven't seen many of us aboard ship, let alone in my department."

"A while, actually, probably about a month?" Tw'eak holstered her phaser and scratched her head. "I've... had a difficult time settling in. My first posting on a starship."

"Well, you've got good instincts, and you found the weapons locker pretty quickly. Good to have you aboard."

"Thanks."

"Hey, maybe some time, if you're off-duty and not doing anything, we could get together for katheka?"

Tw'eak closed her eyes and shook her head. "You don't have katheka."

"I do! Brought it with me from home - I got a buddy down in medical, lets me use the cryo freezer to keep it cold. It's as good as being at home."

"All right. Maybe sometime." She motioned over her shoulder. "I should get back to my station."

"Sure. See you around." Tw'eak watched as her great-great-grandfather - little he realized that he was, or rather would be - carried Aewon down the corridor, the Deltan humped over his shoulder. She then moved the opposite way, and found the first open door - which happened to be a weapons locker - then reached under the collar of her uniform and pressed a concealed communicator. "Sh'abbas to Octavia."

"Go ahead."

"I... I can't believe it."

"Clarify?"

"One of my relatives is a security officer onboard ship. I'm trying to remember my charan's stories about him - Thralin Ch'abbas. I'm glad I didn't introduce myself."

"This seems highly unlikely."

"I know, right? But -wait, he said the shuttle had exploded."

"I was able to transport the warhead out of one of their photon torpedoes and discharge it just before engaging a subspace jump."

"A subspace jump?"

"I was also able to re-program the locked-out subroutines and gain full access to ship's systems. This shuttle has clearly been heavily modified by Section 31. I am in the process of annotating all modifications for possible future use in tracing the organization's operations and, if possible, degrading their operational ability."

"You're planning on going after Section 31?"

"Not today, and certainly not alone. However, we can return to our rightful place in the timeline whenever you choose."

"No. I don't think so. At least, not yet."

"May I ask why? Lieutenant Aewon may be in some danger."

"If what we've been told so far is accurate - and we have no way of verifying that the files we have are factual - then this ship is going to be attacked, and probably soon, by an unknown adversary."

"That much we can surmise to be accurate, I would agree."

"And if some ancient relative of mine happens to be onboard at the time..."

"As your relative is a chan-male, I believe you said?"

"Yes, he is."

"As your chan relative will most likely already have already bonded, his survival or demise may have no effect upon the unfolding timeline."

"That doesn't- I don't know if I can explain it to you." Tw'eak looked around furtively, worried that someone might enter the weapons locker and surprise her as she explained it. "We're not like Borg where it's just off with your critical components and into the plasma fire with your remains. If I can prevent his death in the coming battle, I should certainly like to."

"I would like to draw your attention to the example of the Enterprise-C, whose destruction at Khitomer was an essential event in our timeline-"

"...and who's to say that the Bonaventure blowing up isn't going to have the same effect?"

"Precisely."

"Yeah, I know. But I just... I get this feeling like this ship is worth at least trying to save. The same holds true of its crew."

"Having served with you for some time, I can say with quite reasonable certainty that there are few Starfleet vessels or their crews about which you would feel different... in any timeline."

Tw'eak held her response for a moment, because Octavia was right. Yes, Section 31 had put her here - and yes, there was now a personal connection to be considered. "So what's the right answer?"

"I am still awaiting a firm indication of the 'right' or 'wrong' outcome, and am currently monitoring a number of factors in the hopes of determining our best options. I will contact you when it is appropriate."

"Please do."

Another whispered tone came over the air. "duBois to Octavia!"

"Aurora?" Tw'eak asked.

"Admiral! Octavia, are you there?"

"I am."

"I've got a problem here - I don't know if I can handle this..."

"What is it?" Tw'eak took another look at the door. She realized she could hear voices from the corridor as people in conversation walked by. Surprisingly thin doors on these old ships, she thought to herself.

"I can't get into shield control. I was -somebody shot at me when I went in there. There are two of them in there. They know we're not from this timeline."

"What? How did that happen?"

"They're not from this timeline, either," Octavia noted. "I have sensors online - I am currently reading a small chroniton disruption resident in the centre of the saucer, somewhere in the vicinity of shield control, but certainly on that deck."

"You're telling me that there's another set of time travellers present on this ship?" Tw'eak was incredulous.

"They shot at me!" Aurora objected. "And I didn't even have shields!"

"I'm not saying- it just..." Tw'eak sighed. "This mission just got a lot more complicated."

"Over here!"

Aurora waved Tw'eak over towards where she was hiding, in the alcove of another doorway. This one led to an engineering space with several prominent consoles and lockers full of work equipment. "Here," Tw'eak said as she stepped inside, handing Aurora a phaser belt. "Freshly charged."

"You're not thinking of going in there, are you?"

Tw'eak looked at Aurora incredulously. "Why, do you have a better idea?"

"We don't have shields! And they might!"

"That's just it. We have to find out who they are."

"By going in there and shooting them?"

"No, no." Tw'eak considered more closely. "Actually, yes. But on stun."

"Maybe we can go about this another way," Aurora said after a moment, gesturing towards the engineering equipment just behind them. "If I'm not mistaken, that's a shield distribution unit. If we disable a few of those, they'll come out to check on them, and then-"

"Or we'll alert the crew, and they'll walk into that ambush instead of us. You're presuming they want to keep the shields up, whoever they are."

Aurora blinked. "You mean- I hadn't thought of that." She narrowed her eyes. "Who would want to take down the shields on a starship, anyway?"

"Again, we don't know." Tw'eak took a step towards the doorway. "We'll have to find out."

The corridor was empty, which was good, since both officers had their phasers drawn. As they came to an intersection, Tw'eak considered the shape and length of the room, based on the doorways in the corridor. "What's it like inside?"

"Long on one side - a thin rectangle, basically. With a curving section of wall where there are displays, and ...um, what do you call it, a wall you can walk on either side of in the room."

"A bulkhead?"

"Sure. It's about a metre from the opposite wall, the one with the displays. There are a few maintenance access points behind it. The two of them were in front of the controls, on the other side."

"So if you and I go in together, I can draw their fire while you move along the maintenance access." Tw'eak used her hands, pointing one way with her phaser while bringing the other around an imaginary replica of the maintenance bulkhead,

"Won't they be expecting that?"

"You're probably right. They may have locked the door as well." Tw'eak came to the door, and waved a hand in front of it. "Yeah. Locked." She pondered for a moment, then turned towards the nearest wall-mounted communicator.

"What are you doing!?" Aurora squealed.

"Shh." She pressed the button. "Uh, bridge?"

After a few moments, there was a voice on the other end of the line. "Bridge, Davis here."

"Uh, sir, somebody's locked the door to shield control, probably because of that intruder business, but I'm a little late for duty and I could use a hand! Any chance you can do me a quick favour?"

"Sure. Just don't make a habit of it."

"Thanks! Door seven-B-thirty-four!" Tw'eak turned off the communicator. "And off, before he can ask any awkward questions." She turned to Aurora. "Remember, nobody knows anything is going on, yet. That's our advantage." She looked towards the door. "And hopefully they don't know that door isn't locked, too."

"I really don't like going in there."

"Remember - you see anything moving, you shoot. Assume anything to be hostile. Set to heavy stun."

Both Tw'eak and Aurora checked their phasers. "Got it," Aurora said meekly.

"Relax, Aurora. You're a ground combat specialist, remember?"

"I know... I was kind of looking forward to having my own engine room, though."

"And you will, soon enough." She patted Aurora on the arm. "Just think of it this way. We get shot at for a couple minutes, we save this ship, go back to our own timeline, get to see the sights on Bajor, maybe meet some cute Bajoran guys, with their rugged, handsome good looks..."

"Oh, my sister is going to be so jealous. She's always wanted to go to Bajor. For the ruins, she says. But I-"

"Aurora. Focus."

"Right. Cute Bajoran boys." Aurora giggled softly. "At least I know they can pick out jewelry."

"Oh, that is-"

"Kidding, kidding."

Tw'eak stepped past the doorway along the far side of the corridor, then motioned for Aurora to go first. "Whenever you're ready."

Aurora moved through the doorway, rapidly making her way to the maintenance section. There was a short stairway down, which she traversed easily while Tw'eak appeared in the doorway above her and spotted two figures, both humanoid, clad in an unfamiliar outfit. One turned to face her, and she opened fire, the blue beam of the phaser glittering brightly as it knocked the adversary to the ground. The other, a human female in a short skirt and a cropped uniform tunic, drew a phaser of her own and fired, taking a chunk out of the wall behind Tw'eak in a near miss. Tw'eak threw herself forward, sliding across the floor, and returned fire, striking the female on a shield facing. Exposed, Tw'eak found herself in a bad position, unable to take cover easily as the female threat in front of her took aim. Aurora appeared at that moment and opened fire, striking her target. The woman fell to the ground, the stun setting having done its work.

Tw'eak stood up, smoothing her uniform skirt. "Thanks." She pointed at the woman, confused. "Why didn't- I mean, the shields- why-?"

Aurora took a belt from around the woman's waist. It was much like the shield units of their time, but as though they had been built cheaply. "This isn't Federation technology. Not that I recognize, anyway."

"So who are these guys?" Tw'eak wondered. She turned the man over and noticed that there were voices coming from his wrist.

"-come in. Are you there? Phaser control team, send someone to shield control to check out what's happened."

"Right away," came another voice.

Aurora looked up at Tw'eak. "Phaser control team?"

"They must have someone in phaser control as well." Tw'eak looked up at Aurora. "This isn't good. They've taken control of weapons and shields."

"Why, though?"

"I'm not entirely sure." She looked down at the man and noticed a scarf tied about his waist, with a dagger clipped into a sheath on his belt. "But if I had to guess, I'd say these people are from the mirror universe."

"The mirror universe- really?"

"Yeah. But what are they after?"

"Wait - Admiral. If they're from the mirror universe, then those phasers don't have a stun setting."

"You're right." Tw'eak picked up one of the mirror universe agents' phasers and checked, to be sure. "One setting."

Aurora shuddered where she stood. "Wow."

"You can't think of it that way. Think of it how we've been trained to think of it."

"I know... I just feel kind of funny."

"We can't stay here. Come on." Tw'eak tapped another communication panel. "Intruder alert in shield control! Intruder alert!"

"What'd you do that for?" Aurora said, suddenly angered.

Tw'eak picked up the other phaser, removed both communicator units from the mirror agents' wrists, and handed one of each to Aurora. "Come on. If what we heard is true, then we'd best alert the crew. With any luck we'll get to phaser control before their security teams do."

"But I don't understand-"

"Come on-" Tw'eak went back through the door, followed by Aurora, and the two of them moved quickly in the opposite direction.

"Wait, my tricorder." Aurora turned around and went back into the maintenance room where Tw'eak had found her. She emerged moments later with a tricorder across her shoulder. Tw'eak, however, heard voices and grabbed Aurora, ducking back into the maintenance room as a pair of security guards moved to the entryway, carefully navigated the door, and went into shield control. As soon as they were gone, the doors of the maintenance room opened, revealing the two.

"That was close," Tw'eak noted. "Which way to phaser control?"

Aurora checked her tricorder. "Let's see... according to this map... this screen is so small!"

"Come on, we can't ask for directions!"

"That way." She pointed in the direction from which the security guards had come.

Tw'eak tossed the mirror-universe phasers into the maintenance room. "No point keeping those around." She stepped past Aurora, holstering her phaser, and stepped quickly.

Aurora followed a short pace behind, following the line of the map on the tricorder. "Take a right up ahead." Tw'eak did so, and Aurora nearly bumped into her.

The resonance in the electromagnetic field was increasing. "You know, one of my first jobs aboard ship was in phaser control."

"Really?"

"Yeah, aboard the Enterprise-E, in fact."

"Oh my gosh, did you see that new ship? The Odyssey class is such a pretty ship. I sure wish I could have an engine room like that someday!"

Tw'eak briefly thought of Va'Kel Shon before quipping, "Aurora, we're in the past. Everything we know will happen someday - including the both of us."

"Oh, geez, I didn't think of it like that."

Tw'eak felt her antennae twitch with the perception of lifeforms ahead. "Put that down," Tw'eak suddenly said, sharply waving behind herself at Aurora as she slowed her pace. For her part, Aurora complied instantly, stepping up to walk next to Tw'eak.

"And these new duotronic units are going to be so great," Aurora said, making filler conversation. Around the corner came a pair of red-shirted security guards with phasers drawn, and both Tw'eak and Aurora feigned surprise, Aurora leaning against the bulkhead dramatically as she did so. Within a few moments, the security men were gone. "How did I do?" Aurora asked eagerly.

"I'm not a drama critic," Tw'eak responded candidly. "Come on, how much further?"

"About... right over there, actually. Third door on the left around the next corner."

"Which way?"

"Oh, that left and it's the third door." Aurora put her tricorder back. "There's a bulkhead just on the other side of the door, probably a metal mesh - they'll be able to see us. The central control area is just beyond that - square room, with displays at the far end. There are four smaller rooms, each fanning out from the main room. We better be careful shooting in there, though."

"Phaser coolant units. Yeah, I know." Tw'eak started moving again, turning the corner as she spoke. "Don't let that stop you from taking aim at your targets. We don't know how many of them are in there."

"And these communicators are quiet. Maybe they've moved on?"

"Or they've just gone radio-silence." Tw'eak saw the door with the 'phaser control room' markings in front of her. She placed an arm across Aurora's path and halted her motion, then took a few steps back into a nearby alcove. "Be ready for anything, okay?"

"Should I leave my tricorder out here?" Aurora looked around. "Nowhere to put it."

"No, I don't want to take any risks of them uploading the data. We could compromise the timeline."

"It's just going to get in my way, though."

"Well, here, then. Let me have it." Aurora took off the tricorder, handing it to Tw'eak. She shouldered the device, then moved her shoulders a couple times in simulation of active motion. "Should be fine. All right. You ready?"

"Yeah, I suppose. If anything happens, you'll write the letter to my sister, right?"

"Aurora..."

"No, I'm serious. You will, right? You're my commanding officer, after all."

"Aurora. We're not going to die here."

"Still, I'd feel a lot better knowing you were."

Tw'eak controlled her tone. "Yeah, I would. I don't want to, but in the event, it'd be me writing it. It could be me too, y'know."

"Oh, geez, I don't know, Admiral, you're a pretty good shot."

"Yeah." Tw'eak considered for a moment, then reached inside the collar of her uniform. "Sh'abbas to Octavia."

"Admiral. I am surprised to hear from you. Is everything all right?"

Tw'eak looked at Aurora. "Can you pinpoint our location on the Bonaventure?"

"I have been monitoring your progress continually. I would question whether your decision to engage in a firefight was prudent."

"So would I. That's why I want you to replicate two shield units and beam them right here into the corridor."

"Admiral?"

Aurora was even more surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. I'm not willing to take any more chances - even with the timeline. If either of us are wounded you're to beam us out immediately, before we can leave any trace of our having been here. We'll have to regroup. But if we're going up against people that shoot to kill I'd much rather not do it completely naked."

"Replicating now," Octavia said. "Energizing."

Within moments, two small black shield units rested upon the floor. "Thank you. How's the lieutenant making out?"

"Still in the brig. No one has arrived to interrogate him."

"They're still too busy with all these intruders." Tw'eak tilted her head, struck by a new idea, and placed her mirror-universe communicator on the ground where she had picked up her shield unit a moment before. "I've just put down a communicator unit we took off of one of the mirror universe agents we encountered in shield control. Beam it back and see if you can't triangulate or at least localize where they're operating, and what they're after."

The transporter effect swallowed and dissolved the communicator. "I have it here. Analyzing now. This will take some time."

"That's all right," Tw'eak noted. "With any luck, it won't take us as long to clear the phaser control room." She drew her phaser, and glanced at it with disdain. "What I wouldn't give for a proper pulsewave at a moment like this."

Aurora nodded, drawing her own phaser. "I just wish I had my kit. I feel silly going with just a shield and this."

Once again, Tw'eak stepped swiftly past the door they were about to enter, and Aurora sidled up to its other side. With a nod, Tw'eak took three short steps into the phaser control compartment. Leaning against the bulkhead across from the entrance, she could sense at least three people on the other side. Aurora made her way to the other side and, unexpectedly, opened fire. Startled, Tw'eak leaned out and opened fire as well, hitting one target, whose shield absorbed the energy. She fired again, twice quickly, the first hit taking down the shield while the second stunned her target. The second target she found had already fired upon her, sizzling the wall just to her left, by the time she drew him into her sights. He turned slightly at the sound of Aurora's target dropping, and Tw'eak was able to hit him in the flank with a stun shot. He fell forward, his head falling upon the torso of her first target, and Aurora stepped into the room. Tw'eak lined her up, and then lowered her weapon.

"Looks like we got them!" she said. Tw'eak, however, perceived differently. She could sense someone in the control room of Phaser Three, directly behind Aurora. She heard a yell, then a phaser blast. Aurora fell, hit by the weapon energy, and Tw'eak saw a man from the mirror universe stand up, positioning himself for the kill shot. He, however, had fixated on his immediate target, and Tw'eak quickly pushed the energy of the weapon to its highest setting and opened fire. As she hit her target, he coruscated with a blinding blue energy, his features registering an unexpected, excruciating burn, as he became the target of a phaser set to 'kill'. Between Tw'eak and the burst, a figure stood up, mostly obscuring her view of her handiwork.

Aurora looked up as she stood, astonished, watching as the mirror-universe agent faded into a cerulean resonance in her optic nerve, no longer there, simply gone... vaporized by the blast. Her eyes widened and her feet slipped out from under her. She was entering a state of shock. Tw'eak closed the distance between them, stepping over all three of the mirror agents in the process and kneeling at Aurora's side. "Are you all right?"

"My -I think my shields are gone." She looked at, and yet strangely through, her commanding officer. "You killed him."

"It was him or you. I really didn't want to write that letter." Tw'eak smiled. "Come on, let's get these people bound up and figure out what's going on."

Aurora nodded, smiling appreciatively for a brief moment before the red alert klaxon began to sound.

"What the hell?" Tw'eak asked. She reached inside her collar. "Octavia?"

"Admiral, we have a problem. A spatial rift has formed approximately ten thousand kilometres from the Bonaventure."

"What kind of rift?"

"Unknown, perhaps..." Octavia trailed off, her last words a series of indistinct murmurs. "Admiral. It is the Borg."

"The Borg? Here? How?"

"The rift is emitting chroniton and verteron particles, consistent with time travel."

"We can't take on the Borg in this ship!" Aurora exclaimed.

"No..." Tw'eak noted acidly. "But we're gonna have to."


	14. Chapter 14

Before the Bonaventure lay a sizeable rift in space some distance across, big enough to swallow a dozen such starships. From its centre, the green-pink vortex cascading intermittently with discharges of static electricity, came forth a shape unrecognizable to any of that time, but instantly obvious in its configuration and its intention. Resistance was about to be declared futile. And the space between the Borg sphere and the Federation starship that was its target seemed to grow, as if the Bonaventure were shrinking from the challenge. The starship's engines had reversed, and her defensive systems, incapable though they appeared to be, rose to meet the challenge of their would-be assailant.

"Octavia," Tw'eak said into her communicator. "I want you to beam Aewon back to the ship right now."

"Very well. Activating transporter."

"Once you've done that, pinpoint my location and beam over to join us."

Octavia hesitated over the comms link. "I have not prepared a uniform."

"What you look like won't matter - get over here." Tw'eak turned to Aurora. "You get down to shield control. As soon as that sphere opens fire, start modulating shield nutation."

"Right."

"Random patterns -keep them changing. You know the routine."

"Yep! I'll see if I can reroute some power, too." Aurora took a look at the mirror agents, still stunned on the floor. "What about them?"

"Don't know yet. We'll be fine for now."

"Okay." Aurora gave Tw'eak one last nod and sprinted towards the door.

"Do what you can." Still thinking of that letter she promised she wouldn't have to write, Tw'eak heard the transporter sound over her shoulder and turned to meet Octavia, who was wearing a black-and-grey standard duty officer. "Aewon's back safely?"

"He will monitor our progress. I asked him to replicate as many nanoprobe suppressants and immunity boosters as possible, in expectation of being boarded."

"Something tells me he'll discover there's a few cases of them onboard."

"Unfortunately, I had time to inventory the contents of the shuttle. None were available, although I did find a few field ration packs."

"What else did you find out about that shuttle?"

"Aside from the fact that it is clearly not standard Academy shuttlecraft?" Octavia smiled as she listed upon her fingers the proof she uncovered. "The shields are metaphasic in nature - the warp drive has a chroniton integration unit, enabling it to function as a timeship - the computer core utilizes a bio-infusion matrix which made my work in breaking its code far more difficult - and its armament includes micro-transphasic torpedoes and what appears to be a forward-facing phaser lance. It is conceivable that the lieutenant could single-handedly destroy the Borg cube."

"That'll be our worst-case scenario, then... if the Bonaventure can't stop them, the shuttle may have to." Tw'eak grimaced. "I don't know what will become of this vessel."

"Indeed." Octavia tilted her head to one side. "Presently the Borg crew are returning to normal functionality. It appears that the drones were placed in a state of inactivity, neither regenerating nor mobile, during the temporal transit."

"Must've been a bumpy ride."

"So it would appear. There is minor damage to the drive unit, and the hull appears to be weakened in several places. Regeneration is taking place."

"Then we should strike now while we still can."

Octavia took a step forward, checking the phaser control board. "Unlikely. I am not reading any energy presently being routed to weapons. Shields and engines are receiving priority, and a sensor scan is in process."

"They're curious." Tw'eak looked up at the display. "Never thought I'd be disappointed in Starfleet officers for doing what they're trained to do."

"We are gifted with an insight into the Borg which they will never have to understand."

"'Gifted'? I don't know if I'd call it that."

"I envy the crew of this vessel, if I may be honest. They have never known of the Collective until this moment."

"We should make a point of keeping it that way. Can you do something to dump their computer memory?"

Octavia moved to the other side of the phaser control console. "I may be able to create a cascading systems failure by commencing a multi-modal duotronic feedback loop. This would essentially cause the computer to dump all resident memory-"

"I don't need to know how you do it," Tw'eak said sharply. "I need it to happen."

"Of course." Surprised, Octavia turned her attention to the console.

Tw'eak recognized her tone and lowered her head. She pursed her lips and glanced up at Octavia. "I'm sorry."

"I understand. Your instinctive response is, like mine, for us to defend ourselves."

"No. My response is to want to destroy them."

"Also understandable."

"I know what they do to people and I've lost too many good people already to these bastards." She turned to her first officer. "I see what they've done to you, what you have to live with... the fact that you can't even show your face in this time period because of them-"

"I appreciate the sentiment, but-"

"And now here they are, and here we are, just waiting for them to cutting-beam us to ribbons and carry us all off as drones."

"The Borg are considering the possibility of ignoring the vessel and proceeding to-" Octavia tilted her head, seemingly stricken. "Admiral, I believe that I have ascertained the Borg's purpose in being here, now."

Tw'eak stepped towards her. "Which is?"

"They have orders to commence the assimilation of the Dewa system."

"Dewa? You mean mol'Rihan?"

"Not at the present time - the Romulans will still be on their intact homeworld at this moment. A Borg foothold here would prevent the future Romulans from turning Dewa III into their new homeworld."

"And it'd put them at the heart of Federation, Romulan and Klingon affairs for a long time to come."

"Precisely."

Tw'eak leaned back and forth between one foot and another, impatient. "Why aren't we firing upon them yet? We've got to stop them!"

"Shall I override the current energy setup and power up weapons?"

"Without an order from the bridge? They'd send security."

"That may be necessary regardless. At some point our visitors from the mirror universe will awaken."

"Maybe I better stun them again," Tw'eak mused, drawing her phaser.

"I don't think that will work. Besides which, they may prove useful."

"How so?"

"If we can persuade them that their only hope of survival is to help us stop the Borg cube, they can man the separate phaser bank consoles." Octavia gestured towards the open alcoves. "There is no hope of our survival with just the two of us at work."

"And if we don't get the response we're looking for?"

Octavia waited a moment before responding. "Then we must kill them, Admiral."

Tw'eak straightened up. "You're serious."

"They would surely do likewise if the situation were reversed."

"No, you're right. These people only respect strength. I may have to kill one of them in order to persuade the other." Tw'eak took a step over towards the man and woman from the mirror universe. "Let's see." She turned over the man, careful to keep her phaser at the ready. Despite a lengthy scar running down his cheek, the features were otherwise identical to those of Denver O'Leary, her former helmsman. But it was the other stunned figure who made her antennae stand sharply upwards with shock. "Octavia," Tw'eak said slowly, "come here."

"I will require a moment to-"

"Octavia," Tw'eak repeated. "Come here."

Octavia frowned slightly and completed her operation, then stepped to her commander's side. Looking down, she staggered slightly, then straightened her uniform tunic and cleared her throat. "I understand now why they refer to it as the mirror universe," she said placidly after a moment, looking at Tw'eak with unblinking astonishment.

Upon the ground, clad in a sparse and tight-fitting outfit, lay an unconscious ensign from the Terran Empire named Mallory Jermyn - Octavia's unassimilated counterpart from the mirror universe.

"Come on, wake up," Tw'eak said, shaking the woman from the mirror universe. She started to cough, then squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. It was unnerving, for Tw'eak, to see her first officer and friend's face with a stronger colour, without the long tendrils of the ocular implant connecting to her eye socket. Her full head of hair was a distinct dark brown with a hint of reddish tint, tied back in a ponytail, unlike the green-black coiffure shorn to one side which Octavia sported. As for her counterpart, she was going from alcove to alcove, preparing the phaser stations and securing the overrides, ensuring that the mirror universe operatives would be unable to use their consoles to any negative or dangerous effect - they would simply push the buttons and make the phasers fire at targets Octavia selected.

Mallory opened her eyes. Seeing Tw'eak, she attempted to get up, but Tw'eak held her down. Mallory's strength failed her shortly after, and she sank against the bulkhead. "Who the hell are you?"

"That's not your concern."

Mallory reached for her dagger. The holster at her side was empty.

"Yeah, about that... we've already taken some precautions." Tw'eak looked down at her right hand, which held a phaser. "See?"

"Damned alien! So smug with your sense of power... the Empire will avenge me!"

"I'd watch my tone if I were you."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Tw'eak brandished her phaser, waving it back and forth as she said, "You don't want to know what I'd like right about now."

"I don't need a phaser to settle the likes of you." Mallory leaned forward, clearly still woozy from the effect of the heavy phaser stun.

"Oh, yes you would," Tw'eak replied softly. "Now, let's talk about you."

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"You already have... Mallory."

Mallory looked up sharply at Tw'eak. "I don't-" Her face sharpened and she nodded her head. "I didn't know your species was capable of telepathy."

"I'm just full of surprises. Now. Your mission."

"You think I'm going to just talk?"

"I'm not really giving you a choice. Besides, you clearly want to." Tw'eak shrugged. "You're so proud, I bet you thought this up all by yourself."

"I did, actually. Took me six years to get everything together to do this."

"To travel not just out of your own universe, but your own timeline as well. I'm impressed. I didn't think the Empire had the ability to time-travel."

"We don't. But the Klingons do. All we did was put it to its proper use."

"To do what? Steal this ship? It can't be worth that much to you."

Mallory shook her head. "Typical, ignorant alien. Thinking we're after this ship. Why would we bother? What we seek is technology. What we seek... they have to offer." She looked vaguely in a forward direction, towards the Borg sphere.

Tw'eak gave Mallory a confused look. "You're serious."

"You've only faced a squad of my men. My dreadnought is standing by in the nebula, waiting for my signal. We knew this ship would meet them. All we had to do was make sure they would strike."

"Which is why you're in phaser control. You open fire on that Borg sphere out there and it assimilates this ship."

"Who cares? It's just a means to an end. We'll beam out as soon as its shields are down anyway and carry on our work. None of us will come to any harm. And we'll take that ship back to the Empire as a prize of war!" Mallory's strength was clearly returning, as she pointed upwards, her voice ferocious in its intensity.

To her left, Denver O'Leary started moving, shaking his head and pushing up off the floor. "Oh, hell..." He straightened up, then his arms gave out and he rolled over onto his back.

Mallory turned her full fury upon O'Leary. "Get up, you fool! It'll be a day in the agony booth if you don't!"

O'Leary rocked slightly, then blinked repeatedly before seemingly falling back under the effect of the stun. Mallory gave him a kick, then another, with no real effect.

"There is no way your plan will work."

"Of course it will! I have a crew of twenty-seven hundred at my command. We are more than strong enough." Mallory reveled in her perceived strength.

"I don't think- have you ever faced the Borg before?" Tw'eak's face hardened. "Like, do you even have Borg back where you're from?"

"Not as yet - but I assure you that we won't have the same sorts of problems your idiot Starfleet encountered."

Tw'eak nodded, then thought to herself. "Octavia," she called, "would you mind joining us for a moment?"

Hesitant shuffling behind Tw'eak gave the impression of reluctance. From Phaser #3 stepped a woman who, once in her own universe, had been Lieutenant Mallory Jermyn. She stood now beside her admiral, and her mirror-universe counterpart, and her facial expression registered anxiety.

Mallory stood up and faced Octavia, stepping once with a careful look at Tw'eak and her phaser. "It can't be." She looked at Octavia, who stared backwards at herself. "You're... you're..."

"Of course," Octavia replied, her voice quavering.

"But you- why do you have-?"

"I was Borg." She brushed her hair aside, revealing the true extent of her cybernetic modification and the ocular implant. "For many years, I was a drone in the Collective."

"And it was a fate worse than death," Tw'eak added. "She no longer remembers her childhood - your childhood was no doubt similar. In fact, extensive re-writing of her brain's processing ability means she no longer holds any memories of a world without her Borg identity. This is why we call her Eight of Twelve."

"Impossible. We were led to believe-" Mallory trailed off. "They did this to you?"

"I was assimilated. I lost every sense of who I was. The majority of my personality - one which, in some small part, you might share - has been lost to me forever."

"And this is what awaits your men, possibly your entire dreadnought. These Borg are not to be trifled with, Mallory. They are powerful, as you've noted. But they're also relentless. Once they discover that your universe exists, I would expect they will find a way to break through it and destroy your entire Empire, your entire way of life. They nearly have, with our Federation, on more than one occasion."

Mallory was astonished. "This- this is some sort of trick. Someone's trying to stop me."

"This is no trick," Octavia replied.

"Although we are trying to stop you," Tw'eak added. "From making a huge mistake that could cost you... your life, your crew, maybe your whole universe..."

"But we have weapons! We have strength!"

"The Borg adapt rapidly to weapons of all kinds," Octavia countered. "Those adaptations are then learned throughout the hive mind, requiring the development of new weapons. Such research is admittedly not a strength of your Empire, nor of any of your universe's major powers, save perhaps the Dominion."

"You need to reconsider this," Tw'eak acknowledged. "Call your dreadnought. We can help you defeat this sphere. But then, go -back to your own universe."

"Impossible! To return empty-handed?"

"Would you rather not return at all? Or worse- return as a drone and assist the Borg in destroying all you hold dear?"

Mallory looked from Tw'eak back towards Octavia, her eyes running over the ocular implant. "I... I have always heard that my eyes were one of my best qualities. It's how I arranged for the Terror to be placed under my command." Her eyes darted about. "Admiral Riker is surprisingly easy to persuade when you have the right skills..."

Tw'eak and Octavia exchanged a brief glance in surprise.

Mallory sighed. "Tell me what you wish for me to do."

"Contact your vessel. Order them to transport the three of us aboard."

Octavia's head snapped around. "I do not believe that-"

"Once we're aboard, we'll take control of your tactical station and destroy that sphere. After that, we return to our vessel and you head back."

"Suppose I don't agree?"

Tw'eak smiled. "Agree or disagree... I'm the one with the phaser."

"She will have armed guards aboard her bridge," Octavia noted. "Based on my understanding of her universe, they will be unflinchingly loyal to her."

"No doubt." Tw'eak turned to Mallory. "I wonder how many of them I'll need to vaporize before the rest get the hint?"

Mallory's facial expression tightened. "You wouldn't dare."

Now it was Tw'eak's turn for her voice to rise in fury. "Your pathetic technology and your inability to think properly about this problem has created this crisis! You have no right to tell me what I would and wouldn't dare- your idea of 'daring' is to get yourself and your whole crew assimilated! You're a desperate excuse for a captain and I would be ashamed to trust you with responsibility for a tribble, let alone with command of a starship!"

Mallory sneered at Tw'eak. "What would you know about it, you green-skinned savage?" She lunged towards Tw'eak, who raised her phaser. But it was Octavia's arm which reached out and clutched Mallory by the throat.

The calm, rational inflection returned to Octavia's voice, and her grip was unbreakable, causing Mallory to make soft gurgling noises as her counterpart spoke. "I will not allow my commanding officer to come to any harm. You should also be aware that, unlike her, I hold no sentimental attachments to anyone. Yet another... unfortunate consequence of assimilation."

Mallory went limp in Octavia's grip, and Tw'eak realized for the first time that Octavia was holding her slightly above the ground. This was because Mallory visibly lowered back to a standing position on the desk, and she immediately gasped for air and fell to her knees.

"Fine," Mallory said. "Where is my communicator?"

Octavia moved over to the centre console, and retrieved a wrist communicator. She held it out before Mallory, but when it was reached for, she pulled it back slightly, forcing Mallory to make eye contact with her. The look on Mallory's face was one of pure rage and hatred for what she otherwise would have become. "Resistance is futile," Octavia added, flatly. "You must comply."

"Fine," Mallory repeated, taking the communicator. "Jermyn to Terror."

"Terror, T'uni here."

Tw'eak and Octavia exchanged another surprised glance.

"Move to attack position Alpha, T'uni."

"Alpha, aye. I will order all marines to prepare for boarding."

"No- belay that. We're going to destroy the sphere. I've... learned a few things about their technology..." -here Mallory once again looked up at Octavia- "...and I think we can gain as much through salvage operations, without the heavy casualties we were expecting."

"I do not understand."

"I'll explain in a minute. Four to beam directly to the bridge. Transporter room, acknowledge."

Octavia leaned over towards Tw'eak. "I don't know if this is the best of ideas, Admiral."

"I know what I'm doing." Tw'eak tilted her head towards Octavia. "Aewon," she whispered.

"Ah," Octavia said, nodding with a step backwards.

"Are you ready?" Mallory asked as she helped O'Leary to his feet.

"No tricks," Tw'eak said firmly.

"No tricks," Mallory repeated.

Tw'eak raised her phaser. "Because I can assure you, if you or anyone under your command should try anything, then I will surely blast you from the stars."

Octavia took one menacing step towards Mallory, who flinched slightly. "Fine," Mallory said yet again. Then she added, "energize."


	15. Chapter 15

The command deck of the ISS Terror looked an awful lot like a typical Galaxy-class starship's bridge, but this was no Galaxy-class Federation starship. Modified to carry a heavy phaser lance under its saucer section, along with a third warp nacelle and additional phaser strips and other weapons, the Terror was a vastly different beast in the mirror universe. Now, it was streaking towards the Borg sphere at full impulse, well within transporter range of the Bonaventure, and as Tw'eak materialized she was aware instantly of the presence of no less than six guards standing by with their phasers out, among the other officers, all of whom bore daggers at their hips. She also noticed a petite Vulcan in the command chair, who rose to meet the four officers that had appeared in their midst. Unlike the T'uni she knew, however, she wore a cropped uniform and a very short skirt.

"The tactical station is right over there," Mallory Jermyn stated, pointing. "Somebody get Doc up here." She lowered O'Leary to the floor.

Tw'eak and Octavia walked up the short staircase leading to the tactical station. Tw'eak took the left-hand station, responsible for fire control and shield distribution. Octavia handled targeting and power distribution. She shifted slightly towards Tw'eak, then corrected her stance. "They are aware of us."

Tw'eak noted on her distribution display that shields had been raised. "Our shields are up, weapons ready."

Mallory took her seat in her command chair. "Chowalski, I want you to do exactly what these two officers tell you. Port, starboard, evasive maneuvers, whatever - as though the orders came from me."

Tw'eak recognized the conn officer as the mirror version of the helmsman she had once commanded aboard Bonaventure. "Understood," he responded.

"Are you ready?" Tw'eak asked Octavia.

"Yes." She selected several targets, and Tw'eak organized a firing solution.

The Imperial warship tore into the Borg sphere's defenses, its phasers impacting upon its unshielded surface, its phaser lance shuddering before a roaring blast of pure destruction fell upon the sphere. Moments after, its shields finally coming to life, the Borg sphere had already adapted, and the photon torpedo spread impacted, causing it to jerkily execute an evasive turn as it tried to bring an undamaged shield facing to bear. A tachyon beam emanated from the sphere, its bright blue energy draining that of the Terror's shields. Tw'eak compensated by drawing energy from the aft shield.

The ship drifted past its target, and the aft torpedoes opened fire. A series of plasma bolts and torpedoes extended from the ship, and some of the weapons fire seemed to be in danger of striking the Bonaventure. For its part, Bonaventure had been reversing thrusters since the appearance of the Terror, and now stood off at a distance, but without further interest in the fight, it engaged its warp engines and exited the area.

Tw'eak considered the ramifications upon the timeline of her choices to this point, and wondered how she would explain this one to the Department of Temporal Investigations. A few of the plasma bolts struck home, causing the Terror to quake with their impact, but Tw'eak calmly engaged the hazard emitters and energized the hull sufficiently to suppress the fire. It seemed strange to her that the access for all these controls would be at a single station, but it occurred to her that the idea of 'control' in the mirror universe didn't really give junior officers as much of a role. She was still musing at the tactical advantages and disadvantages of this approach when the sphere warped away.

"What-?"

"They are attempting to break off. Their heading is Dewa III."

"Pursuit course! Overtake!"

"Engaging," Chowalski acknowledged.

Mallory stood up, turning to Tw'eak. "Where are they going?"

"They have a reason for being here, now. They're going to try and accomplish it; we're going to try and stop them."

"They're not pursuing that other ship, then?"

"No need - if they're successful they'll be able to assimilate the entire Alpha Quadrant."

Mallory turned towards the viewscreen, where the Borg sphere was faintly visible. "Time to intercept?"

"One minute, four seconds," Octavia noted.

Chowalski looked over his shoulder and nodded at Mallory, confirming Octavia's numbers. Tw'eak noted this seeming lack of trust, and kept her situational awareness as high as she could while still operating the console. She was increasingly anxious about their chances to destroy the sphere, prevent anything from being usable as salvage, and returning home again.

"The phaser lance will only be usable once we have dropped out of warp," Octavia reminded Tw'eak.

"I know. I've modulated its settings - they'll adapt if it's constantly at the same frequency."

"Such modulation should be an automatic-"

"I know," Tw'eak repeated, then whispered, "shh."

A few desperate seconds wore on. The sphere appeared larger and larger, then it vanished. "The sphere's dropped out of warp!" Chowalski cried.

"Alter course - keep with them!"

"We're in the Cymbali system."

"The Cymbali system?" Mallory asked. "There's no starbase here?"

"There will be - Starbase 234." Tw'eak nodded. "But it won't be established until later. At this point in the timeline, Cymbali III is occupied only by a forward listening post."

"So why did the Borg come here?"

Octavia gripped the console as she learned the answer. "They are going to attempt to turn the orbiting listening post into an interplexing beacon."

Mallory looked confused. "Interplexing?"

"If they're successful, other Borg vessels will be able to more easily open rifts through time and access this point, to bring reinforcements. We have to stop them, preferably before they reach planetary orbit."

"Full impulse - put us in front of them!"

The Terror surged towards the planet, and on its tactical screens the listening post was clearly marked as a target. The sphere was at the outer edge of the system, moving inwards at full impulse, while the Terror had ended up at an angle along its outer edge which made an intervention possible. It could, with a few seconds to spare, shut the door on the Borg by coming in between.

"Time to weapons range?"

"Twenty-one seconds," Octavia noted.

"I'm ready with a firing pattern," Tw'eak said to her.

"Stand by. I am channelling emergency power to engines, and will reroute all available power to phasers in... fourteen seconds."

"Ready when you are." Tw'eak locked onto the sphere, and the big form of the Terror juddered as it went from full impulse to a tight turn which would enable Tw'eak to use its forward weapons. "Firing in three... two... one..." Tw'eak pressed the button.

Across the forward section of the Terror, from its phaser lance, its numerous torpedo tubes and phaser banks, a cascade of destructive energy tore into the sphere. Feebly, the sphere offered up just a tachyon beam and a pair of plasma bolts before it coruscated along its entire surface with fiery ripples of the sustained impact of the Imperial assault. Its attempt to out-maneuver or rush past the Terror was by no means successful, whatever its strategy had been. Within a few moments, pounded to oblivion by the Imperial dreadnought's firepower, the sphere exploded, a green and red shockwave pulsing across its ruined surface, followed by another that shattered it into a blasted wreck, hot junk spewing from its remains in a thousand directions. Tw'eak carefully re-aligned the phaser lance to create an area-of-effect blast and, channeling all available phaser power to the lance, waited the few seconds until the firing mechanism's cooldown was ready in order to finish the job and deprive the Terror of its prize.

A phaser tapped her ear. Mallory had, at some point, procured a weapon, and now trained it at Tw'eak's neck. "That's job done, then. Step away from the console."

Tw'eak kept her hand over the firing button. "This is your idea of a 'thank you', I take it."

"I would not advise-" Octavia began, but then realized the guards had closed on their position. Tw'eak watched Mallory's first officer, T'uni, as she stood and moved up the ramp to her captain.

"I'm sure," Mallory responded to Octavia. "And once we've disassembled, or dissected you, whatever, we'll sort you out completely. As for you, alien..." But that was as far as she got. T'uni had unexpectedly placed a Vulcan neck pinch upon her captain, and now guided to the floor, nursing the phaser from Mallory's grip as she went down. The Vulcan reached over, under Tw'eak's hand, and fired the phaser lance herself.

Tw'eak looked up astonished. "I don't suppose-"

T'uni turned, firing twice with precision, blasting the two guards whom she had passed between to reach Mallory, then dropped to one knee and faced the opposite direction, taking down the two other guards. By then, Tw'eak had lowered herself and pounced on the nearest phaser, dropping the mirror Chowalski and another guard, while Octavia and T'uni accounted for the remainder of the officers present on the bridge. The Terror's entire bridge crew was incapacitated.

"Computer," T'uni said calmly as she stood. "Initiate self-destruct. Authorization T'uni one delta four-seven."

"Self-destruct authorized."

"Wait-" Tw'eak tried to interrupt.

T'uni raised a hand. "One moment, Admiral."

"How do you-?"

"Thirty seconds, silent countdown. Commence... now."

"One minute to auto-destruct." The main viewscreen showed a counter in the corner, accounting for the thirty seconds remaining in the ship's life.

T'uni tapped the tactical console. "I will move the Terror into the centre of the Borg sphere's debris field. With any luck, the detonation of this vessel's warp core will be sufficient to eradicate any debris."

"I am quite surprised to see you here," Octavia said to T'uni.

"Indeed."

"Wait- you mean to tell me-"

"Yes, Admiral." T'uni looked up at her best friend with a twinkle in her eye. "Subduing, and then assuming the role of, my mirror universe counterpart was surprisingly easy. She was... rather less capable than I. I presume you have access to subspace transport?"

"We do," Octavia noted. "We should contact Lieutenant Aewon."

"But I-"

"Admiral, there will be time to explain later." T'uni gave Tw'eak an unmistakably serious look.

Tw'eak reached for her communicator. "Sh'abbas to Aewon."

"Aewon. Go ahead."

"Three to transport."

"Admiral," Octavia said, "could we make it four?" She reached down and picked up the unconscious Mallory Jermyn from the floor. "I'm not willing to abandon her to her fate."

"Why? She would've done worse to you."

"May I remind the admiral that we have thirteen seconds-"

"All right, fine. Aewon, make it four. Energize!"

As the four officers materialized upon the deck of the shuttlecraft Hypatia, Aurora stood up, now in her proper uniform again, and met them as they came into being. Just over her shoulder, at a distance well out of harm's way, the white flash of a warp core detonating was visible. "Wow," Aurora said. "Full house."

"I didn't realize you were in-system, Aewon," Tw'eak said as she moved forward to sit in the seat next to her helmsman.

"I wasn't - but after I beamed Aurora back onboard, I followed the sphere. I figured I could engage it if you weren't able to take it down."

"They altered objectives partway through," Octavia noted as she placed her unconscious mirror counterpart seated on the aft corner of one of the two benches running either side of the shuttlecraft and taking a seat next to her. "I meant to mention earlier, Admiral, that the Borg are well aware of Iconian technology, as the recently-discovered gateway on what we know as mol'Rihan was referred to distinctly on two separate occasions."

"Borg with Iconian gateway access. The last thing we need." Tw'eak turned her chair around after a peremptory scan of the controls, and looked up at T'uni. "So are you-?"

"I am." T'uni brought her hands together behind herself, and stood proudly in the centre of the aft section of the compartment.

"From our universe?"

"The very same."

"And how did you get here?"

"The same way you did."

"So you're working for Section 31?"

"In a sense. My posting currently is at Starfleet Intelligence, and Section 31 is an inescapable fact of life. Not all of us, however, are loyal to both organizations."

Tw'eak shook her head. "So they sent you over, where you infiltrated an Imperial warship, to ...what?"

"That would be classified," T'uni replied, her face nearly breaking into a smile. "What matters, however, is that our mission was successful."

"Yes, it certainly seems that way." Tw'eak turned to Octavia. "Are we clear?"

"The Borg are well and truly silent in this sector. We have succeeded in preventing them from assimilating anything at this point in time."

Tw'eak turned to Aurora. "And what about the Bonaventure?"

Aurora recounted her involvement matter-of-factly as she leaned against the replicator, her voice becoming quieter as she spoke. "Oh, I shorted out their main computer core, corrupted a few hours of sensory data and tactical readouts, just like Octavia set up, and once I did that, I met a really cute boy, and now I'm gonna have his babies and stuff."

Tw'eak and Octavia looked up as one, in total shock. T'uni straightened up, alarmed - if Vulcans could demonstrate alarm. "Such an act would be a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive, and would constitute-"

As was her tendency, Aurora dissolved into giggles, pointing at the intelligence officer in the aft compartment. "You- ha!" She doubled over. "You fell for it!"

"Such a grievous breach of protocol is not a laughing matter."

"I'm sorry, T'uni, I just... seriously, though, I just did the computer core stuff and then Aewon beamed me back." The three officers were still staring with supreme concern - at each other as well as at Aurora, who uncomfortably looked around. "You can stop looking at me like that now. Really. When am I ever going to get a chance to make that kind of a joke again?"

"Never, Commander." Tw'eak was not amused, and turned back to the controls.

"I- okay." Aurora shrugged. "So what now, ma'am?"

"Indeed." T'uni took a look around. "I presume that this shuttlecraft is heavily modified."

"You would be correct."

"Oh yeah," Aurora listed, swinging her arms around in the compartment and twirling. "it's got metaphasic shielding, RCS thruster assemblies, micro-torpedo launchers, tachyokinetic converters, subspace teleporters, temporal cruise control, and extra-big cup holders for your raktajino."

"Aurora..." Tw'eak turned away from the controls, and looked to T'uni.

"I believe the commander is experiencing temporal narcosis."

"I agree. Aurora, go on back and lie down, will you?"

Aurora's eyes blinked heavily. "But I'm not tired, mom, honest! And I'm having so much fun!"

T'uni moved forward, and helped Aurora away from the replicator. "Come along, Commander. I believe you require a bit of rest." Subtly, she slipped her hand up, applying another neck pinch, and then lowered the engineer onto the bench opposite where Mallory Jermyn lay.

"That was unexpected," Aewon noted.

"Not at all," Octavia replied. "Roughly twelve percent of Starfleet officers who have been involved in a time-travel episode have experienced temporal narcosis, among them Ambassador Picard, and-"

Tw'eak raised a hand, looking up to Octavia. "Can we talk about your passenger, now, please?"

"Indeed," T'uni noted as she checked Aurora's pulse. "I presume you intend her to be subjected to interrogation by Starfleet Intelligence."

"Of course," Octavia noted. She turned towards Tw'eak. "I am sorry, Admiral. But I realized that to simply leave ...myself behind, as it were, was not something I was prepared to do."

"But it's not you. For all we know she's responsible for the deaths of millions."

"I do not know who she might be in their universe. I only know that I would have a hard time continuing my existence, in our universe, having abandoned her to her fate."

"She wasn't being threatened with assimilation, though."

"The parallels are inexact," T'uni observed. "Furthermore, your sensitivities for your mirror counterpart should have disqualified you from service in this mission. I am concerned that Section 31 would have sent you into a situation where you would have been faced with her, given this sensitivity."

Tw'eak shrugged. "They didn't exactly screen us ahead of time. Besides, Octavia is the reason this mission succeeded at all. I know it pains you, to experience those voices again."

"To hear the Collective in my mind is an unpleasant experience, although not an unwelcome one. There was a unity of purpose which I have not been capable of achieving in any form since my liberation. However, to become the means of halting that Collective's further expansion, and its assimilation of new victims, as I was... I consider worth the cost in my current inefficient existence."

"Indeed," T'uni said with a nod.

"Regardless of what happens to her, Admiral, I should hope you would not reject my request to maintain contact with her."

Tw'eak considered, then nodded. "We'll send her to a secure facility, under the auspices of Starfleet Intelligence. She's a valuable asset to them now, and once she's de-briefed we'll probably learn a lot."

"It is logical to continue your contact with her, since perhaps she will be more amenable to sharing intelligence with you, rather than with an interrogator in a facility." T'uni tilted her head slightly, looking from Mallory towards Octavia as she spoke.

"No," Octavia objected. "I would want to be able to help her. Perhaps I am not explaining well enough."

"You want to help liberate her, the way people helped you," Tw'eak noted.

Octavia nodded. "She will have a difficult time adjusting to life in the Federation."

"What makes you think she'll stay in our universe?"

"She lacks the means to return - and as she noted, anyone who has been in contact with our universe would be executed were they to return, especially one who may have been turned into an agent for our purposes."

"So by saving her, you've condemned her to death in her own universe?"

Octavia's facial expression went blank. "I had not considered that." She stood up, drawing her phaser.

T'uni intervened, rising to stand between Octavia and her unconscious mirror self. "What is done cannot be so easily undone. She now has value as an intelligence asset, and I would recommend you stand down."

"Make that an order, Octavia. Put the phaser away and stand down."

"I would not seek to condemn anyone, Admiral."

"You kill her, and you'll condemn yourself to that jail cell for killing an innocent woman."

Octavia looked at Tw'eak. "As you said, she may be a killer."

"And she may be a vulnerable, scared woman - she may be a lot like her counterpart from our universe, is what I'm saying."

Octavia raised her phaser, and T'uni took a half-step towards her, before Octavia presented it to her, handle first. T'uni took it from her and immediately powered it down. "There are a great many things I do not understand about my emotional complexion," Octavia said, her head hanging in shame.

"We'll work on it, together," Tw'eak said, nodding towards T'uni.

"I would be happy to discuss the matter with you, in confidentiality." T'uni brushed her hair aside. "I am still qualified to function as a counselor, after all."

"I... would appreciate that," Octavia acknowledged.

"First, however, I would like your permission to replicate two hyposprays of melorazine. The effects of the Vulcan nerve pinch are... not long-lasting." She looked down at herself and her mirror-style uniform. "I should also like to replicate something more appropriate to wear."

"Go right ahead." T'uni stepped up to the replicator, and Tw'eak looked to Octavia. "Aewon and I have plenty to do up here, we won't be listening in on you or anything like that."

"I appreciate that, Admiral. Thank you."

Tw'eak smiled at her friend, and then turned to Aewon. "All right. You ready to get us home?"

"I think I've sorted this ship out. I kind of wish I could take it home with me. But we're all set here. Just give the word."

"Back to the present, standard orbit around Bajor VII."

Aewon input the controls. "Yup. Course set and locked in."

Tw'eak pondered for a moment, then said, "Y'know, Lieutenant, most of us are going to be serving aboard USS Warspite... a ship whose current roster doesn't include a lead conn officer."

"I... right."

"So, you want a job?"

Aewon smiled. "You're going to be okay with having a Deltan aboard? I know that our... pheromonic response can sometimes be overwhelming for Andorians, even though I made a point of taking a suppressant earlier in order to-"

"Just yes or no will suffice."

"In that case, yes. I'd love to."

Tw'eak extended her hand, and shook Aewon's. He wasn't kidding - the pheromonic response was a little bit much, and she could feel herself swooning as though afflicted with a head cold. However, she kept it together sufficiently well to shake his hand and return to the controls.

"You see what I mean."

"Well... we'll consider this a trial, then, and leave open the possibility of reconsidering."

"It's a deal."

"All right." Tw'eak looked forward through the front window. "Let's head home."

"Engaging engines."

The Hypatia was enveloped by a blue-purple energy, and before it opened a rift in space and time, through which it leapt on its way back to its proper time and place. A few hours, Tw'eak thought to herself, and they'd all be home at last.


	16. Chapter 16

A few busy days had passed before Tw'eak had time to collect herself. She had read about the so-called 'mirror' universe at the Academy, but to actually experience it – and more than that, to encounter her old friend T'uni there on a mission from Starfleet Intelligence – had a sort of implausible feel to it, like something out of a dream… or a nightmare. It confirmed that the Borg were aware of that alternate plane of existence, if nothing else. It also provided her with opportunity to recruit a helmsman – and an incredibly capable one, at that. Lieutenant Aewon had proven to be an inspired find, and had busily taken to reviewing all flight telemetry data and other recordings of the Avenger prototype before immersing himself in the simulator. He was clearly excited, and Tw'eak couldn't escape a feeling of envy.

For her, taking command of Warspite was becoming laborious - a labour of love, to be sure, but the allocations of the antiproton energy weapons, coupled with the sheer amount of work involved in routing and then testing those weapons... going onto active-duty patrol missions, if that was to be their mission, would require a few more weeks of live-fire and simulated weapons tests, to say nothing of her concerns about the quality of the gunnery exercises her energy weapons officers and projectile weapons officers had been engaging in of late. They simply weren't realistic enough, weren't intense enough to truly encapsulate the taxing and constantly changing nature of the job.

She was contemplating further, drawing on her own past experiences as a phaser crew chief, when the chime rang at her ready room door. "Come in," she announced.

Through the door stepped a figure the likes of which Tw'eak had rarely ever seen aboard a Federation starship - unguarded, that is. The drab tunic with pointed shoulders, the dark hair masking pointed ears, the slight ridging of the forehead, and the constantly darting eyes... this man was a Romulan. And not just any Romulan either, but a subcommander of the Republic.

"Welcome aboard, Subcommander."

"Thank you."

"You'll have to forgive me," Tw'eak said as she stood up and strode around her desk to meet him. "Are you Tavian, or-?"

"I am Oulius, ma'am. My brother Tavian is currently on deck seven."

"Ah, let's see... wouldn't have anything to do with the antiproton beam banks being present on that deck, I suppose?"

"Your weapons systems are, of course, of considerable interest to the Republic. This is one of the reasons why we were happy to accept Starfleet's invitation and join your vessel as exchange officers."

"But only on the condition that you serve together..."

"Indeed. Twin births are exceedingly rare for Romulan parents. My brother and I... are you familiar with the Rihannsu concept of mnhei'sahe?"

Tw'eak nodded. "The ruling passion. Yes, I've known a number of your people in my time, and I understand it well. We Andorians have a similar concept, although it works a little differently."

"Our sense of duty, and honour, prevails upon us and governs our actions. Whether this means a personal sense, or a familial sense... for my people, twins share a mnhei'sahe. My brother's path, and mine, must therefore be walked together."

Tw'eak ushered Oulius towards a chair. "Please, sit down." She returned to her desk. "I'm curious as to how you know this to be the case."

"We don't. That is to say, we're not entirely sure. It could be a latent telepathic connection between us, or it could be some form of a connection beyond that, but when Tavian and I are separated, especially over interstellar distances, the effect of that absence creates a sort of paranoid state in each of us, which can be quite painful. We have both been reduced to catatonia as a result, on at least two occasions, after approximately thirty-six hours apart."

"I have to admit, it was a bit of a strange request to have. My first officer and I agreed though, however, that supporting the Republic and giving your people the opportunity to learn with us, and serve with us, was too good to pass up."

"Indeed. I was advised by Commander Radin that you are an exceptional officer, and one well aware of the needs of our Republic."

Tw'eak smiled. "Commander Radin. I didn't know he'd been promoted."

"It was at his recommendation that we put our names forward for the exchange, although we both conceded our chances of getting an assignment - let alone our first choice on the list - was very slight."

"Well. Here we are."

"Indeed." Oulius' face was surprisingly flat. While his overall tone sounded cordial, even slightly bemused, his expression did not change.

"You're a Unificationist, I take it?"

"I am." He tilted his head. "How did you know?"

"I've known Vulcans who didn't act so much the part. Although I, too, am an admirer of their philosophy, so I can hardly talk."

"I was so informed by Radin. I must admit that I was... astonished. Andorians are not known for their emotional resilience."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Oulius raised a hand. "I mean no offense, and if I-"

Tw'eak, for her part, merely chuckled. "We're going to have to replicate you a sense of humour if you keep that up, Subcommander."

"Ah, I see."

"One of many things I've had to learn in the service is that no one approach, not even that of the Vulcans, is necessarily the best. Or rather, that IS a piece of the Vulcan philosophy, is it not... infinite diversity in infinite combinations."

"Yes. One that we of the Rihannsu should never have un-learned along our path. Perhaps with less emphasis on ruling passion, and a greater focus upon logic and science, the Tal Shiar would never have come into ascendancy."

"Perhaps," Tw'eak acknowledged, then countered, "but your people left for a reason - a huge and frankly questionable risk to have to justify, once you admit the ones you left behind were right all along. I've done that myself, in my time, left Andoria behind for the sake of something better... it would be a difficult thing to reckon that I'd been wrong to do so, especially now."

"I consider myself fortunate that I will not be forced to make such calculations of worth and risk, given that my service aboard this vessel, alongside my brother, will hopefully lead to greater prosperity for our people and a stronger relationship with the Federation for us as well."

"Couldn't agree more. And I have no doubt you'll make a fine tactical officer."

"It is my sincerest intention to do precisely that. May I discuss the matter with you presently?" Oulius tilted his head again. "Perhaps this is a bad time."

"Not at all."

"I have reviewed the current schedule of training programs and exercises, and find them to be inadequate."

"You do."

Oulius nodded. "Aboard a Republic vessel, due to our limited simulation facilities, all weapons fire would be done against drones or other targets. It is my belief that, once Warspite is spaceworthy, we should endeavour to conduct such live-fire activities exclusively. I have a particular sort of photonic targeting drone in mind which we could replicate en masse for such purposes with relative ease, utilizing the onboard shuttlecraft support systems-"

"Agreed."

"-to meet the necessity of keeping such energy usage to a minimum... I'm sorry, you agree?"

"Wholeheartedly. This might be a good time to tell you that I myself was once a tac officer, as well as a phaser crew commander, before I made command rank. And I couldn't agree more. We'll be ready for our first flight by the end of this week. If the weapons are ready, and you have some of these drones ready to launch from the main hangar, we can commence the exercises based upon your schedule."

"I... see."

Tw'eak found herself smiling again. "You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"

"Not in the slightest." Oulius half-smiled. "I was told to expect Starfleet captains to be... reticent to entertain the concept of their starships as weapons."

"Oh, I would be ...reticent to entertain that concept. There certainly are weapons on board, but despite all the violence and conflict that threaten to engulf us, our purposes are science, defense and efficiency - never aggression and never tyranny. Just like the Vulcans showed us."

"Yet clearly, with your past experience as a tactical officer, you would understand my point."

"Completely - a point I appreciate as well. I'm just trying to ensure that you can see past the aiming reticle on your display. There are a lot of ship's systems and they all have equal value to our mission. When the time comes, our weapons and our shields take the primacy they deserve - but that's when the time comes. The rest of the time can be... pretty boring, actually. A lot of watch time, much striving and seeking, but very little finding." Tw'eak gave a reassuring grin. "When the time comes, however, I'll trust that you can handle that responsibility."

"You may indeed rely upon me. I have no intention of dishonouring this opportunity, nor of disappointing you as my commander."

"All right, then." Tw'eak half-nodded. "Put together your schedule and have it to me as soon as you can - use theoretical dating, with when we put to space as zero hour, and I'll review it and fit it all into the overall schedule as best I can."

"May I be permitted access to the bridge tactical station as well?"

"Of course. It's your duty station from this point onward." Tw'eak stood up. "Please let me know if you have any further questions."

"I shall." Oulius stood, and half-bowed before proceeding out the door.

Tw'eak smiled with appreciation at her new tactical officer. "And good luck," she said after the doors had swept shut.

* * *

A short time after Oulius had gone on his way, Tw'eak found herself in the presence of her chief engineer, who was providing her with a breakdown of all the ship's systems and their readiness.

"...and once we have both nacelles running at low levels of power, I'll test the EPS conduits and relays in there, since we want to be sure that nothing goes wrong with a subsystem while we're at warp or whatever. Still, once that's verified, we'll be ready to undertake engine profiling and endurance tests -oh, and the navigational deflector tests, too... which means we'll finally be leaving port! Kind of excited about that."

"Indeed. Can't wait." Tw'eak followed along on the padd that Aurora had provided, noting the progress that had been made to ship's systems. "Our decision to install antiproton weapons hasn't caused us any problems, I hope?"

"Not really. Well, that's not true." Aurora leaned forward. "I had to re-connect part of the main junction circuitry so that it had more potential output to the ventral weapons arrays, and those beam banks up front are really going to take a lot of power - especially if they're fired on overload."

"Yeah, but that's to be expected. An old trick, that."

"But everything checks out, all our primary systems are online and functional, everything is installed, even the astrometrics lab - my sister would love that."

"How is Bianca, anyway?"

"She's great. She thinks she's due for a promotion, but that's another story."

"Oh? Has she been commended lately?"

"Twice. Once for the time she was able to isolate the location of a subspace filament, that would've caused all kinds of problems for the convoy her starship was escorting, and then for her detailed work involving gaseous anomalies in the Prejal system. She did a combination of spectroscopy and chemical analysis... Starfleet thinks those anomalies might actually be a lifeform. They're sending a science ship to check it out. She's trying to arrange a transfer. We're so different - I'd be looking for a transfer the other way!"

Tw'eak smiled. "I know what you mean. As important as it is for Starfleet to seek out new life, I'm not much of an explorer. I'll take the familiar starlanes of a patrol route and the risks of combat against known species over the unfamiliar and unknown threats out there... any day."

"Yeah, there are plenty of those around." Aurora's head tilted downwards, and after a moment, she half-whispered, "Listen, about that... I wanted to apologize."

"For what?"

"On the shuttlecraft a couple days ago, the time-bends. I didn't really see that coming." She shrugged.

"It's a risk that comes with every temporal displacement - intentional or otherwise. Now you know to be careful. There's some kind of injection you might be able to take to counteract it, if that happens again. Doc would know."

Aurora nodded. "She did- mezormapan or something? I don't remember. But I can always ask her for it if anything time-travelly happens again anytime soon."

"It's not on the mission brief, not like that means very much. Anything can happen out here."

"True. Still, I'm pretty happy with how things are right now. Not like I'm getting complacent or anything, believe me - just ...comfortable. Feels kind of nice to be settling in."

"You just like being in charge," Tw'eak admonished playfully.

"That's not true!" Aurora sat up, then relaxed. "Well, okay, it is true. Just knowing everything is working and running or set up and in its place... it's been six months I've been tearing out and putting together these starships. I've learned a lot, but it'll be kind of relaxing to be able to deal with a running engine instead of putting one together and testing it. And I get to work with an actual engine instead of holodeck simulations! I can't-"

The door chime sounded. "Come in," Tw'eak called.

Into the room stepped a sight that made Aurora look as though her hair was standing on end. Two Jem'Hadar, a Gorn and a Klingon ventured into the captain's ready room, each of them with the pace and shifty eyes of gunslingers in a saloon. Immediately Aurora stood up and moved to one side of the room. "I should... uh, really be going, Captain."

"Not too quickly, I hope. There's someone I'd like to introduce you to." Tw'eak stood up and walked over to face the Klingon. "This is Bekk K'vor. He's a warp core engineer, formerly of the Klingon Defense Force. The same holds true of the Lieutenant here." Tw'eak gestured to the Gorn. "This is Medic Tlhosh. The two of them defected to the Federation, and they've both been thoroughly vetted by Starfleet Intelligence, so you can stop looking like that."

Aurora's face registered a combination of alarm and surprise. "Looking like what?" She shook her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Commander," K'Vor bowed slightly. "It is my hope to serve the Warspite with honour, and bring greater glory to her name." Despite his gruff exterior, K'Vor's voice carried a pleasant, demure tone to his words.

"You... served on an Empire ship, I take it?"

"Yes. I could no longer suffer the indignities of serving our Empire alongside pirates and slavers. I was persuaded to join the Federation at the behest of my friend -and yours, I understand- the Caitian known as Selkirk Rex."

Tw'eak chuckled. "Selkirk Rex is an old friend, yes."

Aurora smiled. "He's the crazy guy who liberates slaver ships and stuff, right?"

"Indeed."

The massive bulk of the Gorn, who stood a full head taller than anyone else in the room, shifted slightly. "I alsssso have no tolerancssse for sssslaving. It issss not a value we Gorn conssssider worthy of purssssuit."

"Tlhosh has signed on to serve as our field medic, now that Zed is our science head."

"Oh, wow." Aurora looked up, then down at the Gorn's massive arms, concealed as they were with long gloves. "Well, you're in good hands, I guess."

"I am Pa'lakaklan," the taller of the two Jem'Hadar said after a moment, more to Aurora than to Tw'eak. "I am First aboard this vessel."

Tw'eak looked over at Aurora. "After some of our discoveries involving the Alpha Quadrant's Jem'Hadar, we were contacted by the Dominion about the possibility of having some of these fellows from the Gamma Quadrant join our ranks. They were kind enough to send the very best." Tw'eak pointed upwards, as if remembering something. "And enough ketracel-white for everyone."

"We seek to serve," Pa'lakaklan acknowledged.

"The First and his soldiers will serve as our assault squad. I'm also giving him responsibility for ship's security. The Founder known as Odo has personally vouched for these men to the Federation Council."

Pa'lakaklan turned. "This is my Second, Vir'soix." Vir'soix, for his part, bowed his head slightly. "We are honoured to serve the Founder Odo, and the Federation."

"Well, now... there's no need for any of you to feel out of place. Please let me know if you encounter any problems or difficulties settling in. I realize that for most of you, the idea of complaining or reporting issues might be a... shall we say, alien concept. But I expect to be reliably informed if there is anything which is preventing you from feeling perfectly at home aboard ship."

"You provide carpeted floorssss, many ssssoft placessss to sssssit, and replicated food," the Gorn known as Tlhosh replied. "These are very alien conceptssss. I am sssstill not accusssstomed to them."

"If it becomes a problem, let me know. That goes for all of you. With any luck, it will prove to be a great honour and an example to all of Starfleet, and the Federation at large." Tw'eak masked a smile. "Thank you all for reporting. Dismissed."

One at a time, the members of the crew made their way out - first Tlhosh, then K'vor, then Pa'lakaklan and Vir'soix, and last, with a shake of the head towards Tw'eak, went Aurora. K'Vor had awaited her exit, and asked her a question just as the doors slid closed.

"Well," Tw'eak said softly to no one in particular. "That's going to be interesting."


	17. Chapter 17

Hathon was an unusual place for Tw'eak to find herself. Like many non-Bajorans, she had no idea where to start, the concept of 'Bajor' being a monolithic one (in the case of the massive stone obelisk she was walking past, this was literally true). But she had come back here for a reason, and now, as she made her way through the capital city, she took the occasional moment to take in its streets and lively culture. Practicing her cultural and social observation skills on occasion would prove useful on future away missions.

It wasn't her first time here. During the crisis which had unfolded after the Jem'Hadar under Kar'ukan's command seized control of Deep Space Nine unexpectedly, she had found herself here at the height of the crisis, stationed planetside temporarily until she and other Federation and KDF forces could work together to roust the Dominion from the station - and not for the first time. It hadn't been easy, requiring the assistance of the female Changeling, a Founder whose intervention had finally broken the deadlock, though it had resulted in a massive space battle in which the Bonaventure had acquitted itself admirably. But during her time stationed here, Hathon had been an angry place, the street-sellers offering moba fruit and kava kava for sale being drowned out in the tumult caused by residents quarreling with Starfleet personnel and, to a greater extent, the KDF forces which had been stationed here as well.

Tw'eak had come here to keep a promise, one she had made at that time. She had been reassured then by the only calm voice in all of Hathon, a prylar named Yassim, through whose kind intervention she had been blessed with the opportunity to speak directly to the Prophets of Bajor, as the alien species resident within the wormhole were generally known, to seek their guidance and an explanation. It had been explained to her that though the invasion force which had been expected during the re-taking of Deep Space Nine had not materialized at that moment in time, they had to be restored somewhere. "A hand that remains a fist ceases to be a hand," they had told her. They were words which had resonated with the captain of the Bonaventure, as she had been then, and she had divined much wisdom from them, along with the Bajoran spiritual texts to which she had been introduced at the time. While she wasn't precisely a convert to the mysticism of Bajoran religion, as her Jem'Hadar security officer had become, she was also respectful, and appreciative for the experience.

The temple lay on the other side of an open area which had a combination of the ancient and the modern within its surroundings. While there were monuments engraved and embossed in ancient Bajoran script, and all the trappings and atmosphere of the Bajoran people, there were also shuttlecraft buzzing this way and that overhead, and a series of computer terminals accessible at regular intervals throughout the square. The brown-gray brick of Hathon was still wet with the morning's rain. Tw'eak quickened her pace now, and in a few moments she was across the square, reaching the gate of the temple.

She took a few tentative steps inside, tactfully seeking throughout its interior, seeing the Orb of Prophecy and Change in its casing at the far end of the temple. She wandered past a few meditating Bajorans seated on a bench, seemingly a family unit, perhaps hoping for a good harvest, or a baby, or something else entirely. These same people were the descendants of one of the Federation's most long-suffering citizens, having endured the lengthy Occupation by the Cardassians before becoming the focal point for the entire Alpha Quadrant after the discovery of their Celestial Temple, connecting this sector to the Idran sector of the Gamma Quadrant. Tw'eak looked up at the Orb, recalling her last experience with it, and bowed her head slightly.

She heard a soft shuffling footstep or two behind her, and turned to see Prylar Yassim, clad as she had been then in the simple, elegant fabric of the Bajoran religious mission. Tw'eak bowed with a combination of reverence and admiration, and the prylar returned the gesture. As she opened her mouth to speak, Tw'eak saw Yassim raise her hand palm outwards towards her in a halting motion, then swept to one side, nodding as she did in the direction of her small seating area and office. Tw'eak followed the prylar out of the temple and into this area, where a number of benches and tables held texts, one of which was held open at a place of apparent interest by a padd laying across its venerable pages.

"It is good to see you again," Tw'eak said with a smile.

Yassim tilted her head slightly. "Ah, forgive me. Captain Sh'abbas... from the Bonaventure, if I remember correctly?"

"Formerly. And it's Admiral now - Rear Admiral."

The prylar grinned, nodding. "Congratulations. Although, perhaps not." She looked towards the text laying open on the table. "The Prophets tell us that from those to whom much is given, much is expected. I would envision that such rank entails much expectation."

Tw'eak flushed slightly. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Please, sit with me. I would be glad to hear of it."

Prylar Yassim sat gracefully upon one of the benches, and Tw'eak chose to sit opposite, on an adjacent bench. In so doing her arm brushed up against a slim volume of Bajoran writings bound in a sort of leather, causing it to tumble backwards. Despite herself, Tw'eak wasn't fast enough to catch it, and the volume made a loud slamming noise against the ground. "Sorry," she offered quickly.

"It's all right. These are replicated copies."

"They are?"

"Yes. We use an industrial replicator in order to be absolutely certain that no nuance or authenticity is lost from the original, but after the experience of the prior generations, you can understand our reluctance to risk such writings with daily use." Yassim leaned in. "Besides, the tourists love it." Her wry smile had an unexpected fierceness to it, making Tw'eak feel both uncomfortable and welcome at once, as though she had just been let in on a secret.

"That's part of the reason I came back, actually. I was worried you wouldn't recognize me."

"Oh, on the contrary. Most of my visitors are Bajoran. It's most unusual to find one of your kind who is so... shall I say, spiritually nomadic."

"You remember our conversation?"

"Mmmm... not all the details, but I did seek to know more from our infirmary about your syndrome and what it entailed. I actually went to the extent of accessing the Federation library systems and seeking to learn more about the Andorian system of belief. It was most illuminating."

"I... I had no idea you would do that."

"Of course! I would be a poor candidate for helping anyone with their spiritual needs if I only offered one form of help, after all." Yassim smiled. "I hope that the events of the past little while have been helpful, for you, in making sense of your place in our universe."

"That's just the thing... so much has changed. I don't know which way is which anymore, I feel - like we talked about, before. Adrift, hopeless."

"Tell me what brings you to feel that way."

Tw'eak shifted awkwardly on the bench. "So many things have happened. I've lost a command - and gained another. We were successful in protecting Earth from the Borg in the action, but again, I risked my life, and again, I gave orders that cost others their lives. And for which they promoted me and offered me another command -right away!" She sighed. "And now my new ship is almost ready to leave port again, and for once I'm not sure I'm ready..." She looked up at Yassim. "There's this moment, when you're in a crisis and you're in command. I don't know how to describe it. I'm not a telepath or anything, that I know of, but somehow I become aware that every set of eyes on the ship - they're all trained on me, they're all focused on my next order, my words, my actions. There's no room for weakness there. A captain has to be perfect."

Yassim adjusted her shoulder-length brown hair slightly and tilted her head to one side. "Well, does she?"

"Yes."

"All the time?"

"You're never really off-duty on your own ship."

"But this- do you hear its engines, even here? Are you expecting to be called to the bridge at any moment?"

Tw'eak nodded. "It never really goes away. The time you spend there, it becomes a permanent condition. Your thoughts - conscious and unconscious alike - revolve around it, your time away from it... one day looks much like the next, like an away mission that just takes a little longer. And however much time you spend away, it just... dissolves, in your memory. And there you are again, with all the eyes upon you, with all that's expected of you - orders to be followed, functions to be attended, enemies to be challenged... and all the time away in the world doesn't change that."

"So you're never out of uniform, then."

"On occasion."

Yassim shook her head. "I mean in your mind. Even if you were standing stark naked before me, you'd still expect to be able to reach up and tap a commbadge."

Tw'eak raised her eyebrows. "I..." She pondered the concept for a moment, not making eye contact with Yassim. "It's been thirty years of my life. I don't show up anywhere unless it's for duty's sake."

"And this morning?"

"This morning." Tw'eak blinked.

Yassim laughed. "You 'don't show up anywhere unless it's for duty's sake'. It's what you said. So how may I assist the Federation?"

Tw'eak smiled, embarrassed. "Actually, it's sort of true. The last time I was here was for duty's sake. We were taking back DS-Nine."

"Yes, I remember. It was a terrible time, not just for Hathon, or Bajor, but for all of us."

"The terrible times are still with us." Tw'eak numbered off its horrors on one hand. "The war continues, the Romulans need our help, and between the Borg, the Undine and the Iconians, I don't know which one is the greatest threat to the Federation."

"But you're not facing the threats alone. You have an able crew, a wonderful crew, no matter their anxieties. You're capable of conducting that technological marvel you call a 'starship' across the stars, even through the Celestial Temple. There is so much to wonder at, so much to explore."

"We don't have time for that," Tw'eak said with a trace of bitterness. "Not until it's safe."

"When, in the history of your Federation, has any part of it been truly safe? I know a bit of its story - the Klingons, the Romulans, the Dominion, now the Klingons again, to say nothing of the Borg, the Undine, the Iconians and everyone else under the Prophets' gaze... Has it ever been really, truly safe?"

"Probably not. But we do the best we can."

Yassim sighed. "I can see that my words are not effective in providing you relief. I apologize, I... had hoped to be of more help to you."

"Please don't feel that way." Tw'eak replied cynically. "I can't change what I am, what things have become."

"Well, of course not. Or else you wouldn't be perfect."

Tw'eak looked up, sharply. "What?"

"The situation. If I were to take a predator, like a sinoraptor - I've never seen one outside of a hologram, but they're native to Bajor. Very dangerous. And if I were to bring it, in stasis, to Andoria... it would wither, it would die. As fearsome and mighty a creature as it is, what would come of it on your icy world?"

"I don't know."

"To live with such a singular, solitary purpose... it's..." Yassim took a deep breath. "May I ask you something?"

"Please."

"How... how much of my world have you seen?"

"All of it, from space. But I don't think I've been outside of Hathon."

"There is a place I want to go, and I want you to come with me. Would you be willing?"

"I should really check in with my ship-"

"No." Yassim's face was suddenly serious. "Anything but that. Either come with me now or return to your vessel, but I would ask you to choose."

"All right. We won't be long?"

"I assure you. I only require an hour of your time."

The lush, verdant growth of the Kendra Valley was a magnificent sight to Tw'eak as the transporter beam placed her upon its surface. She stood on a hill overlooking the valley, its angles and curves sculpted over millennia by the fast-flowing river nearby, her feet disappearing into the short green grass that grew all around upon the hill. To her left, about twenty metres away, was a large stone which looked as though the hill had been hewn out around it over the passage of time. Next to her, Prylar Yassim was either muttering or singing to herself. Tw'eak looked over at her. "Sorry," she replied. "I have something of a fear of those things."

"Transporters? I wish you'd said something, we could have taken a shuttle."

"No, no. I consider it only fair. If you're going to face a trial, I might as well partake in mine first."

"A trial?" Tw'eak felt the breeze past her antennae, and the sunlight of the Bajoran system's star upon her uniform, warming it slightly. "In this place?"

"Yes. But not such a trial as you would regard as being worthy of you, I fear."

"I see." Tw'eak looked around. Nobody else was nearby. In fact, she couldn't sense much of anything other than wind, trees, sunlight, and perhaps a vague inkling of there being a creature dwelling in a nearby tree. "Can I ask what I'm to do?"

"Just... take a look around. See, hear, partake of this as you will."

"All right..." Tw'eak felt her hair being brushed around and pushed it back behind her ears. "So it's daylight, and there's a lot of trees. This is a really exposed position. But we can see most of the valley, I'm supposing?"

"Yes, but that's not quite it."

"I... okay. This is Kendra province?"

"The Kendra Valley, to be precise."

"Kendra Valley. Right. Very beautiful."

"It is, isn't it?" Yassim took a few steps forward, towards the large rock.

"Oh," Tw'eak noted. "And there's a huge rock on this hill. In the hill, too, sort of."

"What do you observe about the rock?"

Tw'eak looked at Yassim in the manner of an annoyed apprentice. "I usually ask junior officers to concern themselves with these sorts of inquiries."

"Indulge me. Please."

"All right. Let's see. It's large, white, partly within the hill, probably polished like that by erosion... would be pretty dangerous if any of it ever got loose and tumbled down."

"It won't."

"How can you be so sure?"

But Yassim was still walking towards the rock. And now, Tw'eak could see that the rock was not merely part of the cliff face, but was a rather large obelisk - not part of the hill but buttressed against its side, partly embraced by the soil.

Yassim stood before it, and Tw'eak could make out Bajoran glyphs carved into the rock, an inscription. "This is the memorial to the Kendra River Valley massacre. Forty-three Bajoran resistance fighters were executed here by the Cardassians during the Occupation. They shot them up there" -she pointed above the rock- "and their bodies fell here. It was some time after the Cardassians left, during the years of Kai Opaka, that this monument was decided upon and placed here. The Kai's own son was one of those who fell here." The prylar bowed slightly towards the rock as she approached.

Tw'eak hung her head, feeling incredibly foolish. Clearly she had failed the trial. "I'm... sorry. I had no idea."

"Don't be." Yassim stepped in front of Tw'eak, who looked up and saw the Bajoran woman unexpectedly smiling at her. "You're thinking that somehow I brought you here to make you feel sorry, or to embarrass you."

"Sort of, yeah. They make a big deal out of monuments where I come from."

"No." Yassim raised her hand towards the rock. "This is merely an inscription marking their graves." She stepped past Tw'eak, taking in the sweep of the valley. "This," she said grandly, "this is the monument."

Tw'eak looked past Yassim's outstretched arms to the majestic natural beauty of the Kendra Valley. "I ...probably don't have to tell you that I don't understand."

"The Resistance was vital for Bajor, for my people - for our continued existence as Bajorans and not as slaves to anyone. The fighters who fell here, they fought for us, they died for us - literally. Right over there. But they died for the Bajor they believed in, for their faith and for all they held dear. Their loss will be remembered and honoured so long as there is Bajor."

"You're saying that my sacrifices won't be in vain?"

"Oh, on the contrary. I'm saying they will be. Unless you have something more, something beyond duty and honour and glory and service. You devote so much of your energy, and that of your ship and your crew, to staying ahead of the enemy, to learning how the enemy thinks, achieving mastery over your enemy... but if you never learn yourself, master yourself... then your enemies have already won. I know of the Borg, the Undine. I know them to be single-minded, maniacal, ruthless. They cannot be defeated by embracing their values."

" 'The hand that remains a fist ceases to be a hand'."

Yassim nodded. "Very wise of you."

"Oh, that wasn't me. Some friends of yours... of this place. Now I think I understand."

"Then I am very glad to have been of help to you."

"Yes." Tw'eak smiled, feeling a deep sense of serenity, and surprisingly, of relief. "But I have one more thing I'd like to ask."

"Please do."

"Is all of Bajor this beautiful?"

"Yes... and no. Each province, each area has its own beauty to be discovered... and its own truth to be discovered as well."

"Would you show me?"

Yassim tilted her head. "I suppose that depends."

"Upon?"

"Whether or not you have a shuttlecraft." The prylar began to laugh, and after a moment, Tw'eak in her turn joined in along with her. Their laughter could be heard, a boisterous and unexpected sound, across the valley.


	18. Chapter 18

It was much later in the day when Tw'eak found herself at the once-lost holy Bajoran city of B'hala. The site had been lost to Bajorans for centuries until its rediscovery during a sequence of visions which Benjamin Sisko had experienced.

"It was his role, as Emissary," Yassim was explaining as she and Tw'eak walked from one ruin to the other, "which proved to be decisive in Bajor's future. We would have endured another Occupation had he not warned us of the consequences of too hastily joining the Federation. We would have been undone by the work of Dukat and the Kosst Amojan." The last two words, Yassim was careful to whisper, checking over her shoulder as she did. "But through it all, because he had learned to listen to the Prophets and not be defined solely by his service to your Starfleet, Bajor was spared fates worse than death or night."

"I... get your point now."

"I'm sorry?"

Tw'eak blinked and looked around. "About there being more to life than duty and service. I follow you."

"Was I repeating myself?"

"Yeah, maybe a little."

Yassim smiled. "That rarely happens, but I've found I never do it without a reason."

"I should really get back to my ship." Tw'eak turned and halted. "Thank you for the tour."

"Captain!" Someone over Tw'eak's shoulder called out to her. She looked to see Aurora, in the company of someone else, at a distance.

"I- well." Tw'eak raised a hand and indicated. "The ship came to me. My chief engineer, Commander Aurora duBois."

Yassim turned as Aurora and her companion, a female human science officer slightly shorter than her with darker hair and eyes, approached. "Hi!" Aurora said with a massive grin. "I can't believe we met you here!"

"I know," Tw'eak said, matching Aurora's enthusiasm. "This is Prylar Yassim Klien, an old friend of mine. She was just showing me around the ruins."

"Oh! Right! Have you met my sister?" Aurora looked to the lieutenant at her left. "This is Bianca."

"Lieutenant Bianca duBois, ma'am," the science officer said, smiling sweetly and extending her hand. "So good to meet you."

"Likewise." Tw'eak shook her hand. "Aurora has spoken of you often."

"Oh, that's nice," Bianca replied. "It's the same with you - she's always talking about you."

"Well," Tw'eak smiled, looking at Aurora. "How are things back aboard ship?"

"Oh, I... K'Vor had things under control. We've got one more set of warp power relays to triple-check before we can bring the nacelles online, and he had the team well in hand. But I wasn't expecting the Miranda to be in orbit."

"The Miranda," Tw'eak noted. "Not Miranda-class?"

"No, ma'am," Bianca replied. "She's a Luna-class starship."

"Of course." Tw'eak turned to Yassim. "One of our oldest and most numerous classes of starship is the Miranda class, but the starship Miranda is not of that class, since Earth -or, sorry, one of the Sol system planets has a moon named Miranda. That's where the Luna class starships derive their names - from prominent moons."

"I see," Yassim said with a smile. "I would imagine there are a great many classes of starships to keep track of."

"You have no idea," Tw'eak replied, blowing out her cheeks.

Aurora looked around. "This is really amazing, that these structures are still here after so many thousands of years." She turned to her sister. "It's like, remember when we went to Egypt, and those pyramids were so big?"

Bianca nodded. "Very large."

"And they'd been there for so many thousands of years! We can't keep a starbase in orbit for a hundred years and they can build structures like this to last with stone!"

"Gravity helps," Bianca replied.

Yassim smiled at Tw'eak. "I suppose this might be a good time for me to take my leave."

"Oh, really?" Aurora sounded disappointed. "We were just going to go get some dinner. I wanted to try the hasperat!"

"Oh, no," Yassim replied. "If you want genuine, to-die-for hasperat, there's this little place in Hathon that nobody knows about which is perfect for that."

"Is it very spicy?" Aurora asked.

"I don't care for spice," Bianca quietly added.

"I- oh my." Yassim's face fell as she looked over Aurora's shoulder. She recoiled, and Tw'eak was suddenly aware of a cascade of motion through the crowd not unlike a stampede. "I should- we should go."

But Tw'eak stood perfectly still. "No, it's all right." She moved in the opposite direction of the flow of people, towards a hard-charging Jem'Hadar who had just beamed down and was rapidly closing on her position. It was Pa'lakaklan, herr head of security, his pulse rifle at the ready, accompanied by Vir'soix.

Both of the Jem'Hadar looked gravely concerned until they made contact with her. Vir'soix walked right past the four of them, while Pa'lakaklan took Tw'eak by the arm. "Good. Come with me."

"What- what are you doing?"

"We received a report of your having been captured. We must evacuate."

"I'm-" Tw'eak wrested herself from Pa'lakaklan's grasp. "That's enough. Explain the situation to me."

"We were advised by Starfleet Security that a group of Orion pirates had declared you as their captive, and had issued a ransom demand." Pa'lakaklan looked around threateningly. "I would ask you to permit me the glory of the kill."

"Orions? Here?" Yassim asked incredulously.

"No," Tw'eak replied. "This isn't the first time we've gotten reports. Whoever they've got, these Orions aren't currently holding me hostage. I've been with the prylar all day."

"Prylar!" Pa'lakaklan bowed reverently. His counterpart, Vir'soix, looked disdainful as he scanned the horizon. "I am grateful to have the opportunity to make your acquaintance. Would that I had more time in this holy place. I am First Pa'lakalkan of the Jem'Hadar. It is an honour."

"And he's a devotee of your same faith," Tw'eak added. "In the middle of B'hala, on a retrieval mission. What was your plan, exactly, if they'd held me hostage within the structure of the ruins?"

"We would have shrouded, infiltrated the position... perhaps killed them silently if possible, but up close, certainly..."

While Yassim was unfazed by such talk, Aurora looked appalled at the notion of such violence here. Bianca, for her part, maintained a curious expression typical of a science officer, as though she were studying the Jem'Hadar. Her eyes flitted between the two of them, her head slightly tilted.

"Am I needed back aboard ship, then?"

"Not specifically, but given the reports I would feel more comfortable knowing your position was secure."

Tw'eak looked to Yassim. "I'm afraid that'll be the end of our tour of Bajor."

"Yes, for now." Yassim bowed slightly. "Thank you for being such an attentive student."

"My pleasure. Aurora? What about you?"

"Well, nobody's tried to abduct me or anything like that-" She went suddenly silent as Pa'lakaklan flexed his muscles to half-raise his rifle at something he perceived as a threat, then relaxed. "Oh, man."

"You'll be fine."

Bianca nodded, and answered on her sister's behalf. "I'll take good care of her." She looked at her big sister. "She owes me dinner, anyway."

"Very well. Please see the prylar safely back to Hathon for me. We'll meet back aboard ship at some point. " In rapid succession, Tw'eak shook hands with the prylar, nodded to her chief engineer, smiled at Bianca, and followed two Jem'Hadar back to the beam-out point.

* * *

"I don't think you'd disagree," Admiral Quinn was saying to Tw'eak over subspace, "that this is more than a little strange. It's not often that we get multiple reports of one of our officers being captured unless it's true - not least of which include reports from the actual Orions themselves. Starfleet Intelligence is investigating the transmission. This is the second time we've received word of this. Something is clearly out of sorts."

Tw'eak sat in her ready room, nodding at Admiral Quinn's image, equally confused by the threat. "Do you want us to check it out?"

"Not in the slightest. If you go in there you may very well be captured. Starfleet Intelligence will handle it while you get on with business of your own. In fact, it's probably high time we reviewed your mission brief, Rear Admiral. I'm ordering Warspite to patrol in the Zeta Andromedae sector block."

Zeta-drom. A million light years from anything of interest. At least the Orions would be a distant memory. "Really."

"You have an objection?"

"Well, it's been a long time, that's all. Most of that territory is Cardassian, or used to be. It seems to me that this starship was built and designed for front-line service, that's all."

"We still have commitments to honour in that region of space, I would like to remind you. Besides which, we need someone with an admiral's rank who can co-ordinate operations for a small task force in the region, patrolling and looking after all our affairs there - military, diplomatic and scientific alike. It's quite a responsibility. I can think of few officers better suited to it, and Warspite will make both a welcome sight for those who support us, and an exemplary flagship for you as well."

A tourist trap and a floating command post - crushingly boring, Tw'eak didn't add. No way to use a battlecruiser of Warspite's capabilities. "I'll do all I can to live up to your expectations regardless."

"Please do. With a little luck you'll find yourself in the thick of it again soon enough. I'll have your orders ready by the time Warspite leaves its moorings later this week. Quinn out."

Tw'eak deactivated her desktop viewer and thought to herself for a moment. With a little luck, he had said. The most interesting thing to happen in Zeta-drom in the past ten years had been the liberation of a long-forgotten Breen prisoner-of-war camp and a handful of scientific discoveries which Tw'eak could barely recall in any form of detail - the birth of a quasar observed up close, some sort of elemental-base for a creature recently found on a planet there, and the like.

The action was on the other side of the quadrant, where the KDF and Federation clashed, the Romulans battled the Tal Shiar and the Elachi, and the Borg and Undine were far more likely to make an appearance in force. Tw'eak was unaccustomed to service so far from the core of the Federation. But then, she was also unaccustomed to commanding more than one vessel at a time. This would represent a considerable increase in her amount of daily responsibility - in addition to learning her new ship and crew, she would have to develop an understanding of the ships under her command, their crews and capabilities, and how they might best serve to assist her in fulfilling her mission.

"Computer, bring up the list of ships, along with their rosters, who will be assigned to my task force. Authorization Sh'abbas one-four-seven Tau eleven." There would be much to learn.

"Working."

For now, however, lost in her remembrances of the many stunning sights and interesting places of Bajor she'd seen that day, Tw'eak got up to make herself a cup of katheka and prepared for a long evening's reading.

* * *

The mission brief had been intensive, and for Tw'eak, had made a sobering read. She was being asked to cover some nineteen populated systems, as well as conduct regional exploration, convoy escort, and system patrols, with all of six ships, none of them remotely as capable. The ancient USS Ottawa, an Excelsior class starship, was one of two cruisers, the other being the Ambassador class USS Mandela. Two Defiant-class starships, USS Taurus and USS Wolverine, were her escorts, while the Nebula class USS Meitner would serve as her means of exploring and investigating scientific phenomena. This was not an altogether awful formation, but it would be thinly stretched at best, and overextended to the breaking point in a crisis.

"Enough," Tw'eak said angrily to herself, rising. She decided the time was right for a walk about the ship. It was important, she felt, to occasionally get out of the routine of walking between ready room and quarters, even if she hadn't yet fallen into such habits aboard Warspite. She still wasn't quite acquainted with where she was. All of the halls gleamed with a new-starship shimmer, and wherever she went, crew members whose name she struggled to remember nodded or saluted as she passed. At one point she spotted a Saurian science officer down a corridor which might have been Zed, but whom she couldn't catch up to in time to see if she had been right.

Tw'eak considered the time. She hadn't been gone that long. Yet she noticed the marking on the nearby door, which read, 'Crew Lounge', and decided to take a step inside.

The interior of the crew lounge was, in total, probably about the same size as her quarters. A small bar at one end, and a number of tables, furnished the room. At one table sat an awkward group composed of K'Vor, the Klingon engineer, Tlhosh, the Gorn medic, and the two Jem'Hadar, Vir'soix and his superior, Pa'lakaklan. Another two tables had a series of engineering, operations and security personnel sitting around, enjoying a synthale.

"Admiral!" K'Vor called out. "I did not expect to see you here."

"No? Why not?" Tw'eak asked. She looked to the bartender. "How are you tonight?"

"Very well, ma'am," the bartender replied. Short even by Benzite standards, she leaned on her bar, wiping it first with a rag. "What can I get you?"

"Ice water."

"That's all?"

"Please."

"Coming right up."

K'Vor stepped away from the table and towards his commander. "I am surprised at you," he began.

"Oh?"

"I was told Andorians have ice water for blood."

"Not exactly." Tw'eak smiled, first at K'Vor, then at the bartender as she presented a glass. "May I join you?"

"Please!"

Tw'eak sat down at the table next to K'Vor, dragging a chair over as she did so. While the Gorn Tlhosh made space, the Jem'Hadar looked unfamiliar with the ritual. "What are you all having?"

"Blood wine for my Gorn friend and I," K'Vor replied, looking distastefully at his glass. "Although replicated. Not bad. I may have to make some modifications to the recipe at some point."

"I developed a tasssste for it ssssserving upon the Kralkar," Tlhosh added.

"I wondered. To my knowledge, Gorn don't usually enjoy blood wine."

"On the contrary, if it'sssss fresssshh, it can be quite pleasssurable."

Tw'eak looked up to her Jem'Hadar officers. Even seated they were a threatening presence. "What about you two?"

"We require little," Pa'lakaklan said. "Only the white is required. Most other things are simply unnecessary."

"I kind of envy that about you, y'know. No hunger, no thirst, no need for anything but ketracel-white... it must be kind of liberating, in a way."

"It allows one to focus more clearly upon one's duty."

"I see. Does it still form... an addictive hold over you?"

Pa'lakaklan leaned forward. "We are fortunate that the isolytic enzyme which once was omitted from our genetic makeup was restored. We no longer suffer the dependency which made our reputation so feared across the galaxy."

"Well, that's a relief. I wasn't looking forward to having to deal with you if you were going through a withdrawal."

"Such withdrawals are no longer as great an issue. We each maintain and replicate our own stocks of the white, which only serves as nourishment, not as control." Pa'lakaklan looked with a slight menace towards Vir'soix. "Although there are those of us who feel diminished by this change."

"A relative gain in self-control is always worthwhile," Tw'eak replied.

"Indeed," Tlhosh added. "I find the lack of hossstile conduct conssssssidered normal a welcome change. On Klingon vesssssssels, control meansssss power."

"This is as it should be," K'Vor added after a moment. "For honour and glory to be served, we must show our aggressive spirit before the enemies of the Empire."

"So why'd you leave?" Tw'eak asked.

K'Vor lowered his head. "Such honour and glory as I speak of are ideals for warriors, not for tinkerers. To remain aboard a Klingon vessel was just as intolerable as for our gentle lizard friend here, but for reasons entirely different. All Klingons should aspire towards being great warriors. But I found the idea of working with an engine designed centuries ago to bring glory to the Empire today to be unsustainable. It is clear who will win this war. And when it it finished, I will lead my people to a greater glory than battle can provide... that of progress and advancement, in the spirit of our one-time allies, the United Federation of Planets."

"You intend to return?"

"Of course. I consider this to be an exchange, moreso than a defection. I am a Klingon warrior, at heart. It is how I was raised, it is how I will raise my children, when their time comes, in an Empire that aspires to more than defeating our enemies with second-rate weapons and calling it glorious battle. Our starships are hopeless, and without a considerable advancement, one J'mpok seems unlikely to make, we will not be able to prevail with numbers and warrior ethos alone."

"You may be surprised. I've tangled with many Klingon vessels in my day. They might be older spaceframes, but they've got a few tricks up their sleeves."

"That would be nothing compared to what we could accomplish with the Federation, instead of against them. Your technology advances while ours-"

Vir'soix suddenly erupted in a hateful crescendo. "Federation, Federation! Is that all which you aspire towards? Both of- all of you! You seek to be part of this soft and carpeted world!" He turned his rage towards his First. "You worst of all - you who call yourself Jem'Hadar!"

Pa'lakaklan, for his part, did not hesitate. He had barely looked upwards and had already sprung from his chair, knocking the Second on his back. There was a scuffle. "Security to crew lounge!" Tw'eak said, tapping her commbadge. A few others came over to her side, but it was the Gorn Tlhosh who intervened, picking up Vir'soix as he tumbled and tussled with the other Jem'Hadar, and held him aloft, astonishing the Jem'Hadar and leading him to lash out wildly.

"No," was all Tlhosh said.

Pa'lakaklan returned to his feet, and stood before the suspended Vir'soix. "You will be removed from this vessel. You are unfit to serve these people, and you have disgraced the name of the Jem'Hadar with this outburst." Vir'soix attempted to interrupt, but Pa'lakaklan shook his head and bellowed, "SPEAK no FURTHER!" Silenced, Vir'soix hung limp, his eyes defiant. Pa'lakaklan continued. "You may consider yourself fortunate that you are under the protection of the laws of the same Federation you so recently spoke against, or I would surely kill you right here and now!" He turned to Tw'eak. "I will place him under your custody, with my apologies."

The security team rushed into the lounge, and Tw'eak waved them over. "Take him into custody. Phasers out. Set to kill." Tw'eak realized that they were staring at her in disbelief. "Unless any of you think you can take him yourselves."

"No, ma'am," came the response from the lieutenant.

"To the brig, and as soon as transport can be arranged, we'll send him back to the Gamma Quadrant. Have Intelligence work him up, see if he's been spying or if this was just a random outburst."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And bring your reports to First Pa'lakaklan."

Once again, the security lieutenant looked surprised.

Tw'eak looked to her Jem'Hadar security chief. "Not only is he one of yours, but it's your department."

"I understand. And I appreciate your confidence, Admiral."

Tw'eak nodded slightly as everyone else returned to their tables, including Tlhosh and K'Vor. The confidence wasn't the issue - she knew that Pa'lakaklan was more than capable of dealing with this, by the book and within Federation law. But she also knew the importance of giving him an opportunity to prove himself to her, and in the eyes of the whole crew. His subordinate had simply given an opportunity she had not expected.

"One other thing, before you go," Tw'eak added quickly as Pa'lakaklan moved past her.

"How may I assist?"

Tw'eak leaned in slightly. "My given name... Twaiheak. It's a very pretty name in Andorian, sort of rare. It comes from an old story. But my family always shortened it to Tw'eak. Was easier to shout when I was asked to do something. It's how they knew me."

Pa'lakaklan looked confusedly at Tw'eak. "I... see."

"I tend to run my ship the same way my family ran - when the work needs doing, we all pull together, but in the off times, we're all there for each other. I know it's probably going to be a challenge for you to adapt to, but I'd like very much for the crew to consider you to just be 'one of us' instead of 'Jem'Hadar'."

"This will not be easy," Pa'lakaklan advised his commander. "I was warned by the Vorta that, even now, a sort of uneasy prejudice exists in Starfleet for my people."

"That's not strictly true. A healthy respect, maybe a fear of the unknown, but there will be no prejudice on this ship. Not while I'm in command."

"Do you have a suggestion as to how best to go about this transition?"

"Well, nights like tonight are a good start, I suppose."

"That was the lieutenant's idea," Pa'lakaklan said, indicating K'Vor. "I am unsure how effective it has proven to be."

"I've often found that it helps, in places like this, to be approachable, to not be seen as an intimidating force- although you are that -but rather as a friend. Or rather, as a ...pal."

"A pal?" he repeated.

"Pal," somebody from behind Tw'eak said yet again. "Yeah!", they added, excitedly.

"Pal. It's another word for friend. And I figure, given your position on this ship, and your importance, it'll be important for people to realize that you're not the Jem'Hadar they've heard stories about. Besides which, just like Twaiheak, you've got to admit that calling out for Pa'lakaklan in an emergency might be problematic."

"And not to be referred to by rank?"

"Another Starfleet custom. I don't refer to my first officer by her rank of Commander, or call K'Vor Lieutenant - not unless he's done something wrong."

"That is a privilege you will never know," the Klingon added hastily, raising his glass towards the two of them.

"I have no objection. Jem'Hadar do not typically experience interpersonal contact like you enjoy - our life is our duty."

"Yes, but you're not a typical Jem'Hadar, are you?"

"I apologize, Admiral. Once again, I do not understand. Do you say I am better than Vir'soix? He is more capable than me in many respects."

"I wasn't drawing comparisons. I was referring to your behaviour earlier, on Bajor. Your faith gives you strength."

Pal leaned in, whispering. "I am sorry to inform you that my faith in the Prophets has... lapsed somewhat in recent times." He looked around the room. "I do not feel it prudent to discuss this matter here."

"I agree. Which is why, once you've handled this matter with Vir'soix, I want you to go right back to where I first saw you today. By shuttle, in fact."

"B'hala?" Once again, the Jem'Hadar spoke at a whisper, this time with astonishment. "Really?"

"Yes. Unarmed, and off-duty... if you can handle it."

"Alone?"

"No, no. When you found me earlier I was in the company of Prylar Yassim, who in addition to being one of the wisest practitioners of her faith, also happens to be a good friend of mine. I would very much like to introduce the two of you." Tw'eak smiled. "She tends to the temple in Hathon, I think you would stand to learn much from her. You wished for more time... and I'm giving it to you. Lieutenant Vad will be more than capable of handling things in your absence. After all, she is Andorian."

Pal stood like a statue. If it was possible for a Jem'Hadar to look anxious, in an innocent sort of way, this was his moment to do so. "I am at a complete loss for words, Admiral. I am as greatly pleased as if we had just won a great battle."

"Experience has taught me that going into battle without the proper kit only makes victory that much harder. Your people always say that 'victory is life' - then your attitude towards living that life has to be something like your attitude towards victory, am I right?"

"I understand."

It was Tw'eak's turn to look surprised. "You do?"

"Completely. In combat, my rifle, my shroud, my movements... these things bring victory. But in this place, victory will come through mastering my life as I would my weapons." Pal looked at his hands. "I had not considered it like this. Thank you."

"The most important piece of kit, the one that you take with you wherever you go... your belief. Not just in yourself, but in your place in this whole universe." Tw'eak felt her antennae twitch, and realized that the crew lounge's entire attention - the bartender, the crew members at the table, the Gorn seated at her side who extended to nearly her height sitting down - was focused entirely upon her conversation with Pal. She tried to ignore it and focused her thoughts, saying, "Without our faith, in each other, in ourselves, in the cause we serve... victory is impossible if life has no meaning. And we each discover that meaning for ourselves, along our own path, in our time."

Pal nodded vigourously. "I will conclude my business with Vir'soix immediately and return to B'hala." He turned and moved out the door, then took a step back in, half-smiling. "Thank you, Admiral."

Tw'eak smiled and looked away. As her eyes moved around the room, she was conscious of her crew, some nodding at her, others smiling. The bartender came over with an empty cup. "What's this for?"

"For you, Admiral. Whatever you'd like."

Tw'eak smiled, acknowledging those all around in the crew lounge - her crew, her people. For the first time in a long time, she felt welcomed, appreciated, and understood. It was comfortable. It felt a lot like home.

She looked at the bartender, then over her shoulder towards the bar. "Do you keep any katheka stashed back there?"


	19. Chapter 19

The day of the launch had finally arrived. Warspite was ready for its commissioning. Earlier that day, the crew had assembled on the launch deck to hear Tw'eak read their operational orders from Admiral Quinn, then had said a few words about how the ship's mission, accompanied by their fellow vessels in the formation, would be every bit as important, and worthy of effort, as front-line service or rapid response to emergent flashpoints. There would be opportunities, she lied, for all of those things. In truth she felt wretched for stretching the truth like that - as if the only forms of service of Starfleet which mattered were ones with opportunities for wartime glory - but she was the one who wanted to believe it, who needed to hear it. It had been a relative step down, in her mind, not to be part of the action at the sharp end, even if, as a newly-minted rear admiral she was now technically too inexperienced for one of her rank to command at the forefront. It all made sense, to be sure, but somehow it felt beneath her to set a course for the Zeta Andromedae sector block. Even if it was as close to the brave frontiers of exploration and discovery as she could possibly find herself, even though she had just recently stated she wished Starfleet could return to its scientific focus, as a tactical officer, she knew she would be bored.

Her service aboard the Nelson had been like that, although their area of patrol had been the relatively more exciting Iota Pavonis sector block. At least there, the legacy of the destruction of Romulus and the instability caused by it had been a source of some concern, but relatively little had ever come about - a horrible state of affairs for a naturally hyper-anxious Andorian shan who could never tell if her service aboard the Nelson had been holding her back for lasting so long. As it was, the few instances where something had happened of note typically wound up with her being wounded in various stages of criticality, and no doubt the lengthy recovery from having her arm replaced, among other wounds, was a part of the equation. Nevertheless, it wasn't like the prospect of a rapid promotion to full admiral was in the offing regardless of what happened in Zeta-drom. She could singlehandedly prevent the assimilation of the entire Federation and still only make vice admiral - and what then? She couldn't see herself trading a command chair for an office on a starbase. She had reached a point in her career where further advancement seemed detrimental to her well-being, her happiness, and even her ability to adapt to its expectations.

She was reviewing a star map of the Zeta Andromedae sector block at her desk in her ready room, a few hours from launch, when the door chimed. "Come in," she responded.

Into the room stepped a rather disagreeable looking Starfleet commander, a human male, advanced in his years for his rank of lieutenant commander, but senior science officer nonetheless. Lieutenant Commander Darwin Connaught was one of few officers onboard whose service had not been ordained by Tw'eak's explicit selection. Her initial choice, her friend and recently-promoted lieutenant commander Zolnaen Didaggo, otherwise known as Zed, had been overruled by Starfleet Command's office responsible for personnel assignments and allocations on the basis that his repertoire of experience was too limited. Instead, Lieutenant Commander Connaught had been selected. Tw'eak had already met with Connaught with a rather unpleasant frequency, given that the vast majority of his complaints had dealt with detailed and particular aspects of his department being run a certain way, and which Tw'eak had felt were best handled by him personally. It would appear, however, that Connaught was unable to manage his people as well as his lab work. She had already heard the joke, whispered in corridors, referring to him as "Commander Cannot", and she repressed a sigh at the sight of him entering her ready room again.

"Admiral. Is this a bad time?" Connaught asked as he marched in and took up the chair opposite Tw'eak.

"Please sit down," Tw'eak responded.

Her remark went right over Connaught's head, and he began. "I have been monitoring the duty roster setup as allocated and I must protest. We are completely deficient in every regard."

"I understand that, but-"

"We only have two officers in astrometrics at any given time when I explicitly requested three or four. We also apparently don't differentiate between research labs, as all our officers are collectively labeled rather than by specialty."

"Now that's not the case - the life sciences are separated, the biologists and geologists-"

"There are also the storage conditions. We do not have enough of an allocation for research and development materials in the cargo bay."

"This isn't a science ship. We won't have enough of an allocation for much research and development."

Connaught grew agitated, his tone that of an impatient lecturer. "Regardless of our mission, the success or failure of our missions may require us to have access to appropriate levels of sophistication in our research and development efforts."

"Which we will have, once the Meitner joins our task force."

"Allocating all research and development to a single vessel-"

It was Tw'eak's turn to interrupt. "The Meitner IS the single vessel best suited to the task. It's a research vessel."

"Regardless, we have many deficiencies to be rectified before we leave port, or our mission-"

Tw'eak stood up. "You'll have to forgive me, Lieutenant Commander, if our perceptions of adequacy differ, but according to Starfleet regulations for cruiser-type ships, we are more than capable of conducting whatever initial levels of scientific inquiry are required before handing over the matter to a properly equipped science vessel. Such as the Meitner."

"But even-"

"Furthermore," Tw'eak continued, her voice as warm as an Andorian blizzard, "in my role as rear admiral commanding this task force, I would be far more willing to permit the Meitner and her crew the all-important task of precisely what Starfleet put them in space to do, which is scientific research and exploration, than to place Warspite in that role arbitrarily on the basis of perceived ability." She leaned forward on the desk. "We're more than prepared across the board in all scientific departments. In fact, I was about to commend your astrometrics staff for their attention to details on the star map I was just in the process of reviewing."

"Oh." The unexpected praise silenced Connaught for the moment.

"Now, if that's all you'd like to bring to my attention-"

"Actually, it isn't."

"It isn't?"

"No. Certain members of my staff are dilatory in arriving on time for their assigned shifts."

"That's your problem."

"I have already discussed the matter with them personally, and with Commander Eight of Twelve as well."

"You have."

"Yes. The matter has been little changed since then. To say nothing of their approach to matters of scientific accuracy, although I'm sure you'll tell me, again, how 'that's my problem'. And it is. After all, I am the shipboard expert on the subject."

Tw'eak was too busy in the process of grappling with her temper to offer the sarcastic remarks which flowed freely through her mind. "We haven't left port - I'm sure once we've settled in a little bit better, and there's something actually riding on their every minute of assigned duty time, we'll see a correction. If not, please report it to-" Tw'eak pondered advising him to simply contact Admiral Quinn directly, but held herself in check "-Eight of Twelve."

"I certainly shall." Connaught frowned. "It's too bad, you know. I was quite looking forward to serving aboard a starship again, getting off a starbase. I can see that this will be a difficult transition."

"I'm sure." Tw'eak returned to sitting.

"But if I could shape up that lot on Starbase 512 into something, I'm sure I can motivate this crew as well."

Tw'eak gritted her teeth. The urge to summarily transfer Connaught to anywhere - even just out an airlock - was overwhelming. His service record gave little hint of the padd-pushing martinet that he had proven to be, and she secretly wished that he would turn out to be an Undine or a Founder - any excuse to strap on a pulsewave and put him in his place. But such violent tendencies were a product of her frustration with him, and his increasingly frequent visits. A dark thought crossed her mind, and she decided to pursue it. "Perhaps I might be able to provide someone who can be of assistance, in that regard."

"Really?"

"Yes. Have you had the opportunity to meet Lieutenant Tlhosh?"

"Tlhosh- a Rigelian name?"

"Actually, he's a Gorn."

"Gorn!?" Connaught looked visibly startled. "We have a Gorn on board?"

"I sincerely hope that your remarks are motivated by scientific curiosity."

"Of- oh, of course. I meant no disrespect." He waved his hands. "What's he doing here?"

"Well, officially he's qualified as a field medic and junior science officer, but the opportunity to learn -in a non-critical setting, of course, as he IS a Gorn and all- the opportunity to learn all the advantages of his defection to our side, and his continued service in Starfleet... not to mention helping him gain further qualifications as a science officer. I can ask him up here, if you'd like."

"No! No, that's all right, I can... I can find him." Connaught laughed nervously. "After all, there aren't that many Gorn on board... are there?"

"No, but there are a couple Romulans," Tw'eak mused, observing Connaught's anxious reaction. "A Jem'Hadar, a few Klingons, a handful of former Borg, even a Tholian!"

Connaught's hands gripped his chair with the kind of white-knuckle fury Tw'eak reserved for actual life-or-death situations. "I... see."

"But most of them are tactical or engineering. Our Gorn friend has a real aptitude for science. A bit short-tempered, though." Tw'eak looked off with a dramatic flourish, pausing for effect before looking back at Connaught, her antennae homing in on him like they were tracking a torpedo to its target. "Which is why I think it may be helpful for him to shadow you for a couple weeks."

"A couple... weeks?"

"Yeah. Show him the ropes, see what he thinks about your setup, compare what he considers science to our methodology, maybe you'll even become good friends."

"Perhaps, in time," Connaught lied.

"Of course, if we beam down I'll need to bring him with me, but based on our mission brief I don't think we'll have too many combat away missions in our future. It'll be an excellent block of time for the two of you to spend together. And what's more, it's for science."

"Yes. For science." Connaught's face brightened. "Oh- but perhaps Commander Didaggo would be the more... logical choice for the privilege, the undoubted privilege, of Lieutenant Tlhosh's company?"

"Are you suggesting that a Saurian and a Gorn are more logically classified together, and should therefore-?"

"No, no! Not in the slightest. What I mean is, well..."

Tw'eak allowed an excessive mirth to infuse her words as she spoke. "Believe me, Commander, to my mind, there is no one more perfectly suited to the task." She leaned forward slightly. "After all, you are the shipboard science expert, right? I'm sure you'll get along famously. Our very own 'odd couple', if you will. I can remember back in my days on the Enterprise, when a Tellarite ensign and I were called that, because no one thought we could get along. And of course we didn't!" Tw'eak laughed slightly, leaned back, and watched as Connaught rose from his chair.

"Well, I... shouldn't take up any more of your time."

"Oh, right, well. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'm sure this will prove to be a workable solution for all of us. And if it isn't, please let me know right away." Either he will, or Doc surely will have to once our shipboard expert reaches sickbay with Gorn bite marks on his neck, Tw'eak mused to herself.

"Thank you," Connaught said, leaving hastily. In the process of doing so, he nearly rammed into Aurora on his way out.

"Whoa!" Aurora said as Connaught tripped over her leg and tumbled into the bulkhead. Aurora looked up at Tw'eak, who raised a calming hand in her direction. Aurora came inside, and the doors slid shut behind her. "What was that about?"

"I just assigned Tlhosh as his personal adjutant."

"Ha!" Aurora laughed. "I mean- yes, ma'am. He's an excellent choice. Very duty-driven. The crew have already taken to nicknaming him 'Yeoman Gorn' because he's always tagging along after Zed. It's kind of cute, and he's such a sweetheart. I was hanging out with him and K'Vor a couple nights ago. I really like them." There was an extra bit of emphasis on the way she said the Klingon's name that made Tw'eak's eyebrow twitch.

"You like them, or you like K'Vor?"

Aurora flushed. "Is it obvious? Oh, God, I'm not being obvious about it, am I? How did you know?"

"Lucky guess, I suppose?"

"I heard what happened last night. K'Vor was telling me I shouldn't have gone to bed so early, but honestly? I wanted to talk to Bianca."

"It was really wonderful to meet her."

"Yeah. She was so boring, though. She really likes the history of places. This one time we went to France, that's a part of Earth, and all she did was walk along this one beach scanning and sensing around." Aurora shook her head. "That's how she's always been, though. Not that I was much different. This one time, my mom had to drag us both out of the museum - I was looking really closely at the engine of a Spitfire and Bianca was stuck to a dinosaur skeleton."

"The engine of a what?" Tw'eak asked.

"Spitfire. It's an airplane. Like a fighter. One-person, had guns in it. Beautiful engine - called a Merlin, I think? The same engine powered something like eight different airplanes during one of the twentieth-century wars. That was always my dad's interest - and Bianca's, too. That's why she works in astrophysics... she views the whole universe the way I view a warp engine."

"Like it all works together?"

"More like that it's all connected. Maybe a warp engine is a bad example. But it's like, if my antimatter injector assembly's magnetic field variance is greater than a certain percentage, I'll know all about it by how my exhaust manifold reacts to the flow of the plasma coolant - if I know what to look for."

Tw'eak blinked, holding a poker face. "...Right."

"That's how she sees it - like the patterns are there. She just has to know where to look. And that's what she does."

"It sounds -she sounds like a very interesting person."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I was so surprised by all that, with him falling over and everything. I came up here to tell you that we're green across the board. Everything is ready and we'll be leaving spacedock on your command."

"That's fantastic. Thanks very much." Tw'eak stood and walked towards the door of her ready room, then stopped and turned to face Aurora, who had also gotten up. "I know this hasn't been easy for you. Both times, really. It's been a lot of work, first on the prototype and now on Warspite."

"Oh, please, Captain, it's my job. I know I told you before that I've always wanted an engine room of my own. And you should see it! It's amazing! I mean, I know that every warp engine probably looks the same to anyone else, but-"

"I think you've told me enough about it that I could pick it out from pretty much any other at this point."

"Yeah. Yeah, I kind of have, haven't I?" Aurora giggled. "I love my job!"

Warspite's bridge had just enough of a hint of her first commanding officer about it to make Tw'eak feel right at home. The colour choices and overall lighting scheme were in shades of dark blue, green and off-white, giving a rather calming effect to her antennae. There was also the chair, which Aurora had personally assured her had been designed to integrate with the command systems - if necessary, Tw'eak could direct the ship's every movement and response from a holo-console built into the chair's arm, although with a crew like the one she commanded, there would be little need. Unlike other starships, however, Tw'eak sat alone at the centre of the room. Octavia had insisted on remaining active as operations officer, and she and Lieutenant Aewon shared a common forward console with a shape roughly like a trident pointed away from the massive forward viewscreen. Behind where Tw'eak sat, on either side, were the tactical station, manned by Centurion Oulius, and the auxiliary console, which could control engineering, science or other additional tasks as required. Presently K'Vor was at this station, monitoring the engine outputs and standing by to offer corrections as needed to the bridge crew.

"All stations report green," Octavia advised. "We are go."

"Oulius, are the dignitaries from the Bajor shipyard and Starfleet Command ready?"

"Bajor shipyard control reports all dignitaries are accounted for on their viewing deck."

Tw'eak smiled slightly. "K'vor?"

"Our little surprise, Captain? Ready and standing by."

"All right. Signal shuttlecraft to deploy, please, Octavia."

"Shuttlebay one reports launch is underway."

"Good. We'll want them to stay with us until first flight is completed." Tw'eak took a look around the bridge. "Oulius, give me ship-wide."

"Ship-wide is go."

Tw'eak nodded. "This is the captain speaking. In a few moments, we will set forth on our grand adventure together, and for the first time we will depend upon each other and serve alongside each other. I hope that, by now, you'll all have found yourselves at home onboard the starship Warspite. In time, I trust that each of you, whom I have selected to serve with me aboard this vessel, will discover the reason why I've placed my confidence in you as a part of this crew. Each of us has something to offer, something to give to the greater whole, and in time, we will all discover that our unified response, as a crew, will be what sets this starship's name, Warspite, in good company among such glorious others in Starfleet history as Republic, Endeavour, Defiant, Voyager and Enterprise." Tw'eak let her words settle for a moment, and then added. "Stand by for departure. Sh'abbas out."

Aewon looked over his shoulder with an appreciative smile. As Tw'eak looked up at Oulius, he nodded. "That usually doesn't happen aboard Romulan vessels."

"No?"

"There usually isn't time - too much else to do, sometimes before and after launch."

"What about the old Romulan vessels?" Aewon asked. "Back during the Star Empire?"

"Too busy checking over your shoulder for the Tal Shiar," Oulius quipped.

"All right," Tw'eak said, both to hush the chatter and to settle her nerves. "Let's do this." She nodded to Aewon. "One-half thrusters. Take us out."

"Thrusters, one-half, aye," came the reply.

The Avenger-class starship pushed forth from its nest in the shipyard orbiting Bajor VII, and for the first time since its brief but uneventful shakedown a few weeks before, the stars were its destination. Tw'eak sat back in her command chair, finding it surprisingly comfortable... finding herself surprisingly comfortable. Aside from a few personnel squabbles, a slight fluctuation in the EPS flow rate listed on her chair console, and the enormous amount of responsibility the starship carried with it as it left port, everything felt wonderful to Tw'eak. Returning to space and active duty had always given her a sense of exhilaration, a thrill at the prospect of whatever was to come, but this was different. She was going to take command of a task force, not a single starship, for the first time. She had a team of experienced senior officers whom she had personally checked and approved. She had something of a disappointing mission brief, but the understanding she had developed was that her opportunities would become more worthy of her talents as she demonstrated them. Tw'eak was finally in the place she most wanted to be: in a command position, across the board.

"Aewon, set course for the Chapel system."

"Aye."

"A quick round-trip to test the warp engines and we'll be on our way."

"Course laid in."

Tw'eak looked over her shoulder. "Now, K'vor."

"Confirmed."

At K'Vor's command, a series of packets of chemicals, with a small explosive charge embedded in them, dematerialized from the pad in Transporter Room 3. Together, they formed a pattern around the Warspite's path, and each in turn detonated to create a fireworks effect. A second, then a third set beamed out into place, and the effect continued until the Warspite leapt into warp flight at the edge of the system, pursued by its chase shuttles with their monitoring sensors locked onto the newly-launched starship's first warp flight. It was a flourish unexpected to observers on the shipyard, but to Tw'eak, it signalled an end to shipyards and space stations, and a return to the final frontier.


	20. Part II, Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This is the opening paragraph of the second part of the Warspite story. Thanks so much to those of you who have been reading along regularly, I really appreciate it! If you haven't already read the beginning of this story (called Bonaventure), please do!_

 _Bonaventure_

 _Thanks again and here's hoping this next part is as enjoyable for you to read as it is for me to write!_

* * *

 _Captain's personal log, stardate 99501.1 - We have completed our diplomatic mission to the Moraipi, and will rendez-vous with the task force in three hours in the Rinleeli system. I am happy to report that the trade and security treaty which Starfleet asked us to help negotiate was successful. The Ottawa is returning Ambassador Fowxechoop to Deep Space Nine, while the Meitner reports her survey of the Zulanta nebula is complete. Warspite has exceeded my expectations admirably to date, and while I certainly enjoy the challenges of command upon this scale, I find myself wondering what's next._

Star surveys, both in-system and via long-range sensors. Contact with minor species, either by planetary landings or communications. A lengthy legacy of the Cardassian presence and that of their Dominion allies, and yet little sign of either of those, or the True Way which succeeded them. Three weeks out of port and ...nothing. Once again secluded by herself in her ready room, Tw'eak found herself being given little hope of risk. This assignment was downright cushy, and she hated it. She had hoped the elevation to rear admiral would prove a challenge, but the captains of the various vessels under her command were all competent, pleasant to deal with and generally resourceful enough to handle their various situations without either complaint or consultation. Tw'eak had personally found it preferable to have an admiral in command whose role was akin to serving under the Prime Directive - no intervention unless absolutely necessary, but constant oversight nevertheless. That was the kind of admiral she was hoping to be. So far it was almost working out too well for her liking.

However, it was also working out largely in the absence of any danger. This end of the galaxy was a billion light-years from the front lines, and while there were threats - the True Way, the Breen, the Borg - most of them were either quiet adversaries at the moment or simply absent from the proceedings. Sure, there were the occasional moments of magic or wonder, but even in the midst of those moments Tw'eak had felt them a poor substitute for engaging an enemy. And yet, she knew that such martial purposes were foreign to Starfleet's mission, in reality. She didn't really want to fight - deep down she would have been happier never having become as ...accustomed to combat (or was it addicted?) as she had become. But if this was the nature of service during peacetime, Tw'eak secretly hoped there would always be a threat towards which she could provide an adversary.

Perhaps it was a death-or-glory idea, underneath it all? After all, she had accomplished neither, if death could be considered an accomplishment. But the kind of everlasting glory which she thought she wanted was far less likely to happen in this quadrant, on this mission, with this task force. It was not logical. Her ambitions should be taking her in the direction of progressive achievements in this command - she should want to impress Starfleet by doing her absolute best with the work she was given, no matter how insignificant it might feel or seem. It mattered to the Moraipi, after all, whose lives would be significantly improved as a result of their treaty with the Federation. And undoubtedly the Federation's ambassador, a Rigelian named Fowxechoop, would offer a positive report of her time aboard Warspite, along with her favourable impressions of Tw'eak and her entire command staff.

But it was easy to be reported on favourably when your duties extended to hospitality and transport. Tw'eak's entire career had been linked together in one combat report (or medical convalescence) after another. This had been the first time where no one would be rating her based on her performance in command - at least, not yet. Maybe that explained her increasing amount of holodeck time, running combat and calisthenics drills. Tw'eak rubbed her wrist again, where she had twisted it two nights earlier during a combat session against simulated Jem'Hadar. She had brought Tlhosh and K'Vor along with her - no sense in their sitting around the crew lounge when there was the opportunity to face a combat drill personally overseen by Pal, who had incorporated more specific Jem'Hadar style tactics into the programming (with Aurora's help). The additional unexpected danger had really suited Tw'eak, and she found herself wanting to run it again.

But it would have to wait. The communicator sounded. "Oulius to Sh'abbas."

"Go ahead."

"Sir, we've got a transmission from the Ottawa. Captain Aberling would like to speak to you. It's on an encoded channel."

"Oh, really. Put him through, please."

David Aberling was a really sharp captain, with an engineering background and a love for old Excelsior-class starships like the one he commanded. He was an old friend of Tw'eak's, as back in her days at the Academy the two of them had lived in the same dormitory in Tw'eak's senior year. Tw'eak had been quite pleased to see him in command of the Diomedes, now in his sixth year as her captain.

The screen came to life, showing Aberling seated on his bridge. He handed a padd to his Vulcan first officer, and straightened his uniform. His short, dark and curly hair sat precisely in tiny coils, and his expression registered concern. "Captain Aberling," Tw'eak said formally.

"Admiral. Sorry to disturb you, but we've just arrived at Deep Space Nine to deliver the ambassador."

Tw'eak smiled slightly. "That's good news, isn't it?"

"We've been requested to signal you by a Starfleet Intelligence operative who contacted you, a Captain T'uni."

"Captain T'uni, yes. We've been friends for years."

"She's asked us for passage aboard ship. She'd like to meet with you."

"I'm confused. This isn't an order from Intel?"

"No, ma'am. In fact she asked me to contact you, encoded, for just that reason."

"And of course, I don't suppose she's told you what this is all about?"

"Not at all. Not unless she can speak to you in person." Aberling sat up a bit in his chair. "If you'd like, I could tell her-"

"No, no. That won't be necessary. When will you rendez-vous with the fleet?"

"That's the other thing... Starfleet Medical has asked us to make a trip to the Chapel system. There's a medical emergency there and we're the only ship without a priority heading."

Tw'eak resisted the urge to complain about not constituting a 'priority heading' in Starfleet's eyes, and instead focused on what was a 'priority heading'. "The Chapel system? But that's the other way from here."

Aberling nodded grimly. "We know. There's no real good way to do this."

"Let me think... I can take a shuttle from here to Deep Space Nine. If it's simply that T'uni wants to meet with me, then I can come to her."

"Very well." Aberling smiled at his first officer, who, being Vulcan, simply nodded in reply. "We were kind of hoping you'd say that, actually. We'll get underway for the Chapel system immediately and let Captain T'uni know you'll meet her at DS-Niner."

"Good luck, David."

"Thanks. Ottawa out."

Tw'eak sat back in her chair. This was damned peculiar. She tapped her communicator. "Oulius, hail Captain Bort for me."

"Hailing the Wolverine now. Shall I patch it through?"

"Please."

After a few moments, the face of Commander Dermi Bort appeared on screen. A Bolian, like her old friend and former officer Birmal Dazz, Bort was the kind of officer especially made for commanding an escort like the Defiant-class USS Wolverine. Aggressive in combat, he could also be the life of the party, and with a small crew, knowing and being on friendly terms with all aboard was essential. His understanding of tactics, attack patterns and maneuvers made him an asset to Tw'eak - he was an officer who thought much like she did.

"Admiral," Bort said from his ready room. "How may I assist you?"

"How's the Wolverine holding up, Captain?" Tw'eak was conscious to use the title Bort held as commanding officer, rather than his rank, in addressing him.

"Excellent! Could use a little fun. Anything you need blown up?"

"Not exactly. I'm going to temporarily transfer my flag. I need your ship to get me to Deep Space Nine as fast as I can get there."

Bort barely masked his disappointment. "Surely a runabout could be-"

"It'll take too long. I need to meet with an intelligence asset about something, and all our shuttles are too slow. If you'd rather, I can check in with Captain Enjami on the Taurus instead?"

"No, no- one ship's as good as another. We'll rendez-vous with the Warspite immediately and have you there in... three hours."

"Excellent. I'll get things ready here and beam aboard as soon as you're in range. I don't need anything fancy for quarters."

"That's good," Bort said with a laugh. "I think that's our ship's motto. 'Nothing fancy'."

"See you shortly. Sh'abbas out." Tw'eak turned off her display and headed to the bridge. She took a short step and called Octavia over. Barely hesitating for a moment, Octavia stepped inside the ready room. "I've been called away, I'll be shifting to the Wolverine in order to go to Deep Space Nine."

"Is there a problem?"

"Not sure. It's T'uni. She's asked to meet with me and I'm worried what it could be about."

"Of course." Octavia nodded. "What are your orders?"

"Just carry on with the duties as scheduled. If all goes well, I should be back tomorrow. We'll head back towards the Rinleeli system and pick up the task force from there. Should be pretty quiet."

"Are you bringing anyone with you?"

"Bringing anyone - you mean, an escort?"

"It may be prudent. After what happened on Bajor, I believe that the First may wish to accompany you."

"That's not necessary. Besides, Pal has duties here. Babysitting his commanding officer-"

"Is essentially what he was bred for, originally."

Tw'eak feigned a look of surprise. "Are you calling me a Vorta?"

"My comment was an observation, not an analogy."

"Point taken. But it won't be necessary. Just carry on as though I was here, and you'll be fine."

"Understood." Octavia returned to the bridge while Tw'eak returned to her ready room to pack herself a travel supply of katheka. While it would probably be available on the station, the Wolverine had no reason to carry a stock of the beverage, and it would be a long trip.

Three hours had passed, along with a number of light-years bringing USS Wolverine closer to Deep Space Nine. In her quarters on that starship, which reminded her a great deal of those she had once occupied aboard the Repulse, Tw'eak sat at a half-desk, having just finished reading the third of the seven reports from the Meitner on the Zulanta nebula. A truly interesting find, the presence of verteron particles suggested the possibility of it being connected to a wormhole or other major spacetime event. Initial reports were uncertain, however, and the Meitner's data was being studied in that moment at Starfleet Command.

"Bort to Sh'abbas."

Tw'eak looked up. "Yes?"

"We've received a priority transmission from the Repulse. It's Commander Eight of Twelve, ma'am."

"Can you put it through down here?"

"Right away."

Tw'eak stood up and walked over to the replicator, which had a display mounted above it. Moments later, Octavia's face appeared. "Yes, Captain, how can I help you?"

Octavia looked slightly puzzled. "I had not considered myself such, but... at any rate, Admiral, we have a situation."

"What's that?"

"An hour ago, a Hirogen vessel arrived in-system."

"Hirogen? This far from home?" Tw'eak looked back towards her padds. Perhaps the Meitner had discovered a means of connecting Hirogen space to the Zeta Andromedae sector block?"

"They're not Hirogen, ma'am. I recognized the emissions pattern as being identical to one of the vessels we faced aboard the Bonaventure and ordered the Taurus to hold fire. Sure enough, the crew is pirate."

"Pirates in a Hirogen ship? You mean Selkirk Rex?"

"Indeed. He's here aboard ship. He says he needs to speak to you right away."

"I don't suppose you suggested-"

"He insisted on meeting with you personally."

"Of course he did," Tw'eak sighed. She suddenly became worried. "You didn't tell him-"

"I advised him that you were currently attending a tactical conference and would return tomorrow. His vessel will be waiting when you return."

Tw'eak furrowed her brow. "You don't suppose this is all connected?"

"On the contrary. I strongly believe it to be."

"All right. Keep him happy, I'll see you both once I'm back aboard Warspite. Sh'abbas out."

Tw'eak returned to the small desk once more, but rather than focus at all on the science reports, she stared vaguely ahead, worried.

* * *

 _Personal log, supplemental. The Wolverine has arrived at DS-Nine, as the mystery surrounding just what I'm doing here deepens. To have both a Starfleet Intelligence operative and a self-styled rogue pirate seeking to give me some information practically guarantees that it'll be bad news. I haven't been as anxious as this during battles I've fought. It's enough to turn my hair white, as the Earth expression goes. Never understood that one.  
_

Despite herself Tw'eak couldn't help but love Deep Space Nine. As she beamed onto the Ops deck she found herself admiring the architecture, and the overall design of the place. This was a legendary space in Starfleet history, the Cardassian ore processing station which had become the front line on more than one occasion during the Dominion War. Its overall aesthetic was, while perhaps not as fluid or as curvaceous as an Andorian design, certainly something close to it. She had been to Ops before, both on business and as something of a tourist, having seen Captain Sisko's office, stood in the places where Jadzia Dax, Miles O'Brien, and Kira Nerys had once stood, and toured the Promenade. She had also faced a number of adversaries in this very space during her time aboard the Bonaventure. It was a place Tw'eak knew very well.

Now, though, she strode past the officers on duty and stepped into the elevator without waiting for any ceremony. It helped that she was out of uniform, having settled upon a white cashmere sweater and dark blue slacks, keenly aware that the Federation's enemies would obviously have spies in this space, or at least those willing to sell information to the highest bidder.

The elevator arrived on the Promenade, and she walked briskly along its length. T'uni hadn't arranged a specific place for their meeting, so Tw'eak figured she would start with the replimats, then the Bajoran temple, before ending up at Quark's. The first replimat she came across proved lucky. T'uni was seated at one of the tables, a cup of what smelled like Vulcan spice tea in her hands. She scarcely looked up at Tw'eak before she spoke.

"It is agreeable to see you again."

Tw'eak took a seat at the table. "I'm here. What do we need to discuss?"


	21. Part II, Chapter 2

There was a moment, it had been known to happen, where Tw'eak would reach a level of stress and concern that her concentration would filter out both her ability to see and her ability to think. At the moment, all that she knew was that one of her friends, and former officers, was sitting before her in a replimat on Deep Space Nine, while a few light-years away, another friend of hers, a former Starfleet officer, was waiting to speak to her. The inner voice of reason in her head told her there was no way the two things were unconnected. The inner tactical-officer voice in her head was already planning, contingency-planning, and working on plan B for whatever might be going on. The problem was that she had no idea what the two could possibly have in common as a reason to talk to her.

T'uni, for her part, may have been basking in the glow of Tw'eak's anxiety, for all Tw'eak could tell. She was maddeningly Vulcan at the moment, engaging in a lengthy sip of her spice tea, presumably in an effort to deflect from having to tell her what was going on. This may have been consideration on her part, but it was extremely frustrating to the non-Vulcan at the table. No matter how much she might have learned about controlling her emotions over the years, the urge to flip the table was relentless.

"Please tell me I didn't travel two sectors just to watch you have a drink," Tw'eak began.

"I am merely attempting to complete my beverage in order to move away from this place." T'uni took another sip. "It is not secure to talk."

"And you know a place?"

Another sip. "Indeed." Then another.

"Look, I'll get you another tea if you'll just come on already."

"On the contrary, Admiral. It is imperative that we remain here for a reasonable duration of time."

"And why is that, exactly?" Tw'eak sat back in her chair impatiently.

"I believe we are being observed."

This got Tw'eak's attention. "I suppose I should've made myself a little less conspicuous."

"It would have been far more beneficial for you to suppose that upon your arrival." T'uni looked up from behind her mug, using it to mask her mouth. "There is grave danger. We must be extremely cautious."

"You know, I've been a tactical officer for a long time, and one of the things they always tell us is, when giving direction to threatened or targeted individuals, starships, whatever, it's best to give some indication of the nature of the threat. You know, so the recipient isn't-"

"I find your lecture less than helpful," T'uni said, cutting her off. "I am not here officially."

"You- you're not?"

"In fact, I have taken a rather considerable risk. Were it not one I deemed worthy of taking, I would have regarded it as a most illogical folly to venture here." T'uni took a long last drink from the bottom of her mug. Then she stood up, gestured to the replicators, and asked a little too loudly, "May I get you anything, or would you prefer to complete our negotiation in the cargo bay?"

Tw'eak stood up. "I'd rather conclude our business, thank you," she replied in the same tone.

T'uni gestured towards the nearest lift and the two of them walked briskly together towards it. Tw'eak ushered T'uni into the lift, then turned aside a Ferengi who appeared to be in a bit of a hurry. "Sorry, pal, this one's taken."

"But you're headed to the cargo bay," the Ferengi replied quickly.

"Yeah, but where we're going? You're not." The door closed, and Tw'eak shrugged through the shutting doors. 

Cargo Bay Two was deserted. This was probably intentional. T'uni took a few steps ahead of Tw'eak, around a number of stacked cargo containers into a separated compartment formed by their shape around them. She produced a small amulet from around her neck which appeared to be the IDIC icon, as much a symbol of Vulcan philosophy as of the planet itself. At her touch, it unfolded into a four-sided transmission disrupter. "I believe we can talk freely here, once I have ensured we are not being monitored telepathically."

Tw'eak watched as T'uni knelt, placing her hand to her head. "Are you-"

"I will require silence."

"...okay, then," Tw'eak said after a moment, earning a scolding glance from T'uni.

"We are not being monitored at present." T'uni took a deep breath. "It is something of a relief to see you."

"You've gone to a great amount of trouble for me. I appreciate it."

"Indeed. As you are no doubt aware, there has been persistent traffic from the Klingon Defense Force regarding your whereabouts."

"Yes, I've heard. They seem to think I've become their captive."

"In that regard they may have been misled by their actual captive, whose identity our operatives were only able last week to determine."

"Actual -you mean some other Andorian is posing as me?"

"That would depend upon whether you would consider your sister to simply be 'some other Andorian'."

"My sis- which one? Sassil? But she's been missing for years, presumed to have been lost with the Incheon."

"I speak of Lieutenant Dashichal Zh'abbas."

"Dashii?" Tw'eak was dumbstruck. "No, she- she's on the Majestic. They're due in spacedock in just a couple more weeks."

"According to the Majestic's captain, your sister never returned from shore leave aboard Starbase 39-Sierra approximately a month ago."

"Why wasn't I informed?"

"Starfleet regulations make no provisions for informing the siblings of missing crew members of their whereabouts, with the exceptions of several species who-"

"But why-" Tw'eak wondered why her parents hadn't gotten in touch with her. True, her shreya would undoubtedly have nothing good to say if she even knew, and her charan would be unlikely to bring the matter to her attention, expecting her to go charging off halfway across the galaxy to- "Wait. What can I do?"

"At the present time, relatively little. I can assure you that any action will be against regulations, specifically-"

"That's not what I want to hear right now, T'uni."

"Nevertheless, you must yield to the logic of the situation. Your orders-"

"My orders are hardly relevant right now, T'uni. Starfleet has me floating around with a task force in the back end of the universe, and I don't even get to-"

"Starfleet has given you command of a task force, in keeping with your rank and expected station. You must comply with their orders."

"Tell me where she's being held."

"I do not believe that yielding such information would prove-"

"Tell me, or I'll find out some other way."

"I am sorry, but I cannot."

T'uni held firm, remaining silent, looking away from Tw'eak slightly. The fury rose inside Tw'eak, a deep and abiding concern for her younger sister, whom she had looked after for so long, whom she had more than once before rescued from her poor decision-making, and she found herself staring down her Vulcan friend in a rage, her antennae leaning forward far enough to nearly curl around. "T'uni."

"I have already committed a grave violation of my orders in coming-"

"And you're telling me I can't do the same thing!?"

"Unlike you, I am capable of reasoning logically with this situation. I felt it would be prudent to inform you of your sister's predicament. However, I will say no more."

"But you know more. You know where she is."

"I do."

"So tell me," Tw'eak pleaded.

T'uni merely looked away. After a moment, she said, "I anticipated you would find it difficult to be provided with such limited information."

"Is anyone looking for her right now?"

"There is a warrant for her arrest in Starfleet territory."

"A warrant?"

"Dereliction of duty."

"But she may have been kidnapped!"

"That is a possibility we cannot discount."

"So tell me where she is already. You know they're not going to raise a fuss looking for her - those warrants can remain posted indefinitely. I think there's even one still out for Sassil, and my brothers too. Probably for both my parents who died in this damned war, as well." Tw'eak took a half-step towards her friend. "She's one of five surviving family members I have left, T'uni. There used to be twelve of us."

"I am aware of the complexity of Andorian family relationships."

"Damn it, T'uni - I have to get her back. If there's a chance- nobody in Starfleet will be able to do this - not like I can."

"I must insist. I cannot be the source of that information."

Tw'eak's eyes felt frostbitten with fury. Unable to control herself, she lunged at T'uni, who appeared surprised for a briefest moment before deftly knocking Tw'eak aside. Crashing against the unexpectedly solid wall of cargo, Tw'eak leapt to her feet, once again attempting to grapple with the Vulcan, and once again finding herself clattering heavily into a cargo container. T'uni leapt into action this time, her legs coming down on either side of Tw'eak, pinning her to the floor. For the first time, Tw'eak appreciated her friend's physical strength, deceptive for her size like all Vulcans, as she was able to hold Tw'eak down with a single hand despite Tw'eak making every effort to grapple free, panting and frantic to elude her friend.

"Please do not force me to the indignity of utilizing a nerve pinch upon you," T'uni said calmly.

This made Tw'eak relax, lean back, and laugh desperately.

"I do not understand how you can find humour in this moment."

"Just- it's just- damn it, T'uni, she's my little sister. I didn't think anything of it when I didn't hear from her in so long... she's out there and I've been aboard ship... she'll die out there."

"That also is a distinct possibility." T'uni went to move, then returned to her position. "If I should resume a standing position, you will not attempt to attack me again."

"Whole lot of good it did me."

"Indeed." T'uni arched an eyebrow. "I commend you for attempting it, as you stood no chance of prevailing." She rose and stepped over Tw'eak, resuming a placid stance with her back to the cargo containers.

Tw'eak rolled over, suddenly tasting a touch of blood in her mouth. "Yeah, thanks." She stood up, rubbing her hip as she did so. "You seriously won't tell me where they're holding her?"

T'uni furrowed her brows, looking downward. After a moment, one of those brows resumed its arch, contemplative, and she nodded to herself. "It would appear, by your conduct, that you will attempt to ascertain her whereabouts regardless of whether I am willing to comply in offering it to you."

Tw'eak half-smiled. "Very logical of you."

"It would therefore be remiss of me to have stood between you and your goal. In the name of our long-standing friendship, and given your rather devoted attachment to your sister, a fact which I have always appreciated, if not understood, about you... she currently resides in a cell on Nimbus III."

"Nimbus." Tw'eak grimaced, not just at the pain in her side. "I hate Nimbus."

"Indeed, it did strike me as being rather unfortunate for one of your kind to be held upon a barren desert world such as Nimbus. However, her captor is the Orion mistress Saraja C'lin. After the demise of Melani D'ian's organization, along with the uncovering of the Tal Shiar installation on Nimbus, she has re-purposed that facility for the housing of particularly lucrative hostages." T'uni looked towards Tw'eak. "Such as yourself."

"I've been there before. That installation is underground. We can get in and out."

"I doubt it. While before, Nimbus was a lawless wasteland, she has put in place a rather formidable coalition. Lethean beastmasters control phalanxes of the sand scorpions native to that world, making approach difficult. There are also numerous Nausicaans, Orions and other slavers who are working together with her, and they comprise a dangerous force. Perhaps even Hirogen as well - reports of their presence on Nimbus are, at present, unconfirmed. But these disparate forces are being drawn together out of concern for their operations. There is talk of a new and growing force attempting to combat the piracy in the region."

"Selkirk Rex and his people?"

"Perhaps. The Romulan Republic also commands their distrust, if not their respect. While we do not know if the Republic is directly engaged against piracy, they may have a task force so inclined. It would be logical for them to isolate, if not completely clean up, the Nimbus system since it lies so close to mol'Rihan."

"I don't have to go myself. During those missions I had Octavia with me. Zed and Aurora, too. There's no reason they couldn't launch a strike, if they were willing."

"Do you believe that any of those officers are expendable?"

"Well... no, not really. But it's a risk we all take."

"In Starfleet service, yes. But they would not be undertaking Starfleet service."

Tw'eak considered this for a moment. "So they wouldn't -damn, you're right."

"Whatever your next move, Admiral, I would advise you proceed with extreme caution. Your death or capture in a rogue operation would certainly motivate Starfleet to act, but your career - presuming you survived - would certainly be at an end."

Tw'eak nodded grimly. "I don't suppose I can talk you into coming."

"I can assure you, by being in this place and providing you with this information, I have already proceeded sufficiently in an illogical manner for one lifetime."

"Maybe I'm rubbing off on you - after all that time I spent with Vulcans, it's nice to know there's one I've helped make a little more Andorian after all."

"It is most fortunate I know you well enough to be aware you mean no insult by such a statement."

Tw'eak shook her head, laughing to herself. "Thank you, T'uni. You've given me a lot to think about. I should probably head back. He's waiting for me, you know."

"To whom are you referring?"

"Selkirk Rex. Has some big information only he can tell me. Wonder what it is."

"In fairness, his sources may be informed in greater detail, or more recently, than I. Intelligence is a powerful branch of service, albeit limited on occasion."

"Again, though. Thank you." She patted T'uni on the shoulder. "I don't suppose you could turn off that device of yours so I can contact my ship?"

"Ah, yes." T'uni reached over and closed the amulet upon itself again. "I will be thinking of you. There is relatively little I can offer by way of assistance, but if I can support you, I will."

"Thanks." Tw'eak patted her sweater. "Sh'abbas to Wolverine. Beam me up."

As Tw'eak dissolved into the transporter beam, she watched her friend's face momentarily arch with concern - a very unlikely Vulcan reaction.


	22. Part II, Chapter 3

"No, I understand, thank you. Warspite out."

Tw'eak turned away from the monitor, disgusted. Having just spoken to the commander of USS Majestic, only to be told that her sister's disappearance had been dealt with through channels as expected, she struggled to understand why it took so long for someone - in this case, T'uni - to bring it to her attention. It wasn't that she lacked for associates and past shipmates, some of whom she knew to be working in Security or Intelligence, who could have advised her. Some of those very same former shipmates and associates might even have launched some sort of effort to retrieve Dashii, and in so doing preclude Tw'eak from doing what she was becoming increasingly convinced she would have to if she wanted her sister back alive.

The door chime sounded, and Tw'eak strode across her quarters to answer it. Octavia, Aurora and Zed were all waiting. "Good, come in." She ushered them into the seating area of her quarters. As each of them sat, Tw'eak took a quick look out into the corridor, then joined them, sitting across from Zed, with her first officer immediately to her right at the other end of the small sofa upon which she sat. "We all know why we're here."

"Are we really going back to Nimbus?" Zed opened. "I hate Nimbus."

"Not as much as I do," Tw'eak replied, adding, "I don't do well in dry heat."

"May I ask if you have settled upon a course of action?" Octavia asked.

"No, nothing yet. That's why I wanted to talk to you all. Taking the task force, or even a single ship of it, to Nimbus is clearly out of the question. Our orders require us to be here. We couldn't possibly make a move like that without Command finding out."

"To say nothing of the Romulans," Octavia noted. "Nimbus may be lawless, but the surrounding space is not."

"Exactly. And since I can't exactly ask the Republic nicely into tackling the Orion syndicate in their own backyards, we'll have to do this ourselves."

"What about Selkirk Rex?" Aurora asked. "He's still waiting to talk to you."

"I know. I've put off doing exactly that. When I do contact him, I intend to tell him that I'm going to Nimbus with him."

"Going with-?" Aurora's eyes widened. "No way."

"What choice do I have? It could take Starfleet years to send a strike team. They abandoned Nimbus, and showed little intention of changing that policy after we cleaned it up the last time."

"It may be that your sister's abduction is related to our previous work on the planet," Octavia considered, "to say nothing of our involvement in breaking up their infiltration of Starfleet during our time aboard Bonaventure."

"I'm counting on it. Which is why I don't want to go - Starfleet doesn't do vendettas as a matter of policy. I know full well that if I'm killed or captured, Starfleet's hand will be forced and we'll all be in it up to our necks on Nimbus." Tw'eak ran a hand across her face. "But I don't dare send anyone else - this is something I have to do."

"And what if we volunteer?" Zed asked. "You've always looked after all of us, I don't see why this time we shouldn't give a little back."

"I appreciate that. But I'm not asking for volunteers."

"I know you're not asking," the Saurian replied, his eyes shining. "Which is why I'm insisting."

"I..." Aurora looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I can't go with you. I just... I just got a new engine room, I don't want to walk away from her now. There's too much to do there." Aurora glanced over her shoulder, as if she could make eye contact with the warp core through the walls. "Zed's right, we should give back to you. I was there with you, last time, on Nimbus. It was awful, those big scorpions and everything, but we did it. I just don't want to go against orders. Not now."

"I must agree," Octavia acknowledged. "It is imperative that one, or both, of us remain with the vessel at all times - as you well know. It would therefore be as important for me to remain here and sustain the illusions of command being exercised by you, as it is for you to go to Nimbus." She looked to Zed quickly. "There are other ways of giving back."

Tw'eak was confused. "What do you mean by illusions of command?"

"Your absence must not be noticed by the crew - if so, they must be either invited to know the truth, or given an appropriately believable cover story."

"And I don't suppose'rear admiral's training conference' is going to cover it."

"Perhaps they could be advised that you are attending a diplomatic conference involving the Sildareen," Zed suggested.

Tw'eak looked to Zed. "I don't follow."

Octavia swept hair from her eyes. "The Sildareen are currently in their hibernation phase, and will not emerge for another five months."

"Oh. That's a little complicated, no? It's not we can just shrug our shoulders and say, 'Starfleet Command does it again!', can we? It's got to at least be plausible."

"Wait- I know!" Aurora exclaimed. "Illusions of command - we could use the holo-unit installed in your command chair, only in reverse!"

"Explain."

"I could rig the bridge with a series of holo-emitters. Wouldn't take long - and they'd be completely concealed by the power grid, so nobody would know you weren't actually there." She looked to Octavia. "We can work on making her responses more valid, so that it's not as obvious that she's gone, because it'll look like she's there."

Octavia tilted her head. "But what about if she needs to be consulted, or discuss something with a senior officer?"

"Oh." Aurora looked crestfallen. "Right. They'll want to talk to her and stuff."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Maybe we could use that to fool people off the ship, but not those onboard. Even the most convincing holo-version of me wouldn't fool one of our senior officers."

"Which leaves us with the same problem we started with," Zed added. Tw'eak nodded. There didn't seem to be any way to make this work. She would have to accept it - if Dashii was going to be rescued, she wouldn't play any part in it.

There was a chime at the door. Nervous glances were exchanged, but Tw'eak raised a calming hand. "Come in."

The door opened, revealing Doc Ellington making her way through. "I hope I'm interrupting," she quipped.

Tw'eak stood up. "Please come in, Doctor." She waved a hand towards an empty spot on a chair.

"Actually, I'm all right here. Just one thing I came to say - and I don't mind if you all hear it."

"All right."

"Word around ship has it that you've gotten some bad news, about your sister."

"How did you hear about-?"

"Well, as chief medical officer, I'm also the only senior officer who isn't currently present at this meeting, so they put Selkirk Rex through to me to find out what was going on. And find out, I did."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I'll have to review that policy with Oulius when we return to the bridge."

"Now, that won't be necessary. You aren't going back to the bridge."

"I'm not?" Tw'eak was surprised.

"That's right. You take whoever you need, whatever gear you need, and you go with Selkirk, right now. And you get her back."

"Last person I ever thought I'd hear say that," Zed joked.

Tw'eak ignored him. "I don't know if you're aware of where she's being-"

"Nimbus III. Where she's being held by Orion slavers in a Tal Shiar facility built for the Elachi to use." Doc grew impatient. "And why are you still sitting down, exactly?"

"We were just discussing that. My instincts are to go, but our orders are to be here-"

"Your orders don't specify anything about a slaver operation making use of a Tal Shiar facility."

"Nor would they, Doctor. Our task force's jurisdiction doesn't extend that far."

"You know as well as I do that by the time Starfleet gets around to dealing with this, it'll be because you're the fleet admiral who orders it to happen."

"I'm aware of that." Tw'eak felt herself becoming frustrated. She was arguing against someone who was telling her what she wanted to hear. "But I need to be here."

"I don't think you understand what's at stake. With that kind of facility in their hands, the Orions can extort all kinds of information from people-"

"Excuse me, Doctor," Octavia interrupted, "but given the Orion female's potent pheromonal seduction technique, they already can."

"But you don't know what they'll do with that facility. They could turn it over to the Hirogen, or back to the Tal Shiar, or worse."

Tw'eak sensed something about the doctor's argument. "This isn't about the facility. Hasn't been, from the moment you walked through that door. What is it?"

Doc's shoulders fell. "It's just- damn it, Tw'eak, I didn't think you knew me that well." She shook her head. "Both my wife and I have lost loved ones to Orion slavers in the past. And we never got them back. Lots of people do - that's what Selkirk Rex and his people are doing out there, isn't it."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So I just..." Doc trailed off slightly. "I'm a doctor, not a commando. But you... with what you can do under fire, with a squad of Selkirk's people at your back, you could clean up Nimbus properly, once and for all, and destroy that facility so it never has the chance to harm anyone else again."

"But what about the ship?" This was from Aurora, who looked around. "And the task force? Someone's got to be in command."

Doc took a half-step forward. "Far be it from me to tell an engineer what to do, but would it not be possible for you to establish some sort of subspace relay link with Selkirk's starship, on a narrow band or something, so that Tw'eak can be in contact on a regular basis? Surely any admiral-level orders or other such business that needs to be conducted can be done via that link."

"She's right." Tw'eak looked to Aurora. "The Section 31 shuttle - is it on board?"

"Yeah. Aewon didn't want to let it out of his sight." Aurora blinked at Tw'eak. "You're thinking of taking that?"

"The technology in there is more than advanced enough to keep in touch here, in real-time. I could bring someone along to act as my yeoman. It'd have to be someone we trust with that sort of technology."

Zed chuckled. "The obvious choice here is Yeoman Gorn."

"No, that shuttle's too small for him. Besides, Starfleet would hit the roof if they found out we let a Gorn into our stolen time-travelling shuttle."

Doc looked confused. "Time-travel shuttle? Must have been something I missed."

"I would suggest Lieutenant Aewon," Octavia continued. "He has proven dependable in the past. And he is exceptionally efficient."

"If he's willing," Tw'eak replied. "Nobody comes unless they volunteer."

Aurora looked up at Tw'eak. "Wait, you've got a medic and a pilot - what about from engineering?"

"Hold on," Doc interjected. "Medic? What medic?"

Zed looked up sheepishly at Doc. "I know I'm not rated as one anymore, but I am still a qualified field medic."

Doc's eyebrows arched. "Remember what happened last time she took you to Nimbus?"

Zed raised a hand in protest. "Hey, we all agreed, it was Shep Clark's fault that I was wounded like that." He shook his head. "That man and his stealth device..."

"Three weeks in a bio-bed in sickbay when you should've been on duty there," Doc replied.

"Um, did I come along for that?" Aurora asked. "I don't remember that."

Tw'eak shook her head. "No, but that was the reason you were on my next away mission after that. Your predecessor in that role... was a bit nervy."

"You can say that again," Zed said with a laugh. "He shot me with a pulsewave."

"Commander Clark had activated his stealth device," Octavia explained, "and brushed past Lieutenant Xal unexpectedly. This led the lieutenant to believe he was being ambushed by Jem'Hadar, despite the absence of any Jem'Hadar on Nimbus. In consequence, Xal fired blindly, wounding then-Lieutenant Didaggo."

"Jem'Hadar, on Nimbus?" Aurora giggled. "Really?"

"Insisted he'd scared them off by shooting me, even as the captain was having me beamed back to the ship," Zed remembered.

Tw'eak let out a quick laugh. "Beamed Xal back moments after you. That was Xal's last away mission."

"Whatever happened to him, anyway?"

"He died when Bonaventure went down."

Zed's face became serious. "I... I didn't know. Or I didn't remember. Don't know which."

Tw'eak nodded. "It's all right. You don't have to, because I do." She looked up at Doc. "All right, let's do this."

"Captain, you didn't answer my question," Aurora insisted. "Who are you taking for engineering support?"

"Right. Well, not you - and not Octavia, either. Any suggestions?"

"The only one who stands out to me as an obvious choice would be K'Vor. But if you don't want to give Yeoman Gorn access to the shuttle-"

Tw'eak raised a hand to Aurora and looked around. "Are people seriously calling him that? All over ship?"

Zed nodded, and Doc did as well. "I believe the irony is generally appreciated," Octavia responded. "Traditionally, the role of yeoman would be occupied by-"

"Yes, I know." Tw'eak looked back towards Aurora. "All right. I'll ask him. And Aewon, too." She turned her head towards Zed. "How's your understanding of Klingon physiology?"

"Pink instead of red, and a lot more moving parts."

"How about Deltans?"

"Ooh, not so good. But he'll be aboard the shuttle for most of it, won't he? If he goes down in that, there may not be much I can do to help..."

"Presumably there may be other volunteers from among Selkirk Rex's people," Octavia suggested.

"We can check with him later." She looked up at Zed. "So. You get your gear together - pulsewave and armour, maybe a few ration packs."

"Just like old times," Zed noted with a smile.

"I'll talk to Aewon and K'Vor myself - I don't want anyone else trying to persuade them to come."

"Of course," Octavia acknowledged. Aurora merely nodded.

"I'll try to bring him back in one piece for you," Tw'eak said to Aurora, patting her on the leg.

"And for my sake as well, if you'd please?" Doc asked.

"All right. Let's do this. Dismissed." Zed nearly sprang out of his chair, seemingly excited at the prospect of returning to combat. Aurora and Octavia gave their captain a quick nod, although Aurora looked rather suspiciously at Doc as they passed on their way out. After they left, Doc remained, moving more slowly. "Not so fast," Tw'eak implored. "Out with it."

"With what?" Doc said, playing innocent.

"You had a damn good reason for coming down here - and I want to hear it."

Doc looked down, avoiding eye contact. "No, you don't."

"I- did I not just say-?"

"No, I mean, I don't want to tell you."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "That's different."

"I mean I wish it had never happened. To me. To my sister." Doc's head came back up slightly. "If I wasn't a doctor, if I'd been a tactical officer like you, or an engineer, or whatever... I would've already gone AWOL to join up with Selkirk Rex. What he's doing out there, I would give anything to help - even set aside my oath and shoulder a phaser rifle for a crack at them." Doc was visibly squinting, seething. "I hate those people. I know... Starfleet officers aren't supposed to hate, but I can't help it. You don't understand what humiliation feels like, what subjugation means, until you've been in their grasp."

"You were captured by Orion slavers?"

"Many years ago, yes. There were a lot of parts of my life it took me years to get over, but that, most of all. My sister and I were on a transport, I was maybe fourteen, she was older. We were going to Starbase 39, to meet a friend of hers who was on deployment. About halfway there, the passenger freighter we were on was seized. My sister talked back to the slavers, I remember she said something like, 'you'll never get away with this, we're Federation citizens'. They shot her, right there in front of her, and I watched her die." Doc's head fell. "It's the kind of wound I could fix in a matter of minutes these days. But they left her to die."

"Was that what led you to become a doctor?"

"Something like that. I... I never really thought of it that way."

"But you were rescued."

"Yes. We were told to prepare for the worst - we were going to be turned over to the Nausicaans, were going to fetch them a pretty price. I knew the Nausicaans would kill her, don't really know if I fully understood what they would've done to me, but I knew they'd tear her apart. Even then, it was already too late, she was suffering so much. The disruptor had perforated her abdominal cavity, some of her organs were shutting down. There was no hope. All I could do was keep her warm, treat the symptoms, lie to her about getting her to a doctor, getting her home." Doc's eyes were faraway, and they suddenly snapped around to Tw'eak's. As she made eye contact, Doc wiped a tear from her cheek. "Anyway, I don't want to get into ancient history with you-"

"I don't mind," Tw'eak said. "You're the finest doctor I've ever served with, and I've known a few." She tapped her own right shoulder. "I'm a repeat customer, after all."

"Maybe that's why I got into it with you - I've never really talked about it all that much with anyone who wasn't a doctor, a counselor, or at home with Kim." A flash of the typical Doc came into view. "After all that time seeing you wounded, I guess I can show you one of my scars, too, right?"

"Sure," Tw'eak replied with a smile.

"All I'm saying here, Tw'eak, is that I want you to be careful." Doc pointed at her as she said 'careful', and then shook her finger as she talked. "These people are violent, indiscriminately brutal. Don't leave your sister to their tender mercies." Doc's pointing hand reached out and patted Tw'eak on her right shoulder, the one that connected to her biosynthetic arm. "But don't take any chances yourself. They'll be expecting you."

Tw'eak nodded. "I suspected as much. I'm reasonably certain this is all a trap."

"Good. I've seen what you do to other people's ambushes. Go and do it _to them_. Go get those sons of bitches and make them all pay for whatever they've done - not just to her, but to everyone."

Tw'eak took the doctor by surprise, and reached out to embrace her. The unexpected action brought Doc's head down onto her shoulder, and as her chief medical officer, typically so acerbic in her wit, so quick with a cutting word, began to sob on her shoulder like a baby, Tw'eak realized that rescuing her sister transcended any reason or motivation, any order or regulation. She had to go. She had to be the one to act. It would require her to divide her presence between her responsibilities aboard ship and her mission on Nimbus, and it would doubtless come at a terrible cost - even if her sister survived, it probably meant the end of her career, or her life, if she wasn't careful.

Regardless of odds or consequence, she had to get Dashii back. It didn't matter what she had to live with afterwards. Having a dead sister whom she had not sought to help, and the sense of powerlessness that haunted the friend she rocked back and forth, upon her conscience was an unthinkable disgrace, and one she refused to let herself accept as a consequence of duty. Even now, consoling Doc, her mind was hardening, focusing itself around the shape of the rescue mission that lay ahead of her, and in her heart grew a raging insistence on doing precisely what Doc had suggested... and making the sons of bitches pay.


	23. Part II, Chapter 4

Several hours later, the shuttlecraft was ready, and Tw'eak was checking over her personal kit to ensure that everything was loaded which she would need. Aurora and Aewon were conducting some last-minute checks in the forward compartment to ensure that the shuttlecraft was still perfectly functional - and so far, so good.

"Admiral," Tw'eak heard from her left. It was Octavia. She looked up. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

"Of course," Tw'eak replied. She stepped out of the shuttle and stood with Octavia to one side of the shuttlebay.

"I've been running some computations, attempting to analyze the risk inherent in this mission. Assuming the Orion slavers to be on a combat-capable scale roughly equivalent to KDF or Tal Shiar forces, I estimate you stand an eight-point-seven-five percent chance of coming back alive, with your sister, unharmed."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Tw'eak quipped in reply.

"I have verified these calculations, and I do not believe it wise for you to undertake this rescue."

"You're worried."

"Of course I am. Why?"

"No reason. I just wanted you to know I noticed. And appreciated it, too."

Octavia half-nodded in acknowledgement. "I see... thank you." She looked up. "I don't suppose my computations will alter your plans."

"Not even slightly. Sorry. I'm pretty sure we'll beat those odds, though."

"I would advise you not to underestimate the Orion Syndicate. They are not a rational opponent. Their methods are... unsound, and what's more, they can be surprisingly cunning in their pursuit of their goals."

"Which in this case would be my capture, probably the acquisition of our shuttle... yeah, it's a huge set of risks we're taking, with a lot of valuable assets. But they're risks I'm willing to take."

Octavia persisted. "Despite your willingness, these risks will place those of us left behind in a difficult position should your situation break down."

"Look, you've been in touch with our friend in the Republic?"

"Indeed. I can scarcely avoid contact from him, in fact."

"And he's arranged everything?"

Octavia nodded. "The diplomatic mission to the Romulan Republic will be your priority mission for the next two weeks on mol'Rihan, in a secured location. Where, we have not been informed. The crucial nature of your involvement requires you not to be disturbed without prior notification, and any such notification is discouraged since you will find the issues weighty and no doubt intensively difficult. I will be in attendance towards the end of that period, once a suitably important issue arises which only I can apparently resolve. In the meantime I will happily handle any issues which I can assist with while you attend this conference."

"Which will be deathly boring and not worth discussion. Or maybe top secret. Depends who's asking, I guess."

"Indeed. Perhaps you could include remarks drawing upon our previous experiences supporting the Republic with tactical training and the exchange program if you are challenged as to where you have been."

Tw'eak adjusted her hair as she nodded. "It's as good a cover story as any. Besides, we will be involved in a very specific series of tactical exchanges. Of that, I'm sure."

"I will arrive onboard the Wolverine at that point in time. With any luck, that should prove sufficient timing for you to have completed the rescue, followed by our return to the task force."

"And no one's the wiser."

"Hopefully," Octavia added.

"Hopefully," Tw'eak repeated after a moment. "You're nervous."

"I believe it is completely justified to be nervous, under the circumstances."

"I agree. Still..."

Octavia waited for Tw'eak to finish, then after a moment, asked, "Still?"

"I hoped I'd be the only one, I guess. That's all." Tw'eak smiled at her first officer, and friend. "Thank you. It's a bit of a relief not to be the only one in this state of mind."

"This may be a point in time to offer a joke," Octavia suggested.

"A joke?"

"About your having achieved unity of mind with a former Borg. Something like, 'if you understood me any better, you would have been assimilated'."

Tw'eak shook her head, laughing. "Last thing I need right now is to be fighting Borg assimilation."

"I am incapable of such in my present state regardless."

"Glad to hear it. Though I doubt you'd get many volunteers."

"Captain?" Aurora had stepped out of the shuttlecraft. "Everything's ready to go."

"Good. Can you show me?"

"Yeah, c'mon in. Hi, Octavia."

Octavia nodded in greeting. "I will return to the bridge."

Tw'eak stepped into the shuttle. "Everything's all set. Aewon's got an upgraded nav map of the area, the subspace transporter units we got from Section 31 are equipped and working - even right through shields or transport inhibitors you should be able to escape. And we've got a full complement of micro-torpedoes and I even found room for a secondary weapons locker." Aurora pointed to a console embedded in the roof. "There's a couple phaser pistols and power cells tucked away up here, just in case."

"Good. Never know when we might need them."

"Other than that, there's enough bunk space for two of you, one per side. It's not comfortable but Aewon and I figured you'd each take a space."

"What about the others?"

"Oh, you know K'Vor, he's a Klingon, he'll sleep in a cave if he has to." Aurora smiled. "They're all rugged like that..."

"And Zed?"

"...hmm? Oh yes. Saurians don't need to sleep the same amount as other humanoids, as long as they're fed, and warm enough. He'll be fine."

"So we're just waiting for the two of them, then, and we'll make the move over to Selkirk Rex's ship."

"Look. Wait's over, Captain," Aurora said, looking up the passageway and out of the shuttlecraft. At the far end of the bay appeared Zed and K'Vor, carrying their gear. K'Vor was clad in the traditional uniform of the Klingon warrior, while Zed wore a simple uniform in science colours.

"Sorry we're late," Zed said with a smile as he approached. "Somebody had to get all dolled up."

"You're not late," Tw'eak replied. "I'm early."

"I stand ready to fight alongside you, Captain." K'Vor lowered his kit onto the deck of the shuttlecraft. A mek'leth, a single-handed blade with a distinctive shape, was visibly strapped to his back.

"Have mek'leth, will travel," Tw'eak teased.

"One must never be far from one's blade," came the Klingon's reply.

"Oh, K'Vor, be careful," Aurora urged. She took a step towards him, nearly tripping over his kit. K'Vor caught her in his arms. "You caught me," Aurora noted. "Thank you."

K'Vor balanced Aurora back onto her feet. "You should be more careful."

As she steadied herself, Aurora leapt into his arms. "You first," she replied.

Zed leaned backwards, looking out the doorway. "Damn," he quipped. "Nobody's coming to say goodbye to me like that."

Aurora looked up from her embrace. "You'll be careful with him, right Captain?"

"I... can't make any promises."

"A warrior's place is not to ask to be spared risk, Commander." K'Vor leaned back from Aurora, raising his head slightly. "A warrior's place is to seek the risk and savour the glory."

Aurora squeezed him again. "You be careful!" She patted his armour plated outfit playfully. "Wow, this thing is pokey. You don't usually dress like this. I kind of like it..."

Tw'eak looked away, into the forward section to her Deltan helmsman. "Alright, let's get going. Start her up, Aewon."

Aewon spun to his controls, and Aurora stepped out of the shuttle. "Engine startup sequence engaged, all systems to standby power."

Tw'eak took the seat next to Aewon at the front. "We ready?" she asked aftward.

"Ready!" K'Vor declared with a typically Klingon enthusiasm.

"C'mon, K'Vor," Zed teased. "Go give her a kiss goodbye already."

K'Vor leaned towards Zed. "It is not the place of warriors to celebrate a victory until it has been won. My... feelings" -here his lips snarled slightly- "are best preserved for after the glory of the kill."

Tw'eak turned. "This is a rescue mission, K'Vor, not a targ hunt. Go kiss her goodbye."

"Admiral, I must protest-"

"Yeah, that's the problem. Stop being so damned Klingon about it and go kiss her goodbye."

"It is not the way of-"

"Do you want me to do it?" Zed asked jokingly.

"K'Vor. Seriously." Tw'eak threw her head in the direction of the doorway.

Seemingly insulted, K'Vor narrowed his eyes. "Very well." He took a quick step out of the passageway and gave Aurora a quick peck on the cheek. As if on cue, Aurora extended her arms around the object of her affections, and indulged herself in a far more romantic display than he had intended - or hoped. Practically picking her up off of himself and setting her down, K'Vor gave her a curt Klingon salute, and stepped back into the shuttle. Broodingly, he sat against the exterior bulkhead, his eyes flashing defiantly at a chuckling Zed.

The shuttlecraft lifted off, Aurora waving frantically at them from behind the protective shielding of the shuttlebay's edge, as shuttle Hypatia ventured into space once again.


	24. Part II, Chapter 5

The command deck of the Shieldmaiden, as Selkirk Rex's pirate crew had named the Hirogen ship aboard which they served, was a busy place. At the centre of it, the bubbling bone vats and cargo nets of trophies and bones long since removed, stood the ship's Caitian commander, one eye concealed beneath a patch, the other scanning the written contents on a padd. " 'Tis good. I'm surprised that these old engines can maintain their efficiency so well."

The door at the back opened, revealing Tw'eak, Zed and K'Vor standing together. They stepped into the command deck, towards Selkirk Rex.

To no one in particular, Selkirk Rex reminisced. "I can remember serving aboard a ship... can't remember which one it was now, but it was a Starfleet ship, and I had a friend in engineering who was getting 87% efficiency, and was over the moon about it. Now I remember - the _Fram_. Miranda class. Spaceframe must have been two hundred years old, even though she'd been updated a few times through. Can you believe that? And still in service. Old Frammy is probably still out there patrolling. And we can get 96% without a starbase." Selkirk leaned back and looked over at Tw'eak. "How about you, Admiral? What sorts of efficiency can ye squeeze from that fine new vessel of yours?"

"Even if I could tell you," Tw'eak said with a smile, "you'd never stand a chance against her. How have you been, you scoundrel?"

"Ye'll not be callin' me scoundrel, madam, not aboard this here ship o' mine! Ours, really - for are we not the finest pirate crew ever to set sail?"

"AYE!" came back a resounding cheer from the crew.

"Aye," Selkirk repeated. "Set yar course to return us to Dingo."

"Course laid in and plotted," a helmsman noted.

"Get us underway, then!"

The viewscreen beheld the image of the Warspite for just a moment, and then as the Shieldmaiden leapt into warp speed, it was gone. Tw'eak felt a strange sense of isolation and loss.

"Avast, ye scaliwags! Give me yar attention if ye be brave enough to share a deck with the finest Starfleet officer whom I've ever known! This be Twaiheak Sh'abbas, and her aides-de-camp. Ye'll see a lot of her over the next week or so, so be ye respectful and courteous, or she'll deal with ye herself! Ye may wish for the airlock instead! Ya-har!"

Tw'eak nodded, looking around at the admiring, affirming sight of a warm welcome. These people were Selkirk's crew, but their respect for him seemed unshaken since their last action, in which this very vessel had come into their possession.

"Some of them served aboard our ships when we last fought alongside each other," Selkirk noted. "Others have heard the tales, and committed feats of daring worthy of remembrance alongside what we achieved."

"Indeed. Your influence has clearly grown since our last meeting."

"I like to think so." Selkirk looked around. "Leo."

At his call, a stocky, slightly bearded individual came forward. "Sir?"

"This be me first mate, Leonidas de Salaberry."

Leo shook hands with Tw'eak. "Hello, please, call me Leo." Standing a bit taller than Tw'eak, his dark hair contrasted with the lightness of his skin, and the occasional sable strand that stood out against it. "It's an honour."

"Likewise." Tw'eak looked over her shoulder. "May I present to you my field medic and science specialist, Lieutenant Commander Zolnaen Didaggo, and Bekk K'Vor, our combat engineer, late of the Klingon Defense Force."

Selkirk and Leo both shook hands with the two men. K'Vor looked unimpressed, while Zed quietly mentioned, "nice to see you again," as he shook Selkirk's hand.

"Well," Selkirk observed, "I suppose we should go below and sort out our intentions."

"Lead. We'll follow." Both Selkirk and Leo passed ahead as the three officers from the Warspite followed closely. After a quick jaunt down a corridor, they arrived in a room in which a small four-sided table had been placed, with a holo-display atop it, a console adjacent dedicated to its controls.

"Good, now I can see again." Selkirk tipped up his eyepatch. "Did you see how they were hanging on my every word out there?" he said to Leo.

"I imagine they would even without the pirate talk," Leo replied.

"Where's the fun in that?" Selkirk half-growled in response.

K'Vor was incensed. "For a Klingon, it would be unthinkable to feign an injury in this manner."

"He doesn't really feign injury," Zed said with a shrug. "He just covers an eye."

"Aye. If they ask me how I got it, I just tell 'em I had an itch one day, and with these" -here he upturned a hand, showing massive claws present therein- "it's a little hard to miss." He broke out into a raucous laugh, matched only by slight chuckles from the others. Realizing he wasn't as funny as he'd hoped, Selkirk pointed at the table. "Never mind. Leo, why don't you show them what we've found out?"

"Yeah," he replied. After a few seconds' tapping the console, the holo-display came to life. It showed a flat surface interrupted by rising terrain in one corner and a broad canyon running along the opposite edge. In clustered sections along its surface sat buildings and ruins alike. Tw'eak recognized the terrain instantly as Nimbus III's Paradise City and surrounding area. "Our recon has discovered that Saraja's people are based largely around this area, formerly known as Tal Shiar Installation 18. There are heavy cannon emplacements, quantum mortars, and a selection of other weapons - to say nothing of the aehallh."

"Sandworms do not concern me," K'Vor interrupted. "What methods of entry exist?"

"That's part of our problem. Because of the rather aggressive wildlife on Nimbus, there are no easy points of ingress. Anywhere we beam down, we'll be facing slavers, sand scorpions, sandworms... and then there's Saraja's own people. They're all fiercely loyal to her, no doubt easily swayed by her Orion pheromones. But we believe some of her followers may be augments."

"Augments?" Tw'eak looked incredulous. "Augmented what, exactly?"

"We're not sure, but it looks like Gorn." Leo tapped the holo-display to change the picture, showing a profile view of a particularly ornery looking customer, undoubtedly larger and more nimble-looking than an average Gorn.

"Certainly looks augmented," Zed noted.

"How did you come by this information?" Tw'eak asked.

"Ah, that information comes from Salaberry himself!" Selkirk affirmed, patting Leo on the shoulder. "He does all his own stunts."

Leo shrugged off Selkirk's affections. "I used to be a Starfleet Recon Marine, ma'am."

"Used to be? One of my fathers was Recon, he used to always tell me, once a Marine-"

"I know, ma'am. I served under him, in fact. Sergeant Th'abbas was a legend." A broad smile spread across Leo's face. "The stories I could tell you..."

"You're not in the right uniform to be telling stories, Marine." Tw'eak felt herself becoming somewhat offended.

"With all due respect, it's my belief that I can do more good serving here. I feel no shame, and no dishonour, at being here instead of with my battalion. I was able to single-handedly holo-scout the entire position without being discovered. I also used a trick one of our combat engineers showed me in order to disable the targeting sensors on their defenses - they won't notice the fix is in."

"Aye, and he did it without those beasties getting hold of him, either."

"I've been to Nimbus before. This wasn't my first sand-scorpion rodeo, if you'll forgive the expression."

Selkirk leaned amicably towards Tw'eak. "He's a good soldier, Tw'eak. Go easy on 'im, eh."

"In fact, if I may... this isn't the first time we've met. You probably don't remember - I was stationed aboard the space station in the Argelius system. You and your team from the Bonaventure... you guys were amazing."

Tw'eak nodded, unwilling to press any further. "Thank you..." Tw'eak felt her antennae angling inwards in embarrassment. Her thavan had been the embodiment of concepts like duty, honour, and respect for the uniform, for the meaning of service in Starfleet. He'd been the one to instill her understanding and general appreciation for the Marines, for what they stood for and for how they did their work. And here she was making a fool of herself to a man who had served with her thavan... and yet had left the Marines, in the belief - the misguided belief? Tw'eak no longer knew - that his skills were of greater use to a band of liberation-minded mercenaries operating on the fringes of interstellar law and order. It was surreal, and it made her hurt to think about it. "You've done some good work here."

"Well, I learned from the best, ma'am." Leo smiled wolfishly at Tw'eak. "Every trick I learned, as Recon... I learned from him."

"And quite a few tricks, as well! Leo can find his way through, and fight his way through, too!" Selkirk slapped Leo on the shoulder, his voice suddenly bereft of boisterousness. "And he's saved my life, more times than I can count. And plenty of others, too, let me assure you."

"That's what you keep me around for, right?"

Tw'eak nodded appreciatively, recalling times when Zed had probably saved her life, times she had been given opportunities to repay. Her thavan had had a saying: all the universe's resources are infinite, save one... good soldiers. He had been one, and Tw'eak had always hoped herself to be counted among them, even if she wasn't a Starfleet Marine like her thavan, or like Leo, for that matter.

"What can you tell me about the surrounding area?" Tw'eak inquired.

"Nimbus is just like it ever was. Paradise City is run-down and desperate, the ruins and canyons make good places for smugglers, and there's the club, Shangdu, which I understand you remember from your last trip there."

"Indeed," Tw'eak replied. "Had to fight out way out of there. Got bit by a mugato before I did. Fortunately I had Zed along."

"And I had the anti-venom," Zed quipped.

"Anything else you want to add?" Selkirk asked.

"Not really. It should hopefully be a straightforward operation. I don't envision any complications, although I wasn't able to gain any intel about the interior of the installation beyond what's already known. Getting in would've been too much trouble, and besides, I don't think the Orions would've gone to the trouble of modifying the structure inside all that much. We do know that most of the Tal Shiar implements were torn out forcibly by the Republic a few months after your experience there."

"So I've heard. A lot of it was taken back for further examination. They don't know much about the Elachi, or at least, not much they're willing to share with their allies yet. Sound horrifying, though."

"If the Elachi are working with the Orion slavers to gain access to more specimens-"

Tw'eak shook her head. "We looked into that. It seems the Elachi are doing their own dirty work in that regard. One of my contacts in the Republic told me that the Elachi seem to have a preference for... authentic specimens rather than slaves. Their methods are scientific, but whether we would recognize those methods as ethical is a separate question."

"To which the answer is, 'hell no'," Zed added.

"Exactly."

"That's a relief," Leo acknowledged. "I was secretly expecting to face them at some point on this mission."

"Disappointed?" Selkirk asked.

"No, just... prepared for the unexpected, shall we say?"

"Wait a minute," Tw'eak interrupted. She turned to Selkirk. "It was my understanding that my people were to run all the risks on this. Not yours."

"We'll have a ground team on Nimbus," Selkirk directed. "Leo will be leading them. Only three of them - Danielle Okayama and David Wiwa. Dani's a very skilled sniper, not bad with a pistol either, actually. And David is a combat engineer, fabrication specialist. Their job is to back you up if needed."

"I'm not comfortable bringing along anyone but my two officers."

"You're not bringing them along - they're bringing you along." Selkirk replied, slightly indignant. "If anything goes pear-shaped, I'm not going to leave you there. They have orders to go in only if we lose contact with you. They're not under your command at all."

"Couldn't hurt to have backup," Zed replied. "We're not beaming down from a starship, after all."

Tw'eak made a sour face, then looked to K'Vor, who nodded. "You've been quiet," she said to him. "What do you think?"

"I do not trust these... pirates," K'Vor replied. "But a second team may be helpful."

"We can do whatever you need," Leo offered. "Diversions, rearguard. We could even go in there and get her ourselves, if you wanted."

"No, that won't be necessary." Tw'eak stretched her neck. The tension was all a bit much. "As long as I have your assurance that no one goes or does anything unless I say so."

"If that's how you want it."

Selkrik raised a finger. "Or if we lose contact. I have to insist on that. We're not letting you run all the risks on this one."

Tw'eak nodded. "Granted. And appreciated. But there's a lot of risk involved. For all of us."

"You will join us in the mess, I hope?" Leo asked. "We'd love to have you join us."

Tw'eak looked over her shoulder at Zed, who said, "Sure." For his part, K'Vor nodded yet again.

"All right," Tw'eak replied. "Let's go."

The Shieldmaiden's mess hall was a far cry from the more stately, demure dining areas aboard a Federation starship. For one thing, at least a hundred people were in there by the time Tw'eak, Zed, K'Vor and Leo walked into the room. As they approached, the crew cheered exultantly when Leo appeared. He raised his hands, and the room quieted. "What say ye, ruffians?" There was another cheer. "What say ye... SHIELDMAIDEN!" This time the roar was deafening.

"May I present our newest friends, Tw'eak Sh'abbas, Zed Didaggo and K'Vor!" Leo indicated each in his turn as he announced them, and the crowd broke into a sort of rhythmic applause, at intervals of about half a second. Someone from among the crowd came up towards Tw'eak, bearing a clear glass stein of what appeared to be beer, handing one to Tw'eak, then to Zed. Another from among the crowd presented one to K'Vor. The clapping continued.

Leo leaned into Tw'eak. "Go on, take a drink already."

Tw'eak looked down the line at Zed and K'Vor, nodded, and drank. The two others did likewise, and the mess hall erupted into a cheer. The drink itself was particularly disgusting, even in comparison to some of the worst that Tw'eak had known, but she slowly worked down about half of it. Zed barely took a sip, his glass nearly full, and Tw'eak heard him silently trying not to cough.

Further down, K'Vor had drained his entire mug easily, being accustomed to the stronger drinks like blood wine. It was when Tw'eak looked up that she noticed Aewon seated among the crowd. He sheepishly waved, clearly uncomfortable. "Let us welcome our new friends!" Leo cheered, and the crowd broke into a drinking song, at first a few voices, then a couple more, until nearly the whole place was cheering.

"Is that how you normally greet people?" Tw'eak asked Leo.

"This is normally how we do everything," he replied.

Tw'eak looked over at Zed, who was handing his drink to K'Vor. "I see."

Aewon had gotten up and now stood beside Tw'eak. "They didn't really give me the option of staying with the shuttle. Don't worry, it's all secured. Nobody gets onboard Hypatia without my authorization."

"They brought you down here too, eh?"

"Yeah. It's driving me nuts, though. Those pheromone blockers Doc gave me... it's like having a head cold. And with this noise, and all these people..."

"You head back to the shuttle at the first opportunity."

"Yes, ma'am. Can that be now?"

"Dismissed," Tw'eak said with a smile. With a look on his face akin to one about to vomit, Aewon brushed aside and slipped out the door. "Sorry about that," Tw'eak said to Leo. "Deltans."

"I understand. We had one aboard, a few months back." He ushered Tw'eak over towards a replicator. "She was the most popular girl aboard, until we had fights over her. Now she's our most popular shuttle-run pilot at our base in Mylasa." Leo pushed a few buttons and a meal of beef stew with a large chunk of bread materialized before him. "You'll have to excuse the replicator, it's pre-programmed."

"I don't mind. Could really go for some plomeek soup right about now."

"Ah, okay." Leo pushed a few buttons, and a massive bowl of plomeek soup appeared on a tray. "How's that?"

"That's huge. I'll never eat all of that."

"Pre-programmed. That's what you get."

Somehow, Tw'eak had become separated from K'Vor and Zed. "Are we-?"

"Come on over here. I have something special." Leo led Tw'eak to a table that seemed strangely separated from the antics and singing present elsewhere in the mess hall. They sat on opposite sides, the benches more akin to picnic tables than a proper dining suite - but again, Tw'eak reminded herself, this wasn't a Starfleet vessel. "I have to admit, I'm kind of excited to meet you. Like I said before, we met a while back while you were captain of the Bonaventure, and I served with your... I suppose father isn't the right term."

"Thavan. Four genders."

"Right. Your thavan. We don't have that, where I'm from, but we do have lots of snow."

"You grew up on Earth?"

"That's right. Churchill, Manitoba. It's a part of Canada. My family all lived there - they've all moved away or died by now, though."

"My chief engineer is originally from Canada. Aurora duBois."

Leo smiled. "You're not asking me if I know her, are you?"

"No, not at all. Why?"

"It's just... happens from time to time, I say I'm from Canada, most people think it's like being from San Francisco or Luna City, like we all know each other. But it'd be like asking if you knew, I don't know... Va'Kel Shon."

"I do, actually. He's an old friend."

"Or Thy'lek Shran, then, I guess."

Tw'eak smiled. "We're related, somehow. But I see your point. It'd be like me asking you if you know Benjamin Sisko."

"Nah, he grew up in New Orleans. Same continent as me, but the opposite end. Wish I could say I did, though. He's a hero of mine."

Tw'eak smiled. "Mine as well. It's... part of the reason I've been having a problem being here."

"Oh, he served on worse. Did you ever read his son's book about him? Fascinating stuff - his service on the Okinawa, during the Tzenkethi wars... anyway, I don't want to bore you."

"No, please, go on."

"In just a minute." Leo looked up. "Rudi! Over here."

A shorter human than Leo, with longer, unkempt brownish-blonde hair than would be regulation, came over, his hands behind his back. "Sir!"

"Rudi's our ship's bartender." Leo looked up at him. "Do you have it?"

"Just as you asked." Rudi brought his hands out from behind his back, revealing himself to be holding a bottle of-

"Is that-?"

"Indeed." Leo pulled two glasses from someplace out of sight, and offered one to Tw'eak. "Thank you, Rudi."

"We have two more, if you're interested."

"I don't know, that'll depend on the admiral." Leo looked up at Tw'eak. "I figured we should at least share a drink before the mission."

"I'd like that. Especially if it's Andorian ale. I haven't had a drink of this stuff in years."

"Better hold off on that second bottle, then, Rudi."

"Don't jump to any conclusions," Tw'eak replied as she took a glass, fully enjoying herself. "Cheers."

"Cheers," Leo replied, and they both took a drink.


	25. Part II, Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** I have to admit that I hesitated to post this chapter. Reader discretion is advised as there's some rather mature content. I tried my best not to word any part of it too graphically, while still reflecting the development in the characters. I sincerely hope it works for you. If not, please come back for the subsequent chapters - I promise I won't do this sort of thing too often. :)

* * *

The bottle of Andorian ale was just about empty. Tw'eak had equally exhausted most avenues of polite conversation with Leo, but at the same time, she was enjoying the companionship too much to think beyond the confines of the room. The warm, fuzzy feeling she always got from Andorian ale was starting to take up residence throughout her midsection, and she felt like someone had lit a fire in the frosted caverns of her Andorian heart. She chuckled to herself at the thought of the metaphor she had concocted, and in so doing, nearly dropped her glass.

"Careful now," Leo said as he noticed her hands. "That's pretty much the last full glass I can get."

"I thought you said there were other bottles."

"Yeah, but you know this stuff... once you open one, there's no real point in closing it unfinished."

Tw'eak wiped her mouth with the back of her wrist. "Yeah, it's never as good the next day, is it."

"It's the bubbles, I think." Leo shrugged. "I don't know. I'm no scientist."

Pondering for a moment, Tw'eak then asked. "That ever bother you at all?"

"What?"

"Not being a scientist. I've had this creeping feeling for months now, like we're not really doing what Starfleet is supposed to be doing."

Leo's expression hardened somewhat. "Tell me about it."

"I mean, we have unlimited resources, right? Potentially. We could replicate whatever we needed in order to continue that original mission, the one we used to have, remember it? Seek out new life and new civilizations... but no. Instead, they send people like us into the galaxy's dirty little corners to fight it out with the vermin. Nobody's exploring anything there, just meeting new people, and killing them." Tw'eak nodded her head. "Always, before they kill you."

"I'm -I was a Marine, Tw'eak. What you're describing... that was my 'original mission'. That was all I ever trained to do."

"Killing?"

"Yeah -but we never called it that. There was always another word in the way. Euphemisms. Defensive tactical formations. Liberation exercises. Strategic encounters. Winning hearts and minds. My family, we've... we've been active military for over thirty generations now - going all the way back from New France to old France, as my grandfather used to tell it. It's always been like this for us."

"Military history an interest of yours?"

"Family history. And it never changes. Territory squabbles, eugenics wars, vendettas, reprisals - even no reason at all, just fight for fighting's sakes. Nobody ever wins those fights. Somebody's stronger than someone else, and the other guy loses. That's all there ever is."

"But the Federation never fights wars of conquest. It's the one thing we don't do - I don't think we'd know how."

"Oh, we know how, all right. I was at the sharp end of that spear for ten years. Laurentian, Otha, Nukara, various little planets across the Pi Canis block I'd never even heard of... it's always the same. We conquer the territory, by force, and then try to... to what?" Leo leaned against his elbows. "Whatever it is, it doesn't matter - KDF, Borg, Tholians... they want it, and we negotiate. They fight, and we send diplomats first and ask questions later."

"I've been to Nukara, a couple of those other places, too. It's no place for a diplomat. Unless they're armed."

"Exactly. The only diplomat those people understand is a loaded phaser rifle. You know it. I know it. Even the admiralty know it. But we've got to put on the right kind of show for the Federation News Service." Leo shook his head and looked down. "It's part of the reason I left."

"You said before you had no one left."

"That's right. Two brothers, my mother... My father, like yours -ah, you know what I mean."

"Yeah."

"He was a Marine. He didn't last, though. Got his on some planet, defending against a Breen assault. Seems insulting to be killed by someone whose face you can't even see."

"Not much different fighting Borg. Even if you do see their face, the face doesn't matter." Tw'eak downed the remainder of her drink. "Or Undine - at least... I've fought Undine. You fought Undine?"

"Just the once - at range."

"I fought one hand-to-ha... hand." Tw'eak giggled and swayed slightly, then brushed hair from her eyes. "It was trying to replace me. I couldn't get its face - becoming my face - out of my head for months. The sight of this ugly one-eyed thing becoming me... I'll never forget that."

"I get you." Leo reached for the bottle, and as he did, Tw'eak could see a tattoo across the inside of his wrist.

"Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"

Tw'eak snatched his wrist and, after a brief struggle that led to the bottle and one of the drinking glasses hitting the floor beside them, both shattering with a loud noise, she peeled back the cuff to reveal a girl's name. "Talitha Kerrigan - hey, I thought you said you hadn't left anyone behind!"

Leo recoiled, finally removing his wrist from Tw'eak's grasp. "Didn't think that could be easily read upside-down."

"Just one of many skills I have... so who is she?"

"She's nobody."

"Nah, c'mon, tell me. She must be important if she's on your wrist like that."

Leo nodded vigourously. "Yeah, I'm the only one she mattered to. Nobody else cared - not my CO, not the Marines, and certainly not the friggin' Federation of Planets."

It seemed clear to Tw'eak that Leo was having a hard time keeping his emotions contained. She waited a moment and then asked, "I'd like to know who she is."

Leo looked down at the floor, then back up at Tw'eak. "I usually only tell this story with a drink in my hand."

"That a common thing for you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The drink, I mean. It's just a question - not like I'm going to write you up."

Leo visibly snarled at Tw'eak. "I can do this without it, if that's what you're hinting at."

"No hinting. I'm just trying to get to know you. Trying to get to know... Talitha. That's a very pretty name."

Leo's eyes narrowed. "Bolair III. You ever been to Bolair III?"

"Never even heard of Bolair III."

"That's good. Don't go there. It's a graveyard now. But at the start of the war, some doormat on the Federation Council authorized a colony there. It's about five light-years from the Klingon border. I guess they figured our claim would look better if we had a colony there. And every now and then they'd send out a news crew. Bolair III! Model colony! No tensions here!"

"Were you still serving with my thavan at that point?"

"No, I'd been moved to another unit by then." Leo sat back, his eyes taking on a thousand-yard stare. Tw'eak had seen that stare in her thavan's eyes so many times, a sign that while Leo's present was going on all around him, in his mind, his reality was a planet light-years away, years ago. "We came in on... the Peleilu, that was it. Full regiment in runabout drops. My company, our landing point was on the outskirts. There was a school, and a big arboretum, and little farm houses... all destroyed. The Klingons had moved in, with the Orions and the Nausicaans right behind them. Once the colony surrendered, the KDF looked the other way while everyone in that colony was rounded up for slaves." Leo swallowed hard, the anger in his voice as sharp as a nanopulse-edged blade. "Once the starships above us had neutralized the slave ships or put them to flight. We dropped from the Peleilu in runabouts, came down into the colony... they had transport inhibitors in place, guess they figured these slaves were only coming with them."

"That's their usual mode of operation." Tw'eak had seen a slaver operation, albeit from the relative distance of the Repulse's bridge, during her service in a colony rescue operation. She wondered if that colony might have been Bolair III, and hoped she remembered to check her logs when she got back to Warspite.

"Well, we came down, and we came down hard. We worked our way from farm house to farm house - the Nausicaans had fortified what was left of each, you see, making us work for it. There were defense batteries taking down the runabouts, or trying to, as we came down... we lost a lot of good people. Our pilot was amazing, I swear he was dodging disruptor bolts at will, but when we got down, we formed up and we were pissed. Company by company, leap-frogging, working our way through, engineer sections - deploy mortars, specialist sections - fire at will..." Leo's eyes had taken on a glazed, empty expression, but they hardened for a moment. "And that was when we found her. They had left her -she must have been hiding, because they had stripped her down and I don't know what they were doing to her, but she had burns all over her, some from weapons fire, others... I don't know from what." His eyes narrowed, and he broke out of it, looking up at Tw'eak. "I only found out her name afterward. The doc on the Peleilu told me, they had her records on file from among the colony's children."

"Uzaveh's name," Tw'eak muttered. "She was a child?"

"Six." Leo's head shook, his eyes welling with tears. "Six years old. I ordered a medevac right away, they got her back to the ship. She'd still be a slave now if we hadn't shown up. As it was we only succeeded in delaying them. A whole swarm of Orions came into the system six hours after we landed, and we had to clear out. There were seven hundred people on that colony. She was the only one we rescued alive."

"They took the rest?"

"No." Leo swallowed hard, audibly registering. "Oh, no, they left plenty of dead - here a body, there... it was horrible." Leo looked down. "I was company lead. I stayed with her. She never regained consciousness. Whatever had happened to her, it was psychological." He furrowed his brow. "They brought one of our Vulcan officers, a lieutenant, to try to mind meld with her, bring her out of it. All it did was made her start screaming, and screaming, this howl... like nothing I'd ever heard. They got to the point where she was only being kept alive to secure her transit to another facility, then another. She got shuffled around. I don't know what happened to her - she's probably still in a facility somewhere..." Leo swallowed again, and gritted his teeth. "I'd probably know more if I'd stayed."

"She's the reason you left?"

Leo nodded. "Mainly. It just... she was only six. And they were going to take her. The hell for?" His arms opened wide, taking in the expanse of the stars about them. "Why in the hell are we out here if we can't even keep little girls safe? Who the hell would put them... would put HER that close to harm, just to rack up some points with the comfortable masses all snug in their beds on Earth, or Tellar, or Betazed? My faith in the Federation, in all it stands for... died that day. Died and was buried, on Bolair III."

Tw'eak reached out a hand and slid it into Leo's. "You're a good man, Leo. And a good soldier."

"The hell I am."

"No, it's true. Look at me." Leo reluctantly raised his eyes. "We expect that sort of conduct from our enemies. The Borg don't care - look at what they did to Seven of Nine, at the age she was when she was assimilated. The Klingons didn't care - they know full well what their allies do to people and they look away. They trumpet their glorious battles and strength through honour to the heavens and then they behave like that. The Tal Shiar, the Elachi, the Tholians... they all follow the same process. But not you. And not me."

"Not you?"

"He didn't tell you who we're going to rescue, did he."

"Yeah, your sister."

"Did he tell you that this mission isn't authorized by Starfleet?"

"...no." Leo looked up, astonished. "You mean you're rogue?"

"Well, not entirely. I called in some favours with the Romulans. They might come in handy. Probably not. No sense relying on Romulans. And I didn't have enough latinum to move any other forces my way. I'm it. You and I, our teams... we're all that she's got."

"I gotta admit, that changes things a bit." Leo let out a huge sigh, and a laugh. "Here I was... damn. Wasted a perfectly good bottle of Andorian ale."

"Yeah? What was your angle?"

"I was going to try to talk you into joining us. I've heard all about you from Selkirk, he'd give his tail for the chance to get someone like you to join us."

Tw'eak grinned. "Do you think it was working?"

"I was certain it wasn't, actually." He glanced up at her. "Is it?"

"No. Sorry. My career will probably be destroyed when I get back, but I owe it to people like you, and Selkirk, to try to make the best of it."

"But why?"

"You know that big, faceless admiralty you hate so much? It's my intention to infiltrate those ranks, maybe drive that force in the direction of good for once."

Leo laughed. "You're serious."

"Yeah."

"I think you'd rather they kept throwing Undine infiltrators across your path every now and then for you to wrestle with, rather than be the infiltrator."

"You may be right." Tw'eak smiled. "You just may be right."

Leo looked around. The mess hall was in good order, but more and more people were drifting off to either take up their next shift or get some sleep. Tw'eak noted that both Zed and K'Vor had departed, perhaps willing to give their commander an opportunity to unwind. "It must be late. We should probably get to moving on."

"Not so fast," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Your bartender... he said there was another bottle?"

"Two more, actually."

"Call him over." Tw'eak placed her drinking glass, the only one left unbroken, between the two of them. "I owe you another drink."

"But what you said- earlier, about the bottle."

"Yeah, I know exactly what I said." Tw'eak smiled. "I haven't had an evening like this since I was a junior-grade lieutenant." She looked down. "Back then, I seem to recall these sorts of evenings being... rather reckless affairs, actually."

"Really? Why's that?"

"The risk of the next day's operation, usually. Used to drive me crazy with anxiety. Made it easier to get through the away mission if I had a good hangover."

Leo chuckled. "I don't know if that's regulation."

"Maybe it should be." Tw'eak smiled, lowering her chin. "Come closer, let me tell you something else."

"What's that?" Leo leaned towards Tw'eak, who extended her hand and took Leo's face in hers, giving him a quick kiss across the cheek.

"When I said, 'rather reckless'..." She looked straight into Leo's wide open, deep brown eyes. "Believe me, I meant it."

Leo let out a nervous, garbled laugh. "Do you really want that second bottle, then?" he asked.

* * *

The interior of Leo's quarters were spartan, tailored with a few family photos from across multiple generations, and not much besides. The rather small sitting area had a table for two, a replicator, and a desk with a console. Beyond that rested a slim, to-the-purpose bedroom. It wasn't much, but it was more than sufficient.

Tw'eak and Leo burst into the room from the door, both frantically undressing each other. It had been so long - so long! - since Tw'eak had done something this spontaneous, and she felt her adrenal response running down her spine as she coursed her fingers along the length of his back. He pulled her closer, shirtless now, the both of them nearly ready. Tw'eak leaned against the desk, unbuckled her boots, and kicked them off.

"Computer, lock door," she said aloud. There was no response.

Leo unbuttoned his pants and boots, and stepped out of them. "It's manual." He reached past her on the desk, and the door made a metallic whirring noise. "There." Tw'eak took the opportunity afforded by his closeness to turn him over, nearly pinning him onto the desk in the process, scissoring her legs over him. "Wow, you're feisty."

"Ever been with an Andorian girl before?" she said as she unhooked her bra.

"No. Does it all- I mean?"

"Enh, close enough." She tugged down his underpants, running her hand beneath. "And don't worry, I can handle this."

"Oh, yeah?" Leo smiled, that same wolfish smile she had first seen in the briefing room.

"Let's just say I was a lonely girl at the Academy. And blue was every guy's favourite colour."

"Oh, wow," Leo said, picking Tw'eak up and carrying her, still entwined about him, into the bedroom beyond.

* * *

Whether it was the effect of the Andorian ale, or the general sense of self-satisfaction she was experiencing at the moment, Tw'eak could no longer tell. She was intoxicated, that much was certain. Her desires and her impulses had come back to her so naturally it was hard to believe how long it had been since the last time she had been like this with someone. At least this time, the anxiety and shame that led to regrets were nowhere to be found. Still undressed between the sheets, still partly entwined around Leo's half-sleeping body, she rested her head against his shoulder. Noticing a scar on that shoulder, just underneath where his cheek lay against it, she adjusted her head and ran a fingernail across its length.

"What are you doing?" Leo groggily inquired.

"Where's that from?

"Tholian. Jabbed me good, the son-of-a- son? daughter? spawn? I have no idea with Tholians."

"Ooh, I got one like that on my leg. Right through my suit. Kind of wondered - an odd angle."

"Yeah, the dermal regenerator didn't get it all. Too many tendons." Leo looked up at Tw'eak's shoulder. "You've got a scar on yours, too."

"It's a bit different." She held her right arm over him. "This is bio-synthetic."

"Really?" Leo blinked, astonished. "I couldn't tell."

"I know. I was very lucky. The doctor who did the work... she's still my chief medical officer. I keep her around for just that reason. Damned good at what she does. Damned good friend, too." Tw'eak laughed. "She calls me her most frequent customer."

"That's cute. You have a lot of officers you're close with?"

"Mostly my command staff. And my sister, of course. We're the last ones, her and I. Lost three brothers and a sister, plus my thavan. My zhavey, too, actually, but that was before the war. Big family."

"Oh, damn." Leo struck himself on the head. "All this family talk- Did you take your supplement? I haven't been taking mine. Whenever I do, they give me this reac - you know what, never mind."

"I don't need them. It's a bit embarrassing to talk about, but I have Sh'landas syndrome - basically, I can't have any kids."

Leo's shoulders relaxed again. "Okay, good. I mean, not that you're... sick? Are you sick?"

"Like I said, it's a bit embarrassing to talk about."

"Sorry, I just... I don't... this isn't something I really get a chance to do very often, so-"

"Neither do I. It's all right." She rubbed his chest. "Now that we're here, though, I kind of wish I could more often."

"Yeah, I know, me too." Leo smiled. "I ...I don't do too well, getting close to people."

Tw'eak nodded, fully understanding his point. "Everyone I'm friends with, we've been in combat together so many times I have to love 'em. Can't stand to lose any of them."

"I know the feeling. I worry about this crew now, my crew. I don't like getting too close to them, but I can't really help it sometimes." Leo played with a strand of Tw'eak's hair. "Can I ask - isn't this supposed to be white?"

"Yeah. I keep it coloured a few shades darker. Doesn't stand out so clearly when I'm trying to ambush someone this way."

"I can understand that. Kind of glad to have a dark hair colour. Skin colour, on the other hand... I stand out everywhere but a snowstorm, y'know?"

"You'd fit right in on Andoria, then," Tw'eak quipped.

"You know, I meant what I said earlier, about your father. He was the best soldier I ever served with. Could sense an ambush before we even beamed down. Guy was a legend."

Tw'eak rolled over onto her back, looking up, remembering her thavan. "Yeah, that was him all right. He's been gone so long now... family's very important to us."

"I still can't believe he's gone. He used to talk about you - not you in particular, like, but all of you - so much. Used to treat the whole formation like a family - we weren't just fellow marines, we were brothers and sisters. I tried similar talk with my unit once I'd been promoted to Sergeant, but they just looked at me and went back to their rifles. It didn't have the same effect."

"All that time he spent away... he'd come back and you just knew. I don't know how, but you just knew that he hadn't relaxed a minute until he was home again."

"No, that was true. That was absolutely true. He was never really at ease, any time we'd have orders, until the mission was either cancelled or completed. Most of the time he'd already thought three moves ahead - made a huge difference on the mission."

Tw'eak chuckled. "Ever play him at three-dimensional chess?"

"Yes. God, he kicked my ass. He even beat Vulcans. That shouldn't be possible."

"I know..." Tw'eak smiled, and looked over at Leo with fond admiration. "He must have really liked you."

"Isn't this a little weird for you? I don't know, talking about your father after... well..."

"No, not at all. Should it be?"

Leo shook his head, laughing. "Let's just say I wouldn't want to be thinking about my mother while I'm in bed with you." He shrugged slightly. "Must be a human thing."

"I've noticed that, humans tend to think a lot more about this big meaning behind it." Tw'eak didn't want to admit it, but she'd picked up the habit of doing so herself. She pulled Leo a bit closer, tucking her legs around his. "I meant what I said, though. He would've liked you. I can tell."

"Yeah, we got on really well. Why?"

Tw'eak closed her eyes. "People used to say we had a lot in common, that I take after him. So if I like you as much as I do... he must've too."

"That's..." The dawning realization of the meaning of Tw'eak's words came to Leo slowly. "Oh, wow..."

Tw'eak felt herself becoming giddy, and looked upward. "I don't want to say anything for certain. I mean, it could be the ale talking." Tw'eak brought his face over to look him directly in the eye. "But when this is all over, and my sister's back... I would really like to try this again some time." She left her words hanging in the air for a moment, before she added, "sober."

Leo laughed. "Why wait?"

"Oh, I see, you think I'm that easy, to do this twice on the first date?"

"Maybe." He drew her close. " Maybe three times. Who knows."

It was Tw'eak's turn to say, "oh, wow."

"Although... maybe this time we could try me on top."

Tw'eak offered an alluring smile. "All right... just watch the antennae, okay? Don't bump me against anything."

"Oh, there'll be a little bumping." Leo enfolded Tw'eak into his arms, kissed her softly, and pulled her closer. "But good."

For the first time in what felt like a thousand years, Tw'eak felt herself fully responsive to the touch, the caress, the closeness of another. It was an intimacy that brought tears to her eyes, an emotional release she had not permitted herself for far too long. And now that she had found it again, she also re-discovered a fear she had not known in as long - the anxiety of wondering for how long it would last. She pushed that thought aside and looked up into the eyes of this incredible man she had found, and pressed her legs to him, drawing him as close as she could.


	26. Part II, Chapter 7

There was a sort of somber simplicity which brought Tw'eak back to normal just before breakfast the next day. Her focus was almost exclusively on the mission at hand. It had helped that Leo had woken up with a massive hangover, although Tw'eak had felt relatively fine. He had hoped to work out the discomfort by using the sonic shower, allowing Tw'eak to go first and finish before he was even up. She had dressed, sat quietly, and worked the replicator to make herself a cup of katheka, waiting for Leo, thinking of the mission, of being a return to command... to being in control. Tw'eak felt like most of the night before had served as a welcome respite from control. She rebuked herself, in her own mind, for once again falling into old habits. She had once again felt the need to play the role of some sort of rebellious "bad girl", reckless and wild, everything she knew herself not to be. While she had no reason to regret her decision to share the night with Leo, she felt she had once again stumbled into a recurring pattern which had been established early on in her youth. Her decision to study sculpture on Vulcan and force a deferment of her Academy admission, her occasional nights out while at the Academy, usually as a stress reaction just before a major event or, eventually after she had graduated, on the night before big missions. It was an insecurity she had grown to fear giving into, not least because of a few poor choices in partners. At least she could say Leo wasn't the worst that she'd had. Once again, she chided herself to keep from thinking about those others. They hardly mattered now.

Separation from that sphere, by elevation into command, had helped. She had kept herself in check with a firm grasp of regulations for command officers. No more was she the typically quiet, surprisingly hard-partying lieutenant or ensign. It had been events on the Repulse, first the opportunity to command and then the necessity of being in command after the Undine infiltrator that had replaced Captain Corlett had been dealt with, which had changed her attitudes. And now, it seemed, being away from command for the first time since her promotion to captain eight years earlier had led the newly-minted rear admiral down the same path of dalliance which her younger self would have taken. Was there something special, or unique, about Leo? The possibility was there, but the more Tw'eak thought about it, she didn't want it to be true. This was a man who put himself in harm's way with a vengeance. Their conversation the night before showed as much - he was here not because he believed in it, but because he had to achieve something by his time with Selkirk Rex.

She heard the sonic shower's distinctive whirring noise deactivate, and after a moment, Leo appeared in a state of half-dress. "Well, that was disappointing. I thought for sure you'd come and join me."

"Sorry," Tw'eak replied. "I figured out the replicator. Does that count?"

"What is that, coffee? Raktajino?"

"Katheka. It's not bad. These replicator patterns of yours need some serious help."

"I've never tried katheka. Think it might help with this headache?"

Tw'eak pulled her mug back towards herself. "Not this stuff. There's better to be had. Start there, believe me."

"I'm just gonna-" Leo tossed a thumb over his shoulder.

"Yeah." Tw'eak took a sip. "So... I was thinking."

"Uh-oh."

"I don't think you really like Selkirk Rex all that much."

"What, you mean Kwazii?" Leo ducked around the corner but leaned out to make eye contact with Tw'eak as he spoke. "You do know that Selkirk Rex thing is just for show, right?"

"But it's an important show. To him, to the crew."

"Yeah, I hate it. He's far too hesitant. No command experience, that's his problem. It's part of the reason I was hoping you'd be here to stay. Would be nice to actually get things done for once."

"I think he's handled things brilliantly. He's created a persona, yes, but those sorts of affectations are a normal part of being in command. I can remember meeting Captain Picard for the first time, and waiting for him to tug on his uniform, or get a cup of Earl Grey, hot, out of the replicator. Sometimes part of being in command is giving people something comfortable to cling to, mentally."

Leo stood up, intently listening. "You served on the Enterprise?"

"Yeah. Years and years ago. My first assignment, just after the refit. She was the first Sovereign-class starship I served on. Was on another, the Nelson, for ten, eleven years, I think? It's where I lost my arm."

"See, I... wow. I had no idea. I mean, I knew about your arm. Never mind."

"Picard was an excellent captain, and I learned a lot serving under him, but he wasn't without his affectations. The same way I'd imagine your hero Ben Sisko would've been. There's a baseball in his office. Have you ever been to DS-Nine? They kept his office just as is. I had to look it up in order to find out what it was - I'd never seen one before." Tw'eak chuckled. "I can imagine it must annoy Captain Kurland to have to leave a whole section of his operational deck as a museum."

"It's not so much the pirate thing, Tw'eak. It's that he's only a leader when it's for show. He's all yo-ho-ho and rum-tum-tugger when the crew's there, but trying to actually organize anything and he's just ridiculous. Every last detail has to be just so... You and me, together, we could liberate every slave holding in this sector block in a week."

Tw'eak took a sip and considered. "I'm flattered you think that way, but that's not how it'd go down."

"Well, you know what I mean- he just dithers and waits, like he's more concerned with everything else other than dealing with these slavers."

"It's a smart tactic. To go back to your example, if you and I declared war on every slaver within a hundred parsecs, they'd learn to work together. And we'd be done in a day, and half the quadrant would know we'd failed. He's picking his fights and he's tending to the people you save. But he's also not making enough of a name for himself as to motivate the Orions to actually do something about him."

"It shouldn't matter. These people are slavers. They need to be stopped."

"Yes, but you've got reasons for feeling that way."

"Damn right I do." Now fully clothed, Leo stepped up to the replicator. "I don't think it's unreasonable for me to feel that way, either." After a moment, he took a platter bearing a plate of steak and eggs, and sat down to eat. "Did you eat yet?"

"No, I wasn't all that hungry yet. I usually do better to eat something just before we leave."

"Understandable. You're worried."

"We've gone over this plan. We've got this."

Leo nodded, mumbling something despite a mouth full of steak. He swallowed hard. "Sorry. Yeah. We do."

"Okay." Tw'eak drank the rest of her katheka. "Figure we've got... what, three hours until we get there?"

"About that. We could check with the boss if you wanted."

"No, I'll just head back to the shuttle, get everything ready, maybe take a bit of a nap. I'll see you." She stood up and moved towards the door.

Leo reached out for her hand as she passed. "Hey! That's it?"

"That's what?"

"After last night and everything we had- and you're just going? Just like that?"

"I'm sorry, there's a lot to do. Just felt I should get to it. Besides, I don't want to eat anything, and that smells really good, so I'm going to leave you to it."

"You just- okay. Okay, I'll see you."

Tw'eak fought the instinct to roll her eyes. "Look, I just want to check off a few of the boxes, get a feel for what we're doing down there." She shifted her weight onto one leg. "I can't just sit at a time like this."

"Sure." Leo cut a piece of steak and ate it, seemingly ignoring Tw'eak. For whatever reason, this made her feel incredibly insignificant, and it angered her.

"And go easy on Selkirk, okay? He's doing the best he can without any safety net out here. Take it from me, that's not easy to do."

Leo continued chewing for a moment, then interrupted. "You don't think we're going to be able to support you?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Tw'eak gave Leo a foxy smile. "Big bad ex-Marine, charging in all hard and ready to roll up the entire Orion Syndicate... should I go practice my damsel-in-distress routine?" Tw'eak made a few twitching motions, her face feigning terror.

"Wow, okay. Don't make that face again."

"We're more than capable of handling this. Once we get Dashii out of there, you're welcome to go on in and do whatever you think will help whoever else is there. But I don't want any complications." Tw'eak felt a building anger in her tone, and she wondered where it came from.

"Complications? You think I want to complicate this?"

"You want to know what I think? The only reason you're part of this mission is because the very man you just got through criticizing saw fit to put you in my way."

"In your way? Who's in-?"

Tw'eak didn't let him finish. "I will not -will NOT- be looking for your inputs or appraisals while we're down there. You're along to provide us with a secure line of retrieval, not to come crashing in whenever your sense of valour decides it's time."

"Hold on a minute-"

"Hold on, nothing. I'll be on deck. Get your team and your gear, and be ready for the drop."

Leo leaned back from the table, arms outstretched before his half-eaten meal. "Where did that even come from?"

Tw'eak didn't bother to answer. She already regretted all that she had said. Her insecurities had gotten the better of her, and she had lashed out at, and wounded, a man who had been so tender, so intimate with her just a few hours before. She knew exactly what T'Uni would have told her - that she was forcibly putting an irrational distance between herself and him, in case the worst should come to worst. But it didn't stop the ache in the pit of her stomach, or the feeling that she had just made a massive mistake.

She hadn't been fast enough moving down the corridor. She heard a door open behind her. "Just hold on a minute. Hey, Tw'eak!"

Tw'eak turned to see Leo standing in the door, dressed save for his bare feet. "What?"

"You don't get to just tell me what to do. This is my drop as much as it is yours."

"Oh, really?" Tw'eak felt her anger boil over again. "Even here I can't just do what needs to be done - I have to answer to you, too."

"Yeah, you do. What the hell is this? Why are you so upset?"

"Why am I so upset? You just don't get it, do you?"

"No. Now can you please come back in here and explain it to me? I don't need the whole crew knowing, for Christ's sake."

Tw'eak crossed her arms, half-tempted to walk away. She could feel a rising sense that if she did just that, everything - not just her mission, but so many other things - would be completely different. She took a few steps, sulkily, and went back inside Leo's cabin.

Leo moved around his cabin. "Now, I'm gonna get my boots on. You talk."

"Talk? About what?"

"About what just happened. You seriously thought you were just going to yell your way out of here?"

"Who says I was thinking," Tw'eak snarked.

"That's exactly it. God, I don't get you. You show up and I think to myself, this woman's amazing, she's so much in command, and that is so, so sexy."

"In command. That's the problem. I'm always in command. I always have to be in command. I carry myself through the corridors of my ship, and I go through the motions of command, but I can never be who I am, never let anyone hurt me, or feel anything - I can't..." Tw'eak pressed a hand to her face. "Last night I felt... like I haven't felt in years. I felt young and in love, and I-"

"Whoa," Leo interrupted, strapping his boot closed. "You are young. Aren't you?"

"I'll be forty-seven in a few months."

"Jesus. I... thought I was older than you. You're even more beautiful than I thought."

"Oh, just- just shut up, will you? This would've all been so much easier if you hadn't been so... so... damn it."

Leo closed his other boot and stepped over to Tw'eak. "What, handsome? Debonair?"

Tw'eak looked up at him, and replied, "No. Sincere." She stood up and put her arms around him. "I don't want anything to happen to you today, down there."

Leo returned her embrace. "It won't. I'm more worried about you anyway. I can barely stand to be apart from you, y'know."

"Well, I meant what I said. No complications."

Leo brushed her hair aside and kissed her softly on the cheek. "No more complications, I think you mean."

"Yeah."

"I don't think either of us were expecting this to happen. But we're here. And I'm not going to let you down today. I promise."

Tw'eak looked up at him, his big dark eyes radiating with concern. "I meant what I said, you know. I think I want this to be more than just a one-night thing."

"Sober, right?"

Tw'eak laughed. "Yeah. Sober."

"What'd you mean by all that 'command' stuff? I didn't really follow you."

"I'm a rear admiral now. There's a whole task force of people who look up to me. I'm... I'm not comfortable there. Never really have been. I like parts of it, like being in combat, or going to diplomatic functions, or even just being able to support my crew. But there's so much more - mediating other people's problems with each other, survey missions, all that other stuff."

"I know exactly what you mean. I think half the time I was a Marine, I was on guard duty or patrol. Not much ever happens there. The other half the time was meals or sleeping. It's why I went Recon - and that still wasn't much more fun."

"But you're in command here. Sort of, right?"

Leo brushed some of Tw'eak's hair to one side. "Not exactly. But I see your point about Selkirk. He's really up against it, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Believe me, it's hard. At least he was smart enough to pretend to be someone completely different from who he really is when he's on that deck. I wish I'd thought of that."

Leo reached up and placed one hand over Tw'eak's right eye. "Yeah, that look doesn't suit you."

Tw'eak turned her head to one side, blushing. "Stop."

"It's those eyes of yours... so blue, so expressive. I can tell you a thousand stories about you just by looking into those eyes."

"You can?" Tw'eak blushed, hesitating to make eye contact, then locking on and refusing to look away.

"Yeah. I want to hear more of them. I want to know everything about you. I really mean it."

Tw'eak felt herself flushing. "See, that's just it. It's not that you want to know. Not just that, anyway - I'm sure lots of people want that from me. But I want you to know. It's the first time I've felt that way about someone ...in a long time."

"Same here. I'd just gotten used to me being me. But I like I am a whole lot better now that I'm doing it for you."

Tw'eak pulled Leo close and kissed him, softly, yet passionately. Unlocking from their embrace, she said, "same here," in a tiny voice, then straightened herself up. "Anyway, I... haven't checked my combat suit yet. I'm gonna need it to stay cool on Nimbus."

"I'll be down in a minute." Leo looked back towards the table. "I was kind of enjoying that."

"Sorry I... sorry I ruined it for you."

"It's okay. You came back. That's what matters."

Tw'eak pulled herself back closely towards Leo once more. "I will, you know. Just saying."

"You bet," Leo replied. "And I'll be watching for you." Another quick kiss, and Tw'eak left, back down the corridor once again, this time with a lighter heart than before.

* * *

On the shuttle deck, Zed was already in his combat environmental suit, calibrating his medical equipment, when Tw'eak came in.

"Hey," she said to him. "Where's K'Vor?"

"In the shuttle. Still asleep, if you can believe it. Everything all right?"

"Yeah, I just... never mind."

Zed gave Tw'eak a frustrated look. "We're still a go? Don't tell me I'm calibrating this for nothing."

"Still a go, don't worry."

"No last-minute changes to the plan, I hope? I hate last-minute changes."

Typically, Tw'eak found Zed's ability to take almost any turn of events in stride to be a reassuring, even admirable trait. Today, though, it matched her mood perfectly. "No changes," she said breezily.

"Good. Just like we planned, then." Zed looked up. "You get accommodations on deck last night or something? We didn't see you come back to the shuttle."

"Something like that, yeah."

"Made more room for me and Aewon that way. As it was, we had to shut the doors. K'Vor makes an awful racket when he's drunk. The boy likes opera."

Tw'eak nodded, smiling. "I can understand that." She looked over at the shuttle, confused. "He's not noisy now."

"That's because I gave him a little help sleeping when he wasn't looking. A big heaping Klingon-sized dose of sedative. It'd put you or me to sleep for a few days. You know Klingons... they do better when they're rested." Zed made a noise that was half-guffaw, half-snicker. "Makes you wonder what Commander duBois sees in him, am I right?"

"C'mon now, Zed."

"Sorry. He's behind me, isn't he?" Zed looked over his shoulder in the direction of the shuttle, at the softly-snoring Klingon. "Good. But seriously, you okay? You seem a little more... I don't know, mellow. Not what I was expecting this morning."

"Mellow?" Tw'eak feigned indignation. "That is a hell of a thing for you to call me."

"You know what I mean. We've done hundreds of missions like this, usually you're like a caged sehlat at times like this."

"Well, I did have some Andorian ale last night. It was just like I remembered - good stuff. It'd been a long time since I'd had it. Felt great"

"Yeah, I can understand that. I get the same way about Saurian brandy. My family, we're all about the brandy - it's what we do. I worked in the distillery, as a kid. Replication's great, but not for brandy. Has to be just right. Like we do it."

"Oh, it's not like that in my family. In fact, I didn't try the stuff until I got to the Academy, if you can believe it."

Zed leaned back slightly, astonished. "I thought little blue kids were raised on the stuff."

"Yes and no. Synthehol was readily available by the time I came of age."

"Yeah, me too. Never hurt profits any, mind you. People know what they like. I know I do." Zed smiled. "Anyway, that distillery was part of the reason I went into science - loved watching how all those tubes connected to each other, the processes at each length and turn of the pipes. Maybe that explains why I decided to be a field medic, too. It's just different pipes, after all."

Tw'eak laughed, pinching her arm as if in examination. "Yeah. Never thought of it like that."

Zed leaned forward. "You know, I want you to know that, whatever happens down there, I'm right behind you."

"I know. I'm glad you came along." Tw'eak patted Zed's knee.

"She is your sister and all. To hell with regulations when it's family." Zed considered for a moment. "Hey, what do we do if we find they have other hostages there?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "Sorry, what?"

"Other hostages. You know, at the base."

"We'll figure that out when we get there."

Zed nodded, but his face registered concern. "Just seems likely."

"Worst case scenario? We've got a full-scale civilian evac into a desert environment. We'll have to call for support, I guess."

"From who? Selkirk?"

"No, probably the Republic. We'll have to try and hold the position until they can send reinforcements. I don't know, I... I mean, I considered it. We'll have to check the operations plan with Operative de Salaberry."

"Right." Zed looked down. "Never heard of that one before."

"Of what?"

"A salaberry. I've heard of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries - those are all just from Earth - and tulaberries-"

"It's an old Earth name, from France. Has nothing to do with berries like you're thinking."

"That's too bad. I could go for a nice set of tulaberries right about now." Zed looked up. "Hey, how'd you know that? France, I mean."

Tw'eak smiled enigmatically. "Admiral's prerogative. Come on, help me get suited up."


	27. Part II, Chapter 8

The shuttle Hypatia awaited in the distance, the clock now roughly forty-five minutes to launch. Now in their combat environmental suits, Tw'eak and Zed both checked each other's gear setups for leaks and damage. "You're fine."

"Okay," Tw'eak said, "turn around?" Zed handed the sensor to Tw'eak, spun around and stood still, while Tw'eak ran the sensor across his suit. "Looks like you're all good."

"Perfect. I know I can take the heat a bit better than you can, but-"

"Gotta play it safe." Tw'eak nodded. "And I'll remember to stay hydrated."

"Took the words right outta my mouth."

Tw'eak took a look in the shuttle. "Is he still sleeping, Aewon?"

The shuttle pilot, sitting just inside the hatch on the bench across from the slumbering Klingon, chuckled. "Like a demon, yeah."

Tw'eak looked at Zed, who shook his head. "That's 'like an angel', not demon."

"Right. Sleeping like an angel." Aewon shook his head. "That's what I meant. Never got that - why would they sleep when they can fly?"

The doorway opened to reveal Leo, also in a combat environmental suit, accompanied by two others. The sight of him cheered Tw'eak, and she carefully forced her antennae to remain in an upright angle rather than part in welcome greeting. Meanwhile, she stood and moved towards him and his team. "All ready?"

"Good to go," Leo acknowledged. "Just have to get a fresh pack for my rifle. May I present Stan Wiwa, and Danielle Okayama. My team."

"Hey," the taller of the two suited individuals said. "Stan."

"Tw'eak," she said as she introduced herself. "This is Zed, he's my medic, and there's also K'Vor. He's... still sleeping off last night."

Leo laughed. "Wow, that's... for a Klingon, I mean..."

"I know."

"You're Andorian?" the shorter of the two suited individuals said, her voice clipped and to-the-point.

"That's right."

"Been to Andoria," she continued. "It sucked."

"Dani, c'mon now."

"No, seriously. I hate the cold. Can't wait until we get to Nimbus. Sunlight. It'll be nice."

"Dani's not typically one to hold back," Leo explained.

"It's okay," Tw'eak said with a nod. "Neither am I. Where were you? Lai'thas?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"It's the Academy's cold-weather tactical facility. Not like you'd be there on holiday."

"No, no way. Was much happier when we got to Shi'Kahr."

"So was I," Tw'eak remembered happily. "Ran away from home at sixteen. Even for me it was too cold."

"Yeah?" Dani looked up at Leo. "Hey, Leo, I think I'm gonna like her. She's funny."

"Of course you will - only thing that's as deadly in combat as her is us."

"Yeah? We got lots in common, then." Dani turned and looked at the shuttle. "Gonna hook my gear."

"Yeah," Stan said, and he followed Dani into the shuttle.

Tw'eak turned to Leo, suddenly craving his touch. Gloved and suited as they both were, however, it would be impossible. It was Zed who spoke, staring off after Leo's teammates. "Do they only ever talk one at a time?"

"Yeah, if the 'one' you're referring to is Dani," Leo said, more to Tw'eak than to Zed. "I'm surprised Stan even said enough to identify himself - although if you asked how something worked, you'd never shut him up." By now, Leo had closed the distance between Tw'eak and himself, leaving Tw'eak fighting the urge to wrap an arm around his waist.

Zed turned, noticed the relatively small distance between Tw'eak and Leo, and nodded to himself. "Huh," he muttered aloud.

Tw'eak looked over at Zed. "What's on your mind, Zed?"

"Just... thinking you'd said there weren't any last-minute changes to the plan."

"That's right."

Zed looked at Leo, then back at Tw'eak. "And this isn't going to complicate things?"

Tw'eak fought to keep her eyes from widening, but her antennae clearly signalled alarm. "I'm... not sure what you're talking about."

"You remember me telling you about the distillery, back home?"

"Yeah."

"See, part of what makes Saurians such capable brewers? Our sense of smell."

Tw'eak couldn't resist a smile. "Really."

"Yeah. At least five times stronger than a human's, probably an Andorian's as well. We... we get to know our way around, get to know each other, too, all by scent."

Leo looked over at Tw'eak. "He's onto something, isn't he?"

"It's not going to complicate the plan, Zed. I'm sure of it."

Zed nodded. "You may not think so, but we'll see." He shrugged. "She's your sister we're going after. And you always told us, emotions have no place on the battlefield."

"They don't. You're right. Look, I'm..." Tw'eak took a look towards the shuttle, and not seeing anyone emerging from it, gave into the urge and hooked an arm around Leo's waist. "I'm not going to pretend this was a mistake. It was something we both wanted. But I can keep the mission separate."

"You can."

"I can." Tw'eak nodded in the hopes that overselling the point would make it more convincing. She looked up at Leo, desperate for affirmation. "We can."

"I, uh..." Leo glanced off awkwardly.

Tw'eak pulled her arm back. "Damn it."

"Well, I -look, if you said you can, that's all that matters. I know my place in the order of things. I won't let you down."

Zed shook his head, unbelieving. "We should scrub this op, Admiral."

"Zed, c'mon."

"I'm serious." Zed took a step closer to Tw'eak and Leo. "I did not volunteer for this mission on this basis." His voice was a whisper, but a violent one. "He can't come if he's our only backup."

"The hell-?" Leo's face was combative. "Who made you-?"

Zed ignored him. "Listen to me. Admiral. This is a rescue operation. We could be out of touch for periods of time. Now, the brief was, you, me and K'Vor go in, get your sister out, if anything goes quiet, in come these guys. Selkirk Rex's own plan."

"I read you," Tw'eak acknowledged tersely.

"Now, if we get ourselves in a bit of trouble, and they over-commit because someone gets emotional, we could find ourselves in over our head. With no backup and no hope of rescue."

"That could happen even without anyone's feelings being involved."

"You know what I'm saying. This is not something we can afford to risk. Look, like I said, she's your sister. And I respect that you're a grown person, you make your own choices. I love that. It's what the Federation's all about. But damn it, Admiral, you gotta admit, if it was me and some Saurian beauty partying down the night before, you wouldn't let her within a parsec of our op." Zed gave Tw'eak a see-what-I-mean face, his large, golden eyes bulging persuasively.

Tw'eak looked up at Leo again. "He's got a point."

"Come on, Tw'eak."

"No, really. He does. I don't want to be afraid to run the risks we need to in there."

"You don't know what you're up against - and you'd rather go alone? Unbelievable."

"Leo, if we're going to do this, we need to do it right. The first time, because there may be no second chances. That goes for both what we have, and for what we're about to do." She looked to Zed. "And we are about to do it, because we're running this op, as scheduled."

"Come on," Zed muttered.

"However," Tw'eak continued, "in the meantime..." She put her arms around Leo and gave him a quick kiss. "You take care of yourself, okay?"

Leo embraced Tw'eak, carefully tilting his head to avoid striking her antennae with his chin. "Yeah, you too."

She let him go. "Let's just be friends until we get back."

"You're dumping me?" Leo gave an astonished look. "Oh, wow."

"Not... when were we together long enough to be a relationship?"

"Ooh, man," Zed quipped. "That's gotta hurt, man - you know, I am a qualified medic."

"Medic? You're the one who talked her into doing it!"

"She likes me better, what can I say? All the ladies love the Saurian man." Zed preened. "I think it's the eyes."

"Alright," Tw'eak said with the finality of command. "Let's settle this." She looked to Zed. "I'm still in command. Of myself, of this mission, of all of it." She turned to Leo. "And my expectation is that everyone else will remain professional and committed to this mission at all times." She gave Leo a quick, alluring smile. "Now let's go."

Without a word, Zed turned and moved towards the shuttle. Leo, however, took a step towards Tw'eak. "Look, what I said, about that 'relationship' stuff... if that's not what you want-"

Tw'eak placed a finger across his lips. "What I want... should be obvious. You were there last night, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I expected to come this far to get my sister back. Finding you was an amazing bonus. But... for right now, let's do this. Just this. Okay?"

"Right." He glanced over, into the shuttlecraft, his eyes following Zed. "No room in there for sentiment, am I right?"

"Don't be so hard on him," Tw'eak said. "We've been on too many missions together. We've buried friends before. It's his way of showing he cares."

"I get it. Believe me. Just sucks in the meantime."

"Oh, come on-"

The diminutive figure of Dani Okayama appeared in the shuttle entrance. "Eh, Leo, we gonna run this mission or you two gonna spend all day talkin' it over?"

"Yeah, Dani. We're just... checking comms. Making sure we're on the same frequency. I think we got it."

Tw'eak nodded, half-grinning at Leo. "Copy that. C'mon." Both she and Leo took their places in the shuttle. As Dani turned back into the shuttle, Tw'eak reached over and briefly squeezed Leo's hand with hers, and tried not to think about what she would do if, Dashii or no Dashii, it turned out that she would be coming back without him.

* * *

The Hypatia's door inclined upwards, then sealed shut. "Compartment pressurized," Aewon noted. "Signalling ready to Shieldmaiden."

"All right," Tw'eak said. "You've got a specific flight plan in mind?"

"Yes. When we're close enough to a ship, say a freighter or another non-aligned craft, the Shieldmaiden will come in close. The doors will be open - once they mimic collision, we're to launch and simulate a free-fall trajectory, like we're debris or something."

Sitting next to Tw'eak, to her right and forward of her in the compartment, Leo looked from Aewon back towards her. "This was the best they could come up with?"

"I know," Tw'eak whispered. She straightened her neck and leaned forward. "We're all go back here, Aewon."

"Standing by."

"This guy gonna wake up anytime soon?" Dani Okayama asked from the far side of the shuttle. She and Stan had propped K'Vor up on his side, leaning against the aft bulkhead.

"Admiral." At Tw'eak's left, Zed leaned in, holding his medical tricorder. "I was just calibrating, and I scanned-" His voice lowered to a whisper, and he straightened his arm to show Tw'eak the tricorder's findings. "See."

Tw'eak kept her voice down in reply. "This is a scan of-?" She tossed her head towards the back, where Dani, K'Vor and Stan were seated.

"Yeah."

"I see. Don't worry, I'll handle it. Thank you."

"Incoming transmission," Aewon replied. "It's from Warspite. Shall I patch it through?"

"Now?" Tw'eak looked alarmed. "Alright." She moved to take the seat next to Aewon. The screen flashed, and she saw the faces of Octavia, and Aurora behind her, on the screen. "Hello."

"Admiral. I am very glad to see you."

"Likewise. Everything all right?"

"Hi Admiral!" Aurora called from behind Octavia, waving and bouncing in place.

"Hello," Tw'eak acknowledged.

"Your conference is going well, I hope?"

"Yes, we're..." Tw'eak looked down at her combat environmental suit. "We're just going out for a little walk."

"Have you made your presentation yet?" Octavia gave Tw'eak a slight nod, indicating her words were coded phrase.

"Not yet, no, I have about... half an hour or so. But I've met the most interesting people. Zed and I have all kinds of things to tell you when we get back." Tw'eak looked back. "And K'Vor as well. He's, uh... taking a little nap right now."

This seemed to frustrate Aurora, but Octavia simply nodded. "We're transmitting a ships' systems update, and task force mission status reports, to you now on encrypted channel. You may wish to review them."

"I'll do it as soon as we have time." Tw'eak felt the deck beneath her shift, and looked up at Aewon, who had commenced launch sequence. The shuttle shot out and went into a flat spin over Nimbus III, tumbling into its atmosphere. "I'm a bit busy at the moment, perhaps we could talk in a little bit?"

"Lieutenant Commander Connaught would like to have a few words with you, when you have the opportunity."

"Isn't the Yeoman able to answer his questions?"

"It would appear that the commander feels he is entitled to a direct response on the issue."

"I... see. Well." The turbulence increased as the shuttlecraft hit atmosphere. "This doesn't look to be a good time, there's... some interference, maybe just on this end? I should really go."

"The signal is fine here, but... Very well. I will advise the commander that you will speak to him promptly once you are available."

"Yeah, something like that. Look, Octavia, if anything should go wrong with the... presentation, I want you to look after things until I can get back."

"I will do my utmost, however, I lack the requisite command qualifications."

This gave away far more than Tw'eak would have liked, given their coded words to each other, but only winced slightly, unnoticed by either of her officers aboard Warspite. "Just trust your instincts."

Octavia seemed flatly puzzled. "I am Borg. I have no instincts."

"Then trust Aurora's instincts. I don't know, maybe that's not a good idea. Look, I gotta go. It's almost time here."

"I understand. My apologies for contacting you at a bad time."

"There's never a bad time, Octavia." A loud thump could be heard on the exterior, and Tw'eak could see from Aurora's startled reaction that it was audible on their end. "Other than right now, that is. That was my cue."

"Good luck, Admiral!" Aurora hollered.

"Indeed," Octavia affirmed. "We look forward to hearing from you after your presentation is complete."

"Thanks. Sh'abbas out." Tw'eak ended the communication and got up. She looked over at K'Vor, who was now wide awake. His hands held a phaser rifle, but he was otherwise clothed as he had been before. Sheepishly, he gave her a nod, which she returned. "No suit?" she asked. He indicated he could not hear her, so she pointed to her suit. "SUIT!" she yelled. K'Vor dismissed her with a shake of the head, and pointed to the blade of the mek'leth at his side. Tw'eak resumed moving back towards her seat again, and a jolt of turbulence nearly sent her flying. She reached out and caught Leo's hand, who helped her back to her seat. "Thanks."

"They picked a hell of a time to call," Leo acidly observed.

"I know."

"She had an eyepatch?"

"Who?"

"Your officer. Like Selkirk."

"Not exactly," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Borg implant."

"Wow, okay. Never mind."

Tw'eak leaned towards Leo and said, "One other thing - Do you keep a stealth module handy at all?"

"Not usually, but I brought one today. Thought it might come in handy."

"Good. One more last-minute change, then..." She leaned into Leo and whispered something which made his eyes flash with surprise.

The shuttlecraft having plummetted from above into nearly mountaintop height, Aewon corrected the spin and returned to level flight. It took a few minutes, during which Tw'eak felt herself being heaved about slightly by the strain on the shuttle's frame, even despite the inertial dampening field being at maximum. Dani Okayama had a look like she was about to be sick, while K'Vor remained stoic and Stan braced himself against the side of the replicator unit. The shaking finally ceased, and Aewon announced, "we have now resumed level flight, on course for Point Able."

"Excellent. Good flying, Aewon." The Deltan nodded, and Tw'eak could see shapes in the darkness beyond. "We're on the night-side of Nimbus?"

"That we are. Holding steady at two hundred metres up, full thrusters. We should be there in eighteen minutes."

"Alright. Just enough time to get our gear ready." Tw'eak stood up, then quickly turned back around. "We are clear to get up and move about, right?"

"I think so," Aewon replied. "Nothing's going to give us that kind of turbulence again, not even the ascent. At least... I hope not."

"Indeed," Tw'eak noted. She stood up and got her kit together, then moved to the replicator to make herself a few quick snacks. "Don't forget to equip those subspace transporter units," she ordered, looking back towards the front of the shuttle. "I better call Warspite back and see what Connaught wants."

"It won't be anything good," Zed noted. "He's probably pissed off because he hasn't been appointed Admiral in your absence."

"He doesn't have any command experience," Tw'eak replied.

"Tell that to him," Zed quipped. "Off the record, ma'am? Worst officer I've ever had to deal with."

"Noted." She returned to the front chair. "Better get this over with. Aewon?"

"Establishing contact."

* * *

The shuttle flew on in the meantime, crossing over canyons and mountains alike, massive expanses of wide-open desert in which sand scorpions would fling poisonous fluid into the sky on occasion without either hitting or harming the shuttlecraft. At last they arrived over Point Able, and the aft doorway opened, creating a ramp down which all the passengers departed. Tw'eak landed on Nimbus, the heat immediately causing her suit to warm slightly, perhaps only to her perception, and as she did she tapped her comms unit. "Come in, Hypatia."

As the only one still aboard the shuttle, Aewon responded. "Hypatia, online."

"Status, please, Lieutenant."

"All systems go, commencing overwatch upon arrival at Point Echo in... six minutes."

"Alright, keep out of trouble. Good luck."

"Affirmative, and likewise. Standing by for further contact on this channel."

Tw'eak took a look around. The open terrain of the blasted desert, bright red and scorching hot, confronted her vision for kilometres in every direction, seemingly laughing at her as it did so. At a touch of her suit controls, the visor tinted to reflect the light better. She turned to see Leo, Dani, Stan and Zed in their suits, and K'Vor standing, looking away in the opposite direction through narrowed eyes. "K'Vor?"

K'Vor turned to face Tw'eak. "Just getting my bearings," he replied.

"What direction is that?" Tw'eak said, pointing.

"No idea."

Zed produced a tricorder. "That direction's north," he replied, pointing to the north. "You know where Installation 18 is, right?"

"Across the desert?" Leo asked. "Other than that, I have no idea."

"You're mostly right." Zed pointed in a direction over Tw'eak's right shoulder.

"All right, people, let's do this." Tw'eak led the way across the desert, her feet churning the sand beneath her, while her antennae perked and twitched at the sheer enormity of her perception across this distance. "I'm on point. Watch out for aehallh."

"I hate aehallh," Dani snarked.

"Me too," Stan added.

"Nobody likes aehallh," Zed noted. "That's why they're here. Nobody likes Nimbus, either. They're a perfect match."

"Heard stories 'bout this place," Dani said as they marched onwards. "Even got the better of Captain Kirk, I heard."

"No way," Zed replied.

"It's what I heard."

"None of that's true," Leo insisted. "He only came here once, to rescue Spock from Romulans. No big deal, either."

"I heard it was because Spock's crazy half-brother was here," Zed said.

"Nah," Dani interrupted. "Spock never had a brother."

"A half-brother, I said."

"Then they went to the galactic centre," Stan offered.

"Okay, now that's crazy," Zed said with a laugh. "It just-"

Tw'eak, who was on point, raised a hand. Something was wrong. She could sense movement. She took a knee. Seeing her stop, the other officers knelt down as well. Leo moved towards Tw'eak. "What is it?"

"I can feel them, out there."

"Who?"

As if by request, a massive sand worm burst from the desert floor at Tw'eak's two o'clock position. She sprang up and moved backwards and to the right. "Scatter!" she shouted. The six-person formation moved out into opposite directions, each finding their own direction. Unfortunately, Stan stumbled into another aehallh as it emerged, and it knocked him back with a brutal spinning attack. Several metres to his right, K'Vor drew his mek'leth and attempted to slice into the neck of the aehallh which had attacked Stan, with little effect, his blade clanging against its armoured neck.

Meanwhile, the massive aehallh in front of Tw'eak continued to threaten her, reeling back and letting fly with an enormous gob of poisonous acid. Tw'eak tumbled to her left, away from Leo and Zed, who were nearby. As she recovered her position, she slung her phaser rifle over her shoulder and drew forward her alternate weapon, a plasma pulsewave assault weapon she had received from the Romulan Republic. She fired two bursts as she closed her distance with the massive trunk of the aehallh, then charged up and fired its secondary blast, knocking the worm on its axis so that its mouth nearly kissed the ground behind it. Zed also continued to fire upon the same target, its neck glowing red-hot with phaser energy. Slowly it withdraw, as did two others around it which Dani and Leo were busily neutralizing. As for the one which Stan and K'Vor were handling, it had been fully hacked off now, its neck lying separate from its trunk stemming from the ground at an awkward, shorn angle. K'Vor was covered in its blood, and he wiped his mek'leth upon the sand, sheathed it, and continued upon his way as if nothing had happened.

Tw'eak quietly pulled her phaser rifle back out, and gave the signal to follow K'Vor. They had a lot of ground to cover to reach Installation 18. It would not be their last encounter with the violent horrors that called Nimbus III home before they arrived.


	28. Part II, Chapter 9

The final approach, to Point Dingo, had been difficult, using a pass in the hills leading to the installation's location, its entrance adjoined to one of several large transmission towers a few kilometres from Paradise City. Going through town was the surest way to ensure that Tw'eak's party would be caught or killed, so her operational plan, from the outset, had been to go the long way, along a circuitous route Aewon had mapped for them and avoiding all the major land features near the settlement altogether. Now, facing Paradise City in the mountain range to the southwest of it, Tw'eak could make out the distinct shape of the tattered surfaces of its buildings, along with the canyons and ruins which surrounded it.

Tw'eak looked over to Dani and Stan, who were organizing Point Dingo's defenses. Stan had situated a quantum mortar and shield generator nearly right next to each other, while Dani had put away her standard phaser rifle and was busily calibrating a larger gun, which to Tw'eak's astonishment, seemed to have a magazine.

"What's that?" Tw'eak asked.

"You never seen a TR-116 before?"

"No."

Dani fitted a special visor to her helmet, clipping it into place along the line of her eyes. "Good. My secret weapon... check it. I can put a kill shot on any target you can see." She lifted the rifle's scope to her eyes and said, "watch. Big scorpion, there. See?"

Tw'eak looked out over the desert. "I see a lot of scorpions."

"The big one, way back there - your one o'clock, say."

"Watching."

Dani tracked the target for a moment. "And now..." She pulled the trigger, and to Tw'eak's astonishment, no round issued from the gun. Neither did any energy or associated discharge, though there was some sort of a noise present to accompany the recoil from the round apparently firing. To Tw'eak's eye, it looked like she had feigned a shot fired, as though with a toy rifle. Still, there were whirring and humming noises coming from the rifle.

Tw'eak looked up from the rifle, at Dani. "It didn't work."

"Look." Dani pointed to where, off in the distance, a sand scorpion staggered and rolled over. "Boom."

"How did you-? I mean, at that range?"

"This fires projectiles. Tritanium alloy. Stan here rigged it up with a micro-transporter. He read about this killer Vulcan who did the exact same thing we're doing, back in the Dominion War. We thought we could use that. This thing's our tactical advantage. It's got a wicked kick to her, but even with the recoil, I can't miss."

Stan beamed triumphantly, cutting off Tw'eak's chance to ask about the weapon's stated origin. "I fit it so the annular confinement beam is linked to the targeting sensor. That conserves about thirty percent of the energy output, maybe more. And it extends its range beyond visual - only impeded by the curvature of the planet, really. That micro-transporter unit drains the energy - hard to transport something at those velocities - but the Also put a kinetic dampener in it, linked to a micro-generator series, so it absorbs the recoil to boost the power available to the beam-sensor combo unit, so the micro-transporter actually charges the power cell. Well, not really. But it's something like that. Hard to explain. We were even going to link it to a shuttle's sensors - neutralize the enemy's defenders one at a time - but we ran into some problems getting the rounds to re-materialize where they were inhibiting transporter-"

Dani raised a hand. "Thank you, Professor."

Tw'eak nodded at Stan. It was the most he had said since they had met. She then looked to Dani. "You said these were in use in the Dominion War?"

"Yeah, they designed 'em to use where phased energy wouldn't be as effective - like radiogenic particle fields, y'know? But after that serial killer used one like this? Starfleet mothballed the whole program - too risky. What a waste, especially now that we all got our own shields - this thing? Just ignores 'em!" Dani adjusted the rifle in her hands and cackled a bit. "But yeah, Stan read about it. Some crazy Vulcan shooting right through the walls on Deep Space Nine - boom! Killing people in their quarters! Can you believe that? Vulcans can kill you so many ways already as it is... close up, with their minds - and they gotta use that kind of tech? How's that logical?" Dani chuckled harshly.

Tw'eak leaned in closer, admiring the rifle. "Actual bullets. Very unusual."

"Yeah. So much more fun than a phaser rifle. Just the feel of it. Boom." Dani made another chuckle, but this one was accompanied with a fiendish grin.

"Right, boom. You've got overwatch on the exit, then?"

"Yeah. And I got Stan to back me up close-in. He's got the pulsewave and the fabrication kit if you need support."

Stan listed his inventory of modules. "I can get mortars for you, medical generators, phaser turrets, shield boosters-"

"We done this lots," Dani said, cutting off Stan again. "Serious."

"Good." Tw'eak straightened up against the cliff face, looking towards Zed and K'Vor. "Are you both ready?"

"Indeed," K'Vor said, wiping his brow.

"All set," Zed confirmed.

Tw'eak looked up at Leo. "How about you?"

"Just like we talked about. I'll be around." Leo's eyes did not leave Tw'eak.

"What?"

"...Nothing."

"Tell me."

"Ask me again some time." Leo's facial expression was one of concern, and Tw'eak thought to herself that he must be staring at her as though he was afraid he'd never see her again. This thought made Tw'eak stare right back, trying to memorize the lines of his face.

"You got it." She looked him right in the eye, and winked. "Sober, though."

Leo laughed. "Yeah."

Tw'eak took a step back from Leo, towards the objective. She looked over her shoulder at Zed. "Let's do this."

* * *

The entrance to Installation 18 had required Tw'eak and her crew to avoid aehallh and sand scorpions while moving slowly, and quietly, out of the hills. To her surprise, though, there were no guards mounted on the exterior. Clearly they weren't expected. Leo's earlier work on their external sensors hadn't been noticed. Still, there was an incredible sense of trepidation that Tw'eak felt from being here again. Perhaps it was the knowledge that, the last time she had set foot in Installation 18, it had been occupied by the Tal Shiar and Elachi, and used to torture, mutilate and crush the souls of its prisoners, forcing them to fight each other in mortal combat, or putting them through various mind-control and indoctrination procedures. Most of that equipment had been stripped out, under Republic supervision, but the power vacuum of Nimbus III had not lasted long, and now, beneath the deep elevator shaft ahead of them existed a major Orion Syndicate base, one which Tw'eak was uncertain if they would need to neutralize or merely infiltrate.

"Anything?" Tw'eak asked K'Vor.

"I'm not receiving any obvious telemetry or sensory signals. They're not monitoring this entrance."

"Sounds like we're in luck," Tw'eak said with a glance in the general direction of Leo's team in the distance.

"With a front door like this, you think anyone's going to come up and knock?" Zed quipped. "Besides, the Tal Shiar didn't expect us last time, either, remember?"

"That's right."

"And if those people don't see you coming... well..."

"Good point. All right. I'll stop overthinking it, then."

"First time for everything," Zed joked.

Tw'eak gave Zed a feigned look of displeasure, then proceeded up to the doorway. "All right, K'Vor. You said you can hack this, so now's your chance."

"Give me a few moments." K'Vor moved to the entrance console.

Tw'eak turned her back to K'Vor, scanning the horizon. She gave a quick look towards Zed, who was doing the same thing, when the door clattered and chugged along its track, sliding open. "Really."

"The door was not locked," K'Vor said.

"Really."

Zed gave Tw'eak a look of suspicion. "You said it."

"Overthinking it?" she asked, lowering the tint level on her helmet visor to suit the dim lighting within the doorway.

"Maybe just this once," Zed said, shaking his head in astonishment as he followed her and K'Vor into the lift.

* * *

The elevator ride down was just as Tw'eak remembered - surprisingly cool inside the shaft, although this time she knew this from her suit's exterior temperature readouts rather than from the touch. She felt the platform begin to move, and instinctively tracked for spots along the wall to which to affix an emergency grappling line, if needed. She wished she could take off the helmet and let her antennae do their job, but the forward-arc perception wasn't that bad in the suit, just not quite natural. She also had a secret insight which she hadn't shared with anyone as to why the suits had been important: they would filter out any Orion vixen's pheromones and keep them focused on the task at hand.

The elevator came to a stop, its doors opening to reveal a substantial chasm. On the other side, the door was sealed. "The drawbridge is up," Zed said. "Maybe we should knock?"

"We planned for this. K'Vor?"

K'Vor withdrew from his kit a projection unit which created a holo-lattice that extended across the gap. It was only a few square inches in size, but the holo-lattice bridged the chasm perfectly. K'Vor took the tentative first steps across, then found the release for the door. Opening, the interior was revealed to be a series of engineering alcoves, along with computer terminals at desks. Nothing had changed, except that the place was empty of Romulans with pistols aimed at her, a welcome change. Strangely enough, as she proceeded slowly around to check the room for hidden occupants, nobody was here at all. "Clear."

"What was that?" K'Vor asked.

"I didn't hear anything," Tw'eak said as she reached the far side, a few paces behind Zed.

"It sounded like footsteps."

"Well, we did just cross a barrier of holo-energy to get here," Zed responded.

K'Vor shook his head. "Probably nothing. We should hurry."

"I didn't think Klingons got nervous," Zed said.

"I am not ...'nervous'," K'Vor growled. "This situation may change at any moment."

"We'll say anxious, then."

"Stow it, Zed." Tw'eak looked to K'Vor. "We're not rushing this. Let's assess what we're doing before we're committed."

The team took a few steps further into the compound. The rooms to the left and right were quiet, the doors sealed. Zed pulled out his tricorder. "I'm not getting much of a reading from beyond the doors. Something's definitely disrupting my sensor beam. But I'm getting something from the other side of the wall, a power source or... something big, anyway."

"Any idea what?"

"No. If I did I could at least narrow it down, but this is a medical tricorder." Tw'eak reached for her own tricorder. "No, it's okay. I can work it out. I just need to do a couple re-calibrations."

"Let me take a look-"

"Quick!" Zed pulled Tw'eak back around the corner. "Someone's coming."

Tw'eak looked at the doorway. "Out of there? How did you-"

"No, look!"

A few hundred metres down the long corridor linking the inner chambers to the entrance, the silhouette of a figure could be clearly discerned moving towards them - lithe, hunched over, and, as they passed underneath a light, blue-skinned, with bright white hair and a tattered Starfleet uniform. A pair of antennae were also discernible as the figure straightened up, then pushed back into a crouch, seeing Tw'eak as a threat.

Tw'eak shook off Zed and moved towards the individual. She drew her phaser rifle, not aiming at the crouching figure but utterly intent upon firing upon anyone else who came around that same corner. It was impossible - simply impossible for them to be this fortunate. Tw'eak looked back towards Zed and K'Vor, waving for them to follow. Zed broke into a run, as did Tw'eak, and both sprinted to the side of the Andorian woman who was making her way up the hall.

"Twaiheak?" Dashii fell to one knee, into her sister's embrace.

"Dashichal. How is this possible?"

"I- you came?"

"Sorry it took so long. Took a while to get organized, but I'm here now." She looked up at Zed. "How is she?"

Zed referred to his medical tricorder, holding out the sensor probe. "Most of it, you don't want to know. She's seen a lot of damage - and I mean, a lot. But she's alive."

"This can't be real." Dashii pushed her sister. "This is one of their tricks!"

"Dashii. Look at me. Dashii- damn it, stop pushing me!"

"No, get away!" Dashii fell to the ground

"And then what?" Tw'eak demanded, crouching and extending a hand. "Are you going to run back the way you came?"

"Maybe I will!"

Tw'eak put her phaser rifle behind her back, and sighed. " 'Once, Thy'lek Shran dared to the ushaan a Tellarite named Graal-"

"Why are you reciting nursery rhymes now?" Dashii held her head. "I'm losing it."

"This was your idea, remember? If we wanted to prove to each other that we're not changelings or whatever."

"Uzaveh's name." Dashii relaxed, her antennae standing up straighter. "I had forgotten all about that!" She finally let go of the tension in her shoulders, and Tw'eak could feel Dashii adjust herself into a full embrace of her sister. One of her antennae bumped hard against the clear visor, but Dashii barely seemed to notice, grunting softly, then adjusting the angle of her neck.

"Come on. We've got to get you out of here."

"Are you -your ship?"

"A ship. Remember those pirate guys I told you about?"

"And they're... whoo, I don't feel so good."

Zed had been busily preparing a hypospray. "Here. A little dylovene. It'll help."

Dashii felt the effects of the stimulant almost immediately. "Thanks. Wow, that did help." She looked up at Tw'eak. "How the hell did you find this place?"

"We had a lot of help."

"You gotta send more. There are thousands. I saw them. I saw too much... so they left me for the Nausicaans to play with."

"What'd they do to you?"

Dashii's eyes narrowed, her face hardening. "Everything." She looked at her sister.

Tw'eak clenched her jaw, her voice falling into familiar patterns of empty words of so-called comfort. "It's over now. You'll be all right. We'll take you home."

"No- you can't, at least, not yet. I don't know why, but they're... collecting them, in stasis pods. They knew I saw it, that I knew what was going on, but I didn't tell them anything. They said they had you, that they'd kill you if I didn't tell... but I didn't believe them."

"They haven't captured us yet. We should go."

"Wait," Zed interrupted. "What are they collecting? In the stasis pods?"

Dashii looked up at Zed, then over to her sister. "Children. All kinds of species, and lots of them. They've been holding them ransom for months. I don't know how long. I wasn't supposed to see them being loaded into the pods. They knocked them all out with anesthezine, and then they'd put them in there, some two to a pod."

"How did you see this?"

"I escaped. A lot. They kept making it harder. I kept breaking out. Then they'd punish me again. So I'd break out again. Over and over. Then all of a sudden a few minutes ago, this mechanism I've tampered with a hundred times in my cell... it just opened."

"So it's just as you feared, then, Admiral," Zed said flatly. Tw'eak looked up at the Saurian, then followed the line of his eyes to K'Vor, who held his disruptor plainly aimed at the three of them on the floor.

"Yeah," Tw'eak acknowledged. "It was a trap, all right."

"Welcome to my ambush," K'Vor exulted. "You are all now my captives. Put down your weapons."

"I don't think so, K'Vor. Or what should we call you, then?"

"My name is of no consequence. But Saraja C'lin will call me her beloved for this."

Zed stood up, lowering his phaser to the floor as he did so. "You have a plan, right?" he whispered to his commander.

"Working on one," Tw'eak noted, lowering her phaser rifle and reaching for a photon grenade.

"Which one of you brought backup?" Dashii asked, pointing over K'Vor's shoulder.

"What?" Tw'eak asked, incredulous.

K'Vor looked over his shoulder. "That fool with the stealth module!" He turned and fired blindly down the corridor. This gave Tw'eak just enough time to take a few steps forward and bring forth her pulsewave assault rifle. Fully charged and ready, the arcwave beam knocked K'Vor back down the corridor as it struck, the plasma effect causing his battle-worn leather armour to catch fire. He rolled about for a minute, and once the flames had subsided, found himself with Tw'eak standing over him. She very deliberately lowered her foot onto his neck, and held the pulsewave aloft over him, pointing right at his chest.

"You're no Klingon," she said.

"Your finely tuned Andorian senses tell you that, no doubt."

"Finely tuned, yes, but not mine. Zed's medical tricorder showed us that you weren't Klingon at all... but an Orion surgically altered to pass as a defector. We caught onto you before we even left."

"You fool. Why would you ever bring me along, then?"

"I needed through that door." She tapped the business end of the pulsewave on his chest. "Now I need to know a few things."

K'Vor laughed. "Find your own answers, captain. You haven't long to live."

"Well, we have that in common, then." Tw'eak gripped her pulsewave with both hands.

"Admiral? What are you doing?" Zed asked.

"Getting some answers." She pressed the pulsewave's butt against her shoulder. "What's your mission?"

K'Vor laughed harder. "I'm more Klingon than I led you to believe, in that regard. No surrender."

"You'll talk, or-"

K'Vor's eyes began to roll in his head. His cackling became a choked, vicious frothing, and before long, his breath came to a stop.

Tw'eak lowered her pulsewave and grabbed Zed's shoulder and pressed him towards K'Vor. "Stabilize him. Do something. I'm not done with him yet."

Zed whipped out his tricorder and scanned frantically. "I wish I could. It's too late." K'Vor's head collapsed, his face beginning to dissolve slightly as it did. Whatever poison he had taken had a disintegrating agent as part of it, and his body began to rapidly decompose into dust and smoke, rotting away in real-time. Tw'eak screamed, incoherent, and pulled her pulsewave up to K'Vor's face. In the instant before she fired, Zed pushed her arm aside, and the discharge rang out down the hall.

"What'd you do that for?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" Zed protested. "He's already dead!"

"I know! The BASTARD!" Tw'eak turned, brushing past Dashii. "There are more of them here - show me where!"

"Calm down, Twaiheak!"

"What happened to 'taking our time'?" Zed demanded.

"They've gone too far this time. And they'll pay." She turned and faced down the hallway. "You hear me? I am going to line up every last one of you green-skinned sons of bitches-"

"Twaiheak! Stop!"

Tw'eak shook off Dashii's arms. "-if it's the LAST thing I do!" Tw'eak was past the point of listening. The situation demanded a truly Andorian response. She pointed to K'Vor's fallen rifle. "Either pick up that weapon or stay out of my way, Dashichal." She looked to Zed. "Goes for you, too." She checked her pulsewave and stalked off down the corridor, ensuring that her shields were fully charged like her weapon. Slinging her pulsewave for a second, she drew her phaser rifle and checked that as well - or would have, if there had been time. As it was, she barely made it into cover.

A cohort of three Nausicaans came at her, two firing while the third wielded an energy blade, probably a nanopulse-edged tegolar blade. She brought her rifle to her eye and carefully fired a high-density beam at one shooter, then fired three quick shots at the second. Unshielded, both fell. The sword-bearer, however, was a different story. She tossed her phaser rifle over her shoulder and brought up the pulsewave, along with a photon grenade, which she flung down the corridor. She waited for his reaction - a momentary flinch, followed by an attempt to swat at it - before she charged in at the moment of the grenade's detonation, closing the distance and putting the pulsewave mere inches from his torso before giving him a full arcwave discharge. The Nausicaan crumpled, his shields faltering, as Tw'eak took a roll towards him and brought down the butt of her pulsewave four times upon his head. Reduced to a bloody mess, the Nausicaan's jaw gurgled with a sound something like a voice before his head fell to one side.

It was then that Tw'eak felt the hot energy of shield disspation. She was taking fire on her left flank, so she turned to spot at least four Orions in good defensive positions, each behind a crate or a metal bulkhead. She took a dive towards the corner of the intersection, sheltering behind it and cursing the sheer bulk of the combat environmental suit. There wasn't time to strip out of it. She reached down and brought forth a plasma grenade, the other variety she carried. She brought out the phaser rifle and popped up briefly to draw their fire. Without firing herself, she counted four shots. With a great hurling motion, the plasma grenade flew into the corridor. As the Orion heads came up to follow its flight, she fired into their ranks, targeting each in turn with precision. More arrived, at least one falling into the sizzling plasma fire, and she continued to shoot as targets presented themselves. She brought one down as he attempted to pull the fallen one from the plasma fire, both bodies glowing green with the light and heat of the fire. Still more came forth, some charging towards her position.

From over her shoulder came a sharp beam of phaser energy, felling three Orions at once with a split-beam shot. Zed had come to her rescue. He pressed a button on his suit and discharged a green beacon which, upon arriving in the area, burst, then emanated with a cloud of potent radiation. Several of the Orions moved about, bringing them under Tw'eak's gunsights. Tw'eak looked up at Zed and gave him two quick hand signals - 'hold this position', and 'I'm going in'. Zed shook his head, but Tw'eak ignored it. She charged, once again, until she rested upon the opposite side of the Orions' position for a brief moment. With a quick look towards Zed, who checked his fire, Tw'eak stepped into the open, unleashing the arcwave blast into the open space on the other side of the crate. A sudden shudder of green flesh incandescent with plasma fire told her that she had struck multiple targets, and she coldly brought each one down in turn before looking into the room beyond. This was clearly the chamber in which her sister had been kept. She waved Zed forward, then moved into the room, clearing it as she swept her eyes across it. At the back of the room was a transporter inhibitor. She threw a photon grenade at it, but it was covered behind a shield.

"Clear!" By this point, Dashii had joined them.

"That's a lot of dead Orions back there!" Zed noted.

"It's a start," Tw'eak said flatly.

"Admiral, we gotta get out of here," Zed pleaded.

"No chance. We fight it out until we take this facility, and free everyone here."

"Alone?" Zed asked.

"Not exactly." Tw'eak pointed to the transporter inhibitor, and looked towards her sister. "Can you get that offline?"

"Yeah, easy." She moved over to the transporter inhibitor controls. "They didn't lock it out. Give me three minutes."

"Zed, cover her."

"You got it."

Tw'eak moved back into the corridor. She made quick work of the remains, picking out a split-beam rifle from one of the Orions, then moving to the Nausicaan and retrieving both his shield emitter and the tegolar blade. Placing it on the ground conspicuously as a reminder to herself to pick it up on the way out, she heard the noise of approaching feet and retreated towards her sister's position. She tossed the gear behind the crate and took cover, kicking an Orion corpse out of the way to create enough room for herself. Scanning into the darkness, she made out three figures - Leo and his fire team. She stood up, holding her rifle aloft by its centre of gravity.

"Tw'eak!" Leo yelled, and he ran to her side. Dani and Stan made up their pace to reach her at about the same time. "What the - holy..."

"Hi," Tw'eak replied. "What kept you?"

"The holo-emitter was sabotaged. If you'd tried to go back that way you would've been trapped."

"Figured as much. K'Vor was one of them."

Leo nodded. "Just like you expected."

"Yeah. Lucky us." Tw'eak looked back down the way they had come, and felt her stomach turn at the thought of- "We need backup. Not just fire teams, either."

"What do you mean?"

Tw'eak gestured towards the exit. "Back that way, through that door... there are kids. Lots of kids. In stasis pods. We're going to need aid, or just get the pods out of here and we'll have to figure out what to do with them. I don't know."

Leo pointed in the direction Tw'eak pointed. "Stan, get that door open. Check it out."

"On it," Stan replied, and raced back the way he had come.

"Dani, you take up a position at that intersection - forward picket. Get on the comms once you do, call for backup."

"Forward picket, call the boss - got it!" Dani went in the opposite direction, towards the next intersection along the way.

Leo pointed in a roundabout manner. "There was a transporter inhibitor in place when we scanned the position."

"Not anymore." Tw'eak turned towards the sound of that voice, to see Dashii and Zed walking towards her.

"Inhibitor's down," Dashii said to Tw'eak.

Tw'eak sighed. "Leo, my sister Dashii." Same old Dashii.

"Hey," Dashii said.

Leo nodded towards Dashii. "So this is her. Glad to meet you."

Dashii merely smiled appreciatively. "Yeah. Got out okay, so far."

Tw'eak turned to Zed. "I think those kids will need you more than I will."

"You going to be okay?"

"Yeah. If we need a medic, I'll get in touch."

"The way you cut through them, they'll be the ones needing the medic." Zed gave Tw'eak a quick nod, and then he vanished the way Stan had gone.

Tw'eak was sincerely glad to see Leo, but her rush of emotion would have to wait. She gave her command instincts priority over her other, more natural ones. "Are you coming with me?" she asked him.

"What's the plan?"

"Sweep the facility. Search and destroy."

Leo grinned. "Sounds like my kind of trouble."

"Mine, too." Dashii looked at her sister, and nodded, clipping her shield belt into place. The shield snapped into view for a moment, then was active. In the meantime, she checked the loadout on her split-beam rifle. "Could use some fabrication gear, though."

"Fab gear?" Leo looked down the hallway towards Stan. "Go check with Stan. He might have some kit to spare."

"Hold on," Tw'eak said, raising an arm as Dashii turned to go. "You're in no condition for a fight."

Dashii stared menacingly at her sister. "And you wouldn't DARE leave me behind." She pointed her rifle towards the Orions' position. "That payback down there is mine to get, not yours."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes, then shrugged. "Fine. But get a ration pack from Zed. And some water."

"You're not going without me."

"I'm not."

"Good." Dashii nodded, and headed towards Stan's position.

As she did, transporter beams filled the air. Selkirk Rex and a team of his people, all armed or carrying medical gear, materialized in the corridor. "Ahoy!" he called out to Tw'eak, moving towards her. "What's the good word?"

"We need medical support. Who have you got?"

"Quite a few, myself included. Why?"

"Over there, where Stan and Zed are working on that door, the Orions have hostages in stasis pods. Child hostages. We're freeing them."

Selkirk's face dropped. Tw'eak reached out a hand to his shoulder. "I'm all right," he muttered. "Just... thinkin' about me own."

"Does Leo know about what happened?" she asked.

"No, I... never talk about it with me crew."

Tw'eak looked over to Leo. "Selkirk's -Kwazii's kids were killed by Orion slavers. It's... it's why he's here. Why you're all here, really."

Leo looked astonished. "You should've told me. I had no idea."

"What's to tell, mate? I failed the most important duty a Caitian has: to his mate, to his kits... his family." He took the eyepatch in his huge, furry hand. "It's part of the reason I wear this, actually. I was blind before to the risks out here. Now, I'm only half-blind."

"I'm sorry," Leo said. "For what it's worth."

Selkirk's face turned from profound sorrow to a dawning realization. "They could be in there!"

Tw'eak was puzzled. "Who?"

"No," Leo replied, getting hold of Selkirk's idea a bit faster than Tw'eak did. "Don't give yourself false hope."

"False hope, damn it, man- it's more than I've had! For years! I've got to find out!"

Tw'eak finally clued in. "Look, just- be patient. Those pods aren't secure yet. We don't know if they're sabotaged or rigged to explode. We need to be very careful."

"We can beam the whole lot of 'em to the Shieldmaiden!"

"Again, we don't know if we should. Just be patient. We'll secure the facility. You get some engineers, let them take a look at the situation, then treat it like a civvy evac. Get food stations, blankets, all that in place. And make absolutely sure the position is secure and fully prepared before you proceed with opening so much as one of those pods. Those kids have been through enough."

Selkirk nodded his head, his clamour settling into a radiant hope. "I've got a lot to do, then." He gave Tw'eak a faint smile, with exasperation in his eyes. As he turned to go, Dashii passed him in the opposite direction, her waist and wrists now festooned with fabrication gear. "That her?" Selkirk asked. Tw'eak nodded. "Then 'tis a fine bit of work already done, that she's back. Good luck."

"You, too." Tw'eak turned back to Dashii and Leo. "Alright, listen. There's a real possibility that this facility could be rigged to some sort of self-destruct."

"If the Tal Shiar didn't bother with that last time you were here-"

"We don't know one way or another. Nothing in the reports I read indicated anything was in place when they shut this place down after we were here the last time. But if the Orions have, I don't know, a thalaron device, or even just a fusion reactor overload switch, we need to be ready."

Dashii nodded, brushing her wild, overgrown hair aside. "I can probably deal with whatever they have. To be honest, I doubt they have anything, though I'll keep an eye out. Nothing they can do I can't undo."

"That's good. Watch each other, no sudden moves... I wish we could get you a combat suit."

"No time," Dashii replied.

"But if there's a female Orion down there-"

"There is. At least one. Maybe more. She won't have any effect on me."

"You sound certain," Leo observed.

Dashii gave Leo a sharp look. "I've been waiting for this moment for months." She raised her rifle. "Those people have it coming." She looked to Tw'eak. "Please tell me you'll let me finish her off."

"No promises. But I'll try." Tw'eak smiled at her sister, patted her on the shoulder, and moved past them both, on her way into the facility. "Payback's this way," she said.


	29. Part II, Chapter 10

The interior of Installation 18 was at right angles, hard corners separating a series of underground rooms by a single interior corridor. It was the kind of facility Tw'eak saw to it that her security teams and assault squads were well-versed in taking. Into a typical, familiar formation she, Leo and Dashii now fanned out as they moved in. It would be a challenging run for them to take this facility. In addition to the obvious questions about opposing force strength and their disposition, there was also the question of whether or not they would prevail only to uncover some method of destroying the entire facility had been activated, or worse, that this would once again become a trap.

Dashii looked over at Tw'eak from the right-hand approach, clearly anxious. Having her sister freed again made Tw'eak wonder if it was best to leave well enough alone and get right the hell out. But these were dangerous people, willing to enslave or imprison children for political leverage. They had to be stopped. Tw'eak knew that it would be quite some time before Starfleet would get its act together and get out here in force. By then, the Orions could have skipped the system or fortified themselves against the loss of this position by creating or overtaking another stronghold someplace else. It would have to be decided here.

In the centre of the corridor, taking point for herself, Tw'eak felt a weird sensation of destiny. There was no other way to phrase it. It was as though she had always been meant to be here. This was not a feeling she had often. She knew the danger she was facing, the risk she was taking, bringing a man she cared about and her last surviving sister along with her. There were few better trained for the role, of course, but this made Tw'eak appreciate the both of them all that much more. She kept her eyes sharp, her mind a jumbled series of false sensations and emotional responses. She was ready for anything, or so she hoped. Her antennae could interpret electromagnetic relays and sensory networks down the corridor, but nothing definitively living... nothing that made her raise her rifle. At least, not yet. She looked over at Leo, advancing to her immediate left, his rifle cradled in his arms. She fought the urge to envy that rifle, to fantasize about his embrace instead of put her focus on the immediate threat she was approaching with each step.

After a few more moments of walking, Tw'eak looked overhead, then back behind them, just to be sure. Nothing was visible - and to be sure, the sensors on her combat environmental suit did not detect anything either. She raised a hand, and the three of them stopped, Dashii dropping to one knee as she did. "Generator?"

"Not yet." Tw'eak looked downwards at her sister. "Check your tricorder. Is anyone even down there?"

"Let's see." Dashii took a quick scan, then adjusted her tricorder for better readings, then again. "I can't get a fix on anything beyond... ten metres or so."

"Of course they're jamming us," Leo quipped. "Why would anything be easy?"

"Let's go," Tw'eak replied.

As they moved, Tw'eak scanned ahead with her eyes and antennae. Sensors would prove useless - they'd have to shoot on sight, and assume anything that moved was hostile. Tw'eak turned her phaser rifle's setting up to 'kill'. A few steps further now - a few more - and she found herself really starting to become apprehensive. She knew they were here. She wanted to believe that they would at least have the decency to -

"Hold!" Leo said quickly. Tw'eak went down on one knee, scanning ahead.

"What is it?"

"I don't believe it - look!"

Up ahead, a young Bajoran girl was making her way over the barricade. From Tw'eak's vantage point, she looked like she had been battered, hobbling as she made her way.

"Tarys!" Dashii called. "Get down!"

Tarys startled at the sound of Dashii's voice, but in recognizing it, threw herself to one side and rolled hard out of the way. As she did, the shape of an Orion aiming a rifle in her direction became clear, and Tw'eak did not hesitate - a single shot to the torso sent him flailing backwards.

"Let's go!" Tw'eak shouted. She took another shot, as suppressing fire, then another, charging towards where Tarys was pressing herself against the reverse side of the barricade. Over the top Tw'eak went, Leo close behind her, switching out for the pulsewave and swinging the phaser rifle wildly over her shoulder. The move had clearly surprised the Orions, who had two other hostages in the same position - one a Benzite in a science uniform in as poor a condition as Dashii's, the other a younger male Trill, no more than twenty years old. Both looked up at Tw'eak, hands up in surrender, faces expressing relief. Tw'eak looked beyond the barricade, deeper into the facility, and heard gunfire as Dashii and Leo zeroed in on the Orions in retreat, and fired. Tw'eak helped the Benzite up, urging him over the barricade. Both he and the Trill went the opposite way as Tw'eak and her team continued deeper. "No grenades," she said quickly to Leo.

"You got that right. Cheap trick, putting them here."

"I've seen them use that tactic before. Not very effective." Tw'eak threw her head down the corridor. "Come on."

"Wait," Dashii protested. "Tarys."

"Here, Dashii." The Bajoran girl stood up.

"You alright?"

"Better than last time I saw you. How'd you get out this time?"

"I had a little help." Dashii gestured to Tw'eak. "This is my sister. She came to take us home."

"Maybe that's why they're doing this. They shut everything down. Pulled us all out of the cells. Dorveck and Sen just ran by - are we free?"

Dashii nodded down the corridor. "If you go back the way we came, there are people that can help you. Look for a big Caitian with an eyepatch."

"You're serious. Okay, this is all..." Tarys looked at Dashii. "You're going with them?"

"Hell yeah. You want to come?"

"I don't- no, I better not. Prophets know I want to, but I don't have a weapon."

Tw'eak reached over her shoulder and handed Tarys a phaser rifle. "Here."

"I... well." Tarys looked up at Dashii. "She's the admiral?"

"Yeah."

"Probably not, once this is all over," Tw'eak quipped. "Look, why don't you stay right here, cover our retreat."

"But I want to fight," Tarys pleaded.

"No, sweetie, not without a ground shield," Dashii explained. She reached out and touched the girl on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll get 'em for both of us. I promise."

Tarys looked at Dashii, a flinty look in her eye. "For all of us, Dash."

Dashii nodded emphatically. She looked at her sister. "We should go."

"Alright." Tw'eak continued down the corridor, followed in short order by her sister and Leo. After a few paces, Tw'eak moved a bit closer to Dashii. "Is she reliable?"

"Tarys? Maybe." Dashii came to a stop, whispering to Tw'eak as she did. "I'm surprised she didn't just start firing on us. They broke her pretty badly." Tw'eak was astonished, and her face showed it. "Come on, Twaiheak, she knew you were an admiral. I didn't tell her that."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Sorry, I just... forgot where I was, I guess."

"Look, she's a good kid, she's just really messed up from being in here too long. Don't be surprised if there are others like her, and they're pointing a rifle at you. That's all."

"Alright," Tw'eak acknowledged. She looked to Leo. "You get that?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah. I was ready for that, anyway. They call it Stockholm Syndrome. They identify with their jailers instead of their liberators. I've seen it happen before. Orions can turn people in a number of ways."

Tw'eak checked her kit's grenade replicators. "I'm going to switch from photon to stun grenades."

"Good idea," Leo noted. "I'll do likewise. Keeping plasma grenades, though." He looked up. "Just in case."

"Good idea." Tw'eak configured her portable munitions replicator likewise. "Let's go." She moved further down the corridor, slowly, anticipating bolts of fire to crash down onto her shield at any moment. She moved up to a corner, nestling her shoulder into it. Looking back, she signalled Leo to cross to the opposite side, into a dead-end at the far end of the hallway. A bolt from a pistol rang out, followed by a few rifle shots, and Tw'eak broke cover. Two Orions were visible, and she took down one while Leo focused his fire upon the other. Dashii stayed behind Tw'eak, who lobbed a stun grenade down the corridor. Her pulsewave wasn't much use at this range, and while Leo's target fell, hers was joined by two others. The grenade's flight was tracked by one of the Orions, who fired pointlessly at it, and as it detonated, Tw'eak stormed into their position, focusing her arcwave blast precisely on the three Orions still standing. Two fell backwards, while a third staggered to one knee and keeled over forwards. She looked up to see another four Orions behind the barricade, and fired once, then again, and as the Orions moved to return fire, phaser beams tore into them from over her shoulder, accompanied by the multi-directional blast of a split-beam rifle. Tw'eak looked over her shoulder to see Dashii and Leo, who had moved forward along with her.

"Follow me," Tw'eak ordered, and moved around the barricade. Almost immediately, a blast went off just slightly behind her, an Orion with a pulsewave of his own in a sheltered position. The arcwave setting was ready, and Tw'eak used it to flush him out, following up with a melee attack, smashing her rifle's stock across his face. Sputtering and bloody, the Orion fell backwards with a groan. The next room was an easy sweep - what had once been the torture chamber utilized by the Tal Shiar and Elachi remained in much the same configuration, although a series of tables with straps and blades replaced the stasis units splattered with blood which had been placed at intervals throughout this room. A raised platform revealed no real changes - a pair of large glassed-in structures associated with the energy units, and a series of consoles. "See if you can shut down the sensor jamming field," Tw'eak called to Dashii.

"Right," Dashii replied. She went to the console and got to work. Leo and Tw'eak took up positions on the top of the raised platform. As they did, Tw'eak heard the distinctive sound of-

"Transport!" Leo called. Sure enough, a team of Nausicaans had materialized just below the ramp.

"Cover her!" Tw'eak yelled, leaping into their midst from above. The arcwave blast knocked two of the five Nausicaans flying, and while two others staggered, the fifth drew a tegolar blade and struck Tw'eak with it. Wounded despite the shield absorbing some of the kinetic energy of the blow, she felt her suit sealing itself, and applying trauma response. She swung the butt of her weapon around, catching the burly Nausicaan first in the midsection, then, once doubled over, she brought it down again upon his head. As she did so, she heard Leo firing upon the two who had been knocked off balance by the arcwave. She brought her pulsewave to her shoulder and fired at point-blank range into each of them, finishing the job.

It was at that moment that her antennae detected something moving in the corridor. "Leo!" she called. It was too late. From beyond another barricade, some twenty metres away, a massive Gorn leapt into view. Unlike most Gorn its size, it was ferocious in its agility, closing the distance between its position and the doorway almost instantaneously. It took Tw'eak only a moment to recognize that this was an augmented Gorn much like the ones she had encountered while taking down Amar Singh's operation, while commanding the Bonaventure. How it had come into the clutches of the Orion Syndicate would prove interesting, in the long run, if she survived the encounter. Fearlessly, Tw'eak took to one knee and calmly fired her arcwave into its chest, knocking it back a good distance. Leo was at her side in a moment, throwing plasma grenades as he landed. "You all right?" he asked.

"Not now!" Tw'eak took a step backwards and to the right, motioning her hand in the opposite direction. "Go!"

No sooner had they separated than the augmented Gorn arrived in the room, taking another crashing leap to get there. Tw'eak turned and, again, fired her pulsewave once, then again, then unleashed the arcwave blast once more. Close range against this foe, unarmed except for his claws and teeth, was an unwise precaution. She took a few hasty steps backwards, then dropped onto her side as the Gorn leapt at her, missing. The dodge had worked, but the Gorn turned and leapt again, overpowering Tw'eak as it did, and for a moment she was fractions of inches from its gnashing teeth. They opened to apply a deadly, poisoned bite to her neck, but rather than close about her, the Gorn's face angled upwards, to where Leo had lobbed a stun grenade in its direction. The stun setting worked, for just long enough that Tw'eak could bring a fist to bear against its arm, collapsing it on one side and allowing her to roll out from the other. The Gorn, once recovered, leapt at Leo, who struck at it with his phaser rifle, held by the barrel like a baseball bat. The Gorn caught it as Leo swung, breaking it between his hands. This move, however, gave Tw'eak the moment she had needed to re-adjust the pulsewave in her hands and close the distance, firing an arcwave blast so close to the Gorn that she could see the plasma jets swirl around its trunk. The fire caught, and Leo took a chance at a lunge, taking a few steps back before leaping from partway up the ramp and applying both of his boots to the Gorn's neck. There was a hideous snap! as the Gorn's neck was unable to tolerate the force of the drop-kick, and he fell to the floor, his tail twitching for a few long moments. This gave Tw'eak time enough to side-step the tail and fire her pulsewave point-blank into the base of its skull, execution style.

"Good move," she said to Leo.

"How we doing, Dashii?" Leo asked.

"Almost there. They're trying to lock me out, but I think I can drop the whole power system on the deeper half of the facility."

"Do it." Tw'eak looked to Leo. "Activate your suit lamps, just in case."

"Yep." Leo's light flashed in Tw'eak's eyes. "Sorry."

"It's all right," Tw'eak said with a squint.

"Got it!" Dashii called out. After a moment, the lights went out, replaced by emergency lights, and a deep thrumming alarm sound. "Oh, I love that sound," she exclaimed with a flourish.

"Why's that?"

"Not the first time I've heard it. They're not as proficient in station systems as I am. That sound means I'm winning."

"So what do they have left?"

Dashii pulled out her tricorder. "Looks like... five Orions in the corridor positions... another four or five in the control centre - one of them, female... and another one of those Gorn in there, too. Actually, make that two."

"Another one?" Leo said with a sigh. "I don't think we'll get a lucky shot like that again."

"Me either." Tw'eak tapped her suit's communicator. "Sh'abbas to Selkirk."

"Avast, Tw'eak! What be your status?"

"Contact the Shieldmaiden - we've shut down power to the facility's control centre, but there's two augmented Gorn in there."

"Sounds like a problem!"

"Maybe your transporter team can solve it for us?"

"Ah haha! Beam 'em halfway across the planet, we will! Consider it done! Selkirk out!"

Tw'eak smiled at Leo, and Dashii. "Let's go."

* * *

The control centre doors were sealed shut - or, at least, so Saraja C'lin thought. She sat on an ornately decorated, elevated chair something like a throne at the centre of the room, her crossed legs sitting some two metres above the floor. Before her, on the far wall, a grid of nine viewscreens each monitored a system or operation that was part of her program of terror and deceit. Close to them were a pair of consoles being worked on by a pair of her lackeys, others of whom guarded the room. She looked over, astonished to hear the sound of gunfire in the hallway. Her guards and lackeys twitched and brandished their weapons, turning towards the door. To her left and right, in stasis fields, rested a dormant Gorn-augment. "They got past your brother," she whispered to them. She raised a finger instructively to the others in the room, gesturing to the Gorn. "Step back - you won't want to get in their way." The lackeys obeyed, lowering their weapons and moving around the stasis fields in order to place themselves before her throne. She practically purred as she said, "how thoughtful, protecting me." She turned to one of them. "Stay with me, all of you." She touched a few buttons on her chair's console and lowered the stasis fields. "Stay close to me."

The Gorn awakened as the door opened. Tw'eak, Leo and Dashii strode into the room.

"Ah, my dear admiral. So good that we have this moment to talk, before your end."

"And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"That's Saraja C'lin," Dashii advised her sister.

"Indeed. You girls have been in my hair for too long." She gave an acid glare to Tw'eak. "First you somehow find my little network of informers and roust them out." She then turned her eye to Dashii. "And you've taken up far too much time and energy just to get her here." Saraja rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Silly girls. I'll enjoy watching you die."

"And how do you plan to arrange that?"

The Gorn began to awaken from their slumber.

"I believe you've already been introduced to my... living weapons."

"Not anymore, he isn't," Tw'eak said with a smile.

"Perhaps not. Soon enough, though, you'll learn your mistake."

The faint glimmer of the transporter beam ensnared the two Gorn and, in a moment, they were whisked away. One fought hard against the confinement beam, while the other had groggily looked around the room as though uncertain of his surroundings, sniffing the air as he faded from sight. Tw'eak looked to Dashii, who was laughing. "Who's learning now?" she said through the giggles.

Saraja was incensed. "OOOH! You'll- those- you'll PAY for that! GET THEM!"

The Orions advanced, drawing their weapons. Tw'eak and Leo both had their rifles out, but it was Dashii who fired first, from the hip. Her split-beam shot struck all of the Orions, weakening them. Meanwhile, Leo had tossed a stun grenade into the centre of their formation, and it exploded, causing the Orions to stagger in their formation. This gave Tw'eak enough time to rush in and arcwave the lot of them sideways, where a combination of split-beam and high-density rifle fire put them all down. Shield units flickered, plasma fires burned clothing and flesh, and Tw'eak stood at the foot of Saraja's throne, pointing her pulsewave rifle upwards at the seated Orion.

"I must commend you, Admiral. You came prepared. Environment suits, even. You thought of everything." Saraja stood up on her throne, the thin fabric of her skirts revealing a set of long, green legs and a perfect hourglass figure, barely concealed by anything more than the transparent energy of her personal shield. As she stood, she swiveled her hips, turning her back to Tw'eak. "Well, almost."

In the flash of a second, Saraja C'lin leapt up, and backwards, towards Tw'eak. The Andorian fired her pulsewave, singeing the chair but not hitting her intended target, who was now airborne, her lengthy figure extending, her hand revealing the presence of a nanopulse-edged dagger. She came down as though she intended to land behind Tw'eak and plunge the blade into her back, so Tw'eak spun and rolled hard to her left, losing control of her pulsewave as she did so. Leo fired, missing both times, and as she landed, Saraja rolled backwards, throwing a plasma grenade at Leo and Dashii. The cloud of plasma ignited Dashii's uniform, and Leo moved to assist her.

The effect worked as Saraja had intended, isolating Tw'eak from her fire support, bringing the Starfleet admiral eye-to-eye with the murderous vixen. Saraja leapt towards her, landing firmly and slashing forward. Tw'eak held her pulsewave in both hands, dodging the blade desperately, once again cursing the unpleasant restrictions of the environment suit as she took a retreating step. Now thinking herself close enough, Saraja committed her grasp on the blade to a stabbing one, and she thrust blindly. Tw'eak was able to side-step in a fluid motion, her heel rising in a roundhouse kick that knocked the Orion back into the base of her throne. Stunned, Saraja rose to her feet, once again coming towards Tw'eak with a series of slashing motions.

By this point, however, Tw'eak had seen enough. She recovered her pulsewave and, as Saraja made a spinning motion, a blind move intended to thrust into Tw'eak's neck, she raised the rifle and put an arcwave blast directly between Saraja's exposed shoulder blades. This time, the force of the energy propelled her face-first into the base of the throne, and the kinetic pressure knocked her cold. A moment passed before Tw'eak decided to step back. Saraja was not moving, but that meant nothing to Tw'eak. She once again felt no need to take precautions. "Check to see if she's dead," she said over her shoulder.

Stepping out of the cloud, both Leo and Dashii's faces were ashen. Dashii pulled out her tricorder. "She's dead." She looked up at Tw'eak, her face disappointed. "I really wanted payback."

"I know you did, but we got it. It's over there." Tw'eak took a step towards the massive display unit and associated consoles. "We have her entire network in our hands. Anything they're up to, we can expose and neutralize - from the inside out. Let's find out everything we can, and then bring it to Starfleet - or Selkirk, or the Republic, or whoever - and make sure that this monstrosity never rises again."

Leo laughed, a spiteful clucking noise unlike his usual laugh. "I can't believe it." He turned towards Tw'eak, tears in his eyes. "I can't believe it," he repeated.

"Yeah, me either." Tw'eak gestured at the consoles. "It's going to take a lot of work to make this all good. Fortunately, I know just the man for the job."

"Me too," Leo replied, finally in agreement with Tw'eak as to his commander's worth. "His name is Selkirk Rex."

Tw'eak smiled at Leo as her communicator began to alert her to a contact. She tapped her arm and raised it to her head, unnecessarily as its microphone was built into the suit. "Sh'abbas. Go."

"Admiral, this is Selkirk Rex. We're experiencing... difficulties here. We've just found another series of chambers. There may be considerably more stasis pods than we realized at first contact."

"How many more?"

"Stan estimates anywhere from two to five times as many."

"Uzaveh's name," Tw'eak cursed. She turned to Dashii. "You said thousands."

Dashii nodded. "I meant it, _shi_."

Tw'eak took a step forward, thinking. There was no way Selkirk's people were equipped for this sort of retrieval - and the Romulans wouldn't have the resources to support that many refugees. She looked at Leo, then at Dashii, and held her arm aloft again. "Alright," she said with a nod. "In that case, we have little choice. Sh'abbas out." She waved her sister towards her. "One of these consoles has a comm link."

"Uh, probably. I'll take a look."

Tw'eak nodded. "Quickly."

Dashii activated one console, read the displays, then worked her way across. "Here we go."

"Find me the nearest Federation starship."

"What?" Leo took a step towards Tw'eak, alarmed. "But you said if they found you here-"

"Yeah. I know. But there's nobody else. Your people aren't going to be able to do this. So my people will have to."

"What about the Romulans?"

"I thought about it. These people are, most likely, Federation citizens - if there are Romulans or even Klingon nationals among them, we'll have to repatriate them. There are protocols."

"But this could be the end of your career!"

"Leo. Look at me. It doesn't matter." She pointed towards the corridor. "They matter more."

"Twaiheak?" Dashii looked up. "I have one."

"Can you put them on screen?"

"Yeah. Centre screen, I hope?" Dashii tapped a few buttons. "No picture yet, I'm working on it."

"Give me audio until you do."

Tw'eak listened intently, and her dread became a pleasant surprise at the sound of the voice she heard. "This is Captain Birmal Dazz of the USS Armstrong. To whom am I speaking?"

The sound of one of her former bridge crew - one who had recently succeeded to command rank - was almost too good to be true. "Dazz? Tw'eak Sh'abbas. I can't believe my luck."

"Admiral!" Dazz's features came into plain view on the screen. "Ensign, confirm this channel. You said the Orions were hailing us."

"We are, sort of." Tw'eak waved her sister Dashii into view. "This is my sister Dashii. She was captive of the Syndicate, so I came to get her. But in so doing we've run into a bit of a problem."

"Do you require evac?" Dazz turned again to face an off-screen ensign. "Triangulate their position, lay in a course!"

"No, not just for us. We're on Nimbus III, at what used to be Tal Shiar Installation 18, if you remember it. Dashii wasn't exactly the only captive they had here. There are thousands of liberated persons, including many children in stasis pods. We have people here trying to assess how many precisely, and where they're all from, but we'll need Starfleet's assistance to bring them all home. I want you to contact Command, and the Romulans, to explain it all to them, please. If I contact anyone from this channel I can't guarantee I'll get through."

"I don't understand - where is your starship?"

"The other side of the Alpha Quadrant."

Dazz stared hard at Tw'eak for a long moment. "You're telling me that you launched a solo raid on an Orion stronghold, independent of orders... and freed thousands of trapped kids?"

"Mmm... not solo. I met this cute guy." She tossed her head in Leo's direction. "Say hello, Leo."

Dazz broke into a boisterous laugh. "You." She shook her head, smiling, laughing, and then her eyes became deadly serious. "You are going to be in so much trouble, Admiral. I mean, that was like the unwritten prime-directive - don't you dare ever do anything outside the chain of command."

"Yeah," Tw'eak put her arm around her sister's shoulder. "I remember that. Still, this time... it was worth it. How soon can you get to Nimbus?"

"We're not far, actually, en route to Starbase 39-Sierra. Don't worry, we'll come to help - at least, to start with. I'll contact Starfleet Command about this and get more support. The Republic, too." Dazz stared at Tw'eak for a moment. "Not sure what to tell them."

"I don't expect you to lie to them for me, Dazz. Wouldn't dream of it."

"Good," Dazz said with a grin. "I'm a terrible liar." Her grin became sympathetic. "I would've, though, if I could think of one."

"Glad it's you out there, though."

"Likewise - that is to say, glad you're there... those poor children. Hold your position, do what you can. We'll be in orbit in an hour. Armstrong out."

Tw'eak turned back towards Leo, and felt herself begin to giggle at the enormity of it all. "An hour," she repeated. "An hour until this is all over."

"Friend of yours, I take it," Leo asked.

"Former subordinate. Good friend. Saved her life this one time... long story." Tw'eak put her hands on her thighs, suddenly unable to stand with exhaustion. "Uzaveh's name..." She looked over at Dashii. "We did it."

"Yeah," Dashii said, smiling. "Yeah, we did."

"I suppose we should go see if we can help," Leo offered.

"Yeah," Tw'eak said. "Yeah, just... just a minute."

Dashii reached her hand under her sister's arm, and just as they had met before, one helped the other up in a fashion that became an embrace. Tw'eak clasped her sister to herself and refused to let go, overwrought with all the emotions she had suppressed for what felt like ages. In her turn, Dashii clung on right back, desperately grateful that her ordeal was over, disbelieving that her sister would have come this far, and thrown away so much, to bring her back. They held each other in that fashion for a time, long after Leo's awkward sentiment at being there had caused him to slowly walk back in the way he had come, leaving the two sisters alone in their moment together.


	30. Part II, Chapter 11

The walk back from the control centre was a quick jaunt, back the way they had come, stepping over the obstacles and barricades which the enemy had tried to use to stop them. Along the way, Tw'eak and Dashii moved side by side, neither one really willing to let the other get too far away. Just behind, Leo kept a steady pace, occasionally looking behind himself to make sure no ambushes loomed in wait. It felt strange, to Tw'eak. She and Dashii had never really understood each other, though they knew enough from their individual reactions to things - especially things their parents would do - to determine that they were alike enough to co-exist. While not precisely 'friends', they had never been as distant, as aloof, as their other sister, Sassil, had been from the both of them. They had always kept in touch with each other, usually just to vent or to keep up with each other, largely because both had an equally strong understanding of the word 'privacy'. Yet they had always had a sort of understanding with each other, that no matter what happened to either of them, both would go through the worst of it together. In some ways, Tw'eak wondered if her relationship with Dashii would be different now. For the most part, though, she could tell that, for all that had happened, and whatever lay ahead, it'd work as well as it always had.

After walking in silence for a few moments, Dashii had a thought. "So, what happens now?"

"What do you mean?"

"To me," she clarified. "To you."

"What were you doing on Nimbus in the first place?"

Dashii sighed. "They captured Qaz. You remember Qaz?"

"Bond mate of yours?"

"Oh, I only wish. No, we grew up together, he was a trader-"

Tw'eak stopped in her tracks. "That mercenary rat-punk I had to come and rescue you from, that one time, about seven years ago?"

Dashii snickered as she came to a halt. "You didn't have to rescue me-"

"You wouldn't have had a career in Starfleet otherwise."

"And that would've made no difference."

"The hell it wouldn't. In our family? You're lucky thavan didn't come out here after you."

"It's true," Leo said with a laugh. "Sorry, I served with him for a long time, years and years ago. And she's right. Would've looked something like what just happened back there."

Dashii rolled her eyes and resumed her walking pace. As Tw'eak turned to follow, her suit chirped with an incoming message.

"Admiral? This is Aewon."

Tw'eak tapped her combat suit's communicator button, slowing her pace. "I'm here, Aewon."

"Ma'am, priority transmission from Warspite. Commander duBois has advised me that the Meitner's come under attack. They've taken casualties; Commander Eight of Twelve has ordered Taurus and Warspite to warp to their location, they need confirmation before proceeding."

Tw'eak winced. "Advise Warspite to take all necessary precautions before engaging. Octavia knows what to do."

"Will do."

"Do we know how bad Meitner's been hit? Or any idea by who?"

"Negative, Admiral. But they lost contact about twenty minutes ago while she was babysitting a nebula or something. Might be True Way, or even KDF activity."

"Let me know if you get any updates - and let Aurora know that I expect updates."

"Got it. Aewon out."

"That sounded bad," Leo offered.

"It doesn't really matter. Nothing much I can do from here, although no doubt that'll hurt in Starfleet's eyes if there's a court-martial."

"Never rains, but it pours, right?"

Dashii looked over at her sister, and lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

"Don't worry, there'll probably be one for each of us. Shreya will be just thrilled."

"Oh, no doubt. Two court-martials to come out of retirement for, all at once?"

It was Tw'eak's turn to snicker, before she began an impression of her shen-mother. "'If only you knew the kind of work I have to do for the good of the Federation as it is! And then to have the two of you racing off across the galaxy - one to make a fool of herself and the other to join her!'"

Dashii looked over at Tw'eak with a bemused expression that turned to a mock horror. "You did that a little too well, there, _shi_."

"Didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no, it's okay... I used to wonder to myself what they'd say, when I was locked in here. If they could see me at that moment, I would ask myself. Thavan would've just gone into total cold-blooded rage. Zhavey, too, probably - I was always her favourite."

"Don't remind me."

"Charan... I used to close my eyes and hear his voice, the stories he'd tell us, about all the names in the Wall of Heroes, one at a time. I missed him most of all."

Tw'eak had to ask. "What about shreya?"

"Shreya? She would've probably hesitated between insisting that I stand up and wipe the blood off my chin, and act like a true Andorian, after all she's done for me... or march into the Orions' den and pester them into giving me every guaranteed right I was owed as a Federation prisoner-of-war. I could never decide."

The older of the two sisters laughed. "Knowing you she'd do both - first she'd pester you, then she'd turn around and put the Orions in their place."

"Exactly - all the time, going on about how much of an embarrassment this all was for her, what it would mean for her career."

From up ahead, where a first aid and clearing station was located, Tw'eak could see Zed get up from where he was working to approach them. After a moment, from out of a crowd, emerged Selkirk Rex, who was accompanied by Birmal Dazz and a bald Romulan bearing a tattoo upon his cranium, a mark of grief and remembrance for the end of the Romulan homeworld. The seven of them settled into a sort of huddle at the corner. From behind them, the sound of a deactivating stealth module could be heard, and Tw'eak instinctively turned, pulsewave up - to see Danielle Okayama with her massive rifle over one shoulder.

"We get 'em?" she asked as she passed in the direction of the aid station.

"Yeah, we got 'em," Tw'eak replied.

"Kind of figured when you didn't report in," Zed concluded. "But would it kill you to report in next time you go into harm's way without me, please?"

"Right," Tw'eak noted. She looked up at Selkirk Rex. "How are we making out here?"

"Not bad. I called in a favour." He turned to his right, indicating the Romulan who bore the rank of Admiral. "This is Aetius Konsab, of the Romulan Republic, although you'd probably know him better by his reputation before he joined up with them, when he was known as D'Man."

Aetius bowed slightly, and Tw'eak looked mildly appreciative. "So you're the reason he decided to go the way he did," she observed.

"Uh, what?" Leo asked.

"D'Man - you've never heard of - ? Almost thought it was just legend. Should've put the whole thing together before." Tw'eak's eyes darted from Aetius to Selkirk and back again.

Dashii looked confused. "Hey, _shi_? Could use another clue over here."

"Right - back when I was on the Repulse, there were stories about a Romulan star captain... what should I call you, a privateer?"

"They called me 'the liberator'," Aetius acknowledged. "I... never liked that."

Tw'eak pointed appreciatively. "He cleared Tal Shiar installations, tangled with the Orions... gave us the first conclusive evidence of the Elachi's involvement in the Tal Shiar's operations-"

"That wasn't me," Aetius clarified. "Credit where it's due, I only figured out they existed when they wiped out the colony where I was hiding out."

"And now you're an admiral with the Romulan Republic."

Aetius bowed his head slightly. "Reluctantly so, yes."

Tw'eak nodded. "I know the feeling."

"Aye," Selkirk agreed. "Aetius here has seen to it that we have the transports we need."

"I have two warbirds inbound on this location - both D'Deridex class vessels. One will clear any casualties from those of the KDF-aligned faction, such as Klingon or Gorn, and take them back to their homeworlds. Her captain's a friend of mine, a Reman, and he has many contacts in the KDF. The other will assist those casualties from Romulan or allied powers locally." He shook his head. "There are far more than one would have expected. It's a better fate than being taken by the Elachi, but..." The Romulan bristled slightly. "Any form of captivity for sentient people is unacceptable."

"I agree completely," Tw'eak acknowledged, "as does the Federation."

"And so we will see to it that all casualties are cleared."

"Casualties?" Dashii asked. "You mean the children?"

"You wouldn't believe it," Zed declared. "We've found Klingons, Remans, Cardassians, Gorn... to say nothing of the races from all across the Federation... quite a few whose family names you'd recognize.

Dazz spoke up. "It seems this was how they planned to do their business, manipulating events to their advantage, once their infiltration ring got busted."

"Do what we want," Zed inferred, "and nobody gets hurt."

"Seems like it," Tw'eak noted. She turned to Dazz. "I'm guessing you'll be looking after children from the Federation."

"I have officers making contact with families from all over the place, letting them know what we've uncovered here. They'll no doubt be grateful that you did this - and I don't think they'll care about the reasons why too much. In fact, I think they'll thank you for doing this."

Tw'eak looked at her sister. "I know how thankful I already am that this all worked out." She turned to Zed. "But there's much to do. We'll need to get back to the shuttle and be going as soon as possible."

"Why the rush?" Zed asked.

"One of the starships in my task force, the Meitner, is reportedly under attack. Octavia's taken Warspite and Taurus, and they're moving to engage right now."

"Do we have any specifics?"

"None, but the sooner we can get back, the better."

Tw'eak could sense a change in the energy to her immediate left, and she knew that Leo's disappointment would be much like her own. The turn of events would require her to return to her vessel as quickly as possible, especially since the size and nature of the adversary force was unknown. And, saving her being able to divide herself and be in two places at once, she had to leave his company to safeguard her career. She intentionally fought to avoid making eye contact with him, in order to avoid sparking the emotions kindling within her.

"We can handle this, Admiral," Dazz said after a moment. "You've got things to worry about - your task force needs you. These kids are in good hands, I promise you. We won't let you down."

Tw'eak looked to Selkirk. "You won't mind if I ask...?"

Selkirk gave a shrug. "Not at all, because we haven't found a single Caitian yet. If we had I'd have pawed the thing open meself." He looked down briefly, then added, "It's a faint hope anyway. But there's many a pod still to be scanned and sorted. We'll be busy for days."

"Let me know, whatever you find out - and with any luck, the news will be good."

"Aye. Couldn't imagine otherwise."

"Quite a few of your people are talking about staying with the kids," Zed added. "At least, until they all find their way home."

"Aye. Looks like I'll lose a colony's worth of people. But it'll be worth it." Selkirk looked up at Leo. "We start all over again. Hardly the first time, eh, matey?"

Leo's voice was soft, completely unlike the usual. "Right."

Tw'eak turned to her sister. "You'll come back to Warspite with me?"

"Yeah, might as well. No point handing myself over to Starfleet just yet."

"I wouldn't want to take you into custody anyway," Dazz joked. "I saw what happened to the last person who tried that."

"It'd be different with you," Tw'eak noted. "You're not a slaver."

"You've got that right. No respectable Bolian would carry that kind of cargo." Dazz smiled. "I only wish I had a ship the size of the Armstrong to haul cargo. I'd make millions."

Tw'eak laughed, and patted her sister on the shoulder. "Come on, we should get topside. My pilot will be ready." She looked to Zed. "You ready?"

Zed turned to go, then hesitated. "You know... Admiral... permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"What Selkirk said, about his people staying on to help these kids... I saw a couple Saurian kids back there, too."

"You thinking of sticking around?"

"We Saurians have a saying - when the universe offers you a path, learn with every step. I don't have much of a family - an extended family, yeah, but none of my own." Zed looked back down the corridor. "None that size, anyway."

"You're thinking you want to stay on?"

"Either I look after those kids until their moms show up, or I join up with this crazy Caitian and fight the good fight. Maybe both. I don't know, I can't see myself making this kind of a difference in a science lab anytime soon."

Tw'eak contemplated for a moment, then nodded her assent. "Alright. We'll call it a secondment, as consultant to the Selkirk armada." She extended a hand, and shook with Zed. "You take care of yourself."

"I'd say, 'you too', but I know you too well for that."

"Same old Zed," Tw'eak said with a trace of sadness. "Right to the end."

"Always." Zed smiled, then offered a crisp salute before turning and heading back.

"We'd best be getting back to sorting this mess," Selkirk said after a moment. "Always a pleasure, me hearties!"

Aetius extended his arm, and shook Tw'eak's hand. "It was an honour meeting you."

"The honour's mine," Tw'eak said in reply. "Please let the Republic know that I'm grateful for your assistance."

"After all you've done for my people, Admiral?" Aetius smiled. "It's the least we can do. Jolan tru."

Tw'eak nodded, then turned to Birmal Dazz. "And you."

"Now you know I'm not going to settle for any handshake nonsense," Dazz replied. "Come here."

"Wait." Tw'eak raised a hand, then tapped her controls. The helmet came off. "I've seen Bolian hugs. You'll break your nose on this thing."

"Like I care!" Dazz said in reply before she applied a massive squeezing embrace to Tw'eak's upper torso. Tw'eak meekly put her arms around Dazz by comparison. "Oh, you!" Dazz added as she released Tw'eak. "I never thanked you - for everything."

"Stop."

"No, I mean it. I am alive, and in command of a starship - my own starship! - and it's all because of you. I will always be in your debt."

"Hey, after today, I think we're even."

"Not yet," Dazz said with a shake of the head. "No way this makes us even, Admiral. You ever need anything - at that court-martial or whatever - you find me."

"Will do."

"I'm serious! You find me!" She smiled. "See you."

"I'll see you around." Tw'eak watched as Dazz, Selkirk and Aetius made their way back to the aid station, leaving Dashii to drift awkwardly for a moment before walking a few paces to a discreet distance. Leo and Tw'eak stepped closer to each other, neither wanting to make eye contact or speak first.

"I didn't expect you'd have to go so soon," Leo said after a long, awkward pause.

"It's not like I want to. One of the ships under my command could be destroyed by now. If I can get there, I really should."

"But how? It's across the quadrant from here."

"I have my ways. Besides, as much as I'd like to stay, if I can give the impression that I did everything in my power to return to command as soon as possible, it might... I don't know, it's probably pointless."

"Well, for what it's worth, if Starfleet's stupid enough not to realize what a good thing they have, it's their loss."

"I'm not sure what'll happen next." Tw'eak looked over Leo's shoulder at Dashii. "To either of us."

"To hell with Starfleet - you and me, together? We could be unstoppable out here. We could get one of Selkirk's ships, just go out there with a little crew and do right by the universe for a while."

Tw'eak sighed, the appeal of the concept not lost on her. "I just rescued my sister for trying to do the same thing with someone she loved. Besides, that's the problem with this, isn't it?"

"Problem?"

"Yeah." Tw'eak looked up at Leo and adjusted her hair. It had been annoying her for hours, and the relief she felt became tangled up in her feelings of attraction for Leo. "You and I... we... there's just something there, and I know we both felt it. But we're, I don't know, we've both seen things, and had to do things, and we know there are more things we'll have to see and have to do before long... it's like we're in the wrong universe to be together, somehow."

"I know what you mean. I couldn't just walk away from this. I know the things I said, about Selkirk, but honestly, I need this. What we did, those kids... this might be the best thing we've ever done." Pointing to the ground, Leo repeated, "ever done. Any of us. And whatever comes next, this will make it worth the effort - every day from now on, those kids get to live free again because of us."

"Look, Leo... I don't know how to do this. Put me in a room full of angry Gorn and I'm fine, but this close to you and I'm hopeless."

"Yeah, exactly."

"Let me get back to my ship, let me... let me set my side of the universe right, as close to it as I can, at least. Okay? I'll keep in touch, I promise. It's not like you don't know where to find me."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

Tw'eak looked up at Leo, and she laughed to herself. "And for Andor's sake, marine, would you take off your helmet already?"

Leo suddenly became aware of his combat environmental suit. "Jesus! I'm sorry!" He tapped the buttons with practiced efficiency. "I am such an ass." He removed the helmet and lowered it to his side. As he did, Tw'eak leapt towards him, locking her arms around his neck and shoulders and kissing him goodbye so suddenly that he took a half-step backwards. From somewhere in the direction of the aid station, Tw'eak was aware that the murmuring and droning of the crowd was distinctly reduced, but she didn't care. She could no longer fight it, could no longer resist the fact that she was in love, and was proud to be in love with the kind of man she had always hoped to find somewhere across the galaxy. Now, their paths had crossed at last, and she found herself wishing the whole universe around her would go away and leave just the two of them to deal with it as they would. Like a series of strings on a marionette, though, she felt her obligations, her rank, her other identity as an admiral, drawing her inexorably back towards her command chair on the Warspite, and after a passionate few moments, she withdrew from his embrace, stepping back.

"Sober, next time," she said with a tear in her eye. "And there will be a next time."

"Can't wait," Leo said in reply. "You take care of yourself."

"You, too." Tw'eak moved to Dashii's side and tapped her communicator button. "Aewon? Two to beam up."

As the transporter beam caused her to convert to energy and move through space and time, she held Leo's face in her gaze, staring with a desperate intent to memorize every feature, every angle, every detail, and found herself already looking forward to the next time they were together. The shuttlecraft materialized around them, and Tw'eak re-aligned her focus in her mind.

Aewon turned to greet them. "Welcome back." He looked confused. "Just the...?"

"Long story. I'll tell you on the way back. This is my sister Dashichal."

"Good to see you," Aewon said cheerily. "Glad we won."

Tw'eak left little time for formalities. "Do we still have that advanced drive installed?"

"The chroniton-integrated quantum-"

"Yes. Does it work?"

"I'm assuming so. Nobody uninstalled it."

"Plot an intercept course back to the Warspite and engage as soon as we've cleared atmo."

"Uh... okay. Not really sure how to do that."

"I can help," Dashii noted. "Engineer, right?"

"Do it," Tw'eak ordered. Then she swallowed and realized her tone. "Please. Quickly, while there's still time."

The Hypatia cleared the atmosphere, and near a space station Tw'eak could make out the massive outlines of two Romulan warbirds alongside a Sovereign class starship, no doubt the Armstrong. Tw'eak took a seat on the bench and, after a few moments consideration of what she might be heading into, felt herself collapse, exhausted, against the bulkhead and into a much-needed sleep.


	31. Part II, Chapter 12

The shudder of the shuttlecraft emerging from its warp transit was enough to jostle Tw'eak awake again. She looked up, one of her antennae throbbing slightly - she must have bumped against something in her sleep.

"Look who's up," Dashii declared, looking rearward. She had taken the opportunity to replicate a new uniform for herself at some point while Tw'eak had been asleep. "Just in time, too."

"Sorry," Tw'eak replied softly. "Did you get any rest?"

"A little. Aewon had everything under control."

"Ma'am," Aewon acknowledged with a nod.

"Where are we?"

"The Pranflar system, ma'am. We're closing on the Meitner's position."

"Any indication what's going on yet?"

"No. We've been searching on long-range sensors. It's like the Meitner isn't even here."

Tw'eak got up. "That's a distinct possibility. Who is actually here, then?"

"I'm getting something now. Multiple warp signatures, on the far side of the third planet. They don't know we're here."

"I doubt they'd be expecting a single shuttlecraft," Dashii noted.

"Exactly," Tw'eak replied. "Especially not this shuttle. Can you make out the type of ships we're looking at?"

"Scanning now." Aewon tapped a few controls. "Emissions are - wait, that can't be right."

"What is it?"

Aewon looked to Dashii. "Can you check me on this? I'm getting Jem'Hadar signatures."

Dashii leaned over her controls for a second. "Yeah. Looks like... six, maybe seven attack ships, probably at least one battlecruiser. And look- a Cardassian ship."

"The True Way. Probably a command ship," Tw'eak noted.

"Ma'am? There's another ship coming in. Make that four of them. It's our task force."

"Hail Warspite - tight-band transmission, don't give away our position."

"Hailing now." Aewon waited a moment. "No response yet..."

"Our task force is moving into a search pattern. I don't think either see the other yet." Dashii noted a beeping on her console. "One of them is moving our way... a USS Ottawa?"

"Can you raise any of them?"

"It's difficult with the tight beam to get them... I think I have Warspite now."

"On screen." Tw'eak turned to the viewer to face Octavia, whose face materialized on the screen. "Octavia, it's Tw'eak."

"Admiral!" Octavia's still-human eye blinked in surprise. "How is this possible? Your signal originates in-system."

"We are in-system. And so are about ten True Way warships."

Octavia looked over her shoulder. "Lieutenant, boost this signal." She leaned back towards Tw'eak. "I apologize, Admiral. Where are you seeing them?"

"Behind the third planet. Look, just conduct your search normally, but keep it brief - a few quick sensor pings, that's all. Let them think you haven't found anything - even if you do. Then order the task force out of here. We'll let you know if we need you."

"The distress signal is false, then?"

"We're going to find out. But you've got to hail Starfleet and notify them that the True Way is present in force, then set a perimeter to prevent other ships from stumbling into an ambush."

"Understood." Octavia brushed her hair aside from her Borg eyepiece. "I must admit that I am particularly relieved to hear from you."

"It's good to see you, too. We got her, by the way."

"I see that. Or at least, I presumed the other Andorian female present was your sister."

"Yeah. I'll have lots to tell when I get back. Hopefully without a court-martial waiting for me."

Octavia gave Tw'eak a concerned look. "I have no information on that at present. Do you?"

"No. But that doesn't get us any closer to the Meitner. Get your sweep done and get out of here. Hypatia out."

Octavia nodded and cut the channel. Dashii turned to Tw'eak. "Your first officer, I take it?"

"Octavia. Yeah."

"Federation sensor scans - just as you asked, Admiral," Aewon noted. "They're scanning still... nothing exciting on their sensors, I'd bet, because they're turning back the way they came."

"Anything from the True Way ships?"

"No active sensors, that's for sure. I think one of them is peeking out from the edge of the magnetic field or something, keeping an eye on the task force, but other than that, nobody's moving."

Dashii's console started making an abrupt noise. "Uh-oh," she muttered.

"Uh-oh what?"

"The- remember how we thought the Meitner's signal was faked?"

"Right."

"Doesn't look that way. I've got an ion trail consistent with a burst Federation impulse manifold, and it's leading away from the system, in the opposite direction... no, wait. There's the end of it, around the fifth planet. Class J, very hot. The effect of the ion trail blends in. I almost missed it. My guess is they're either hiding in the atmosphere -"

"- or they're being held there."

"Exactly."

"Let's find out. Aewon?"

The Deltan navigator tapped his console a couple times. "Course locked in. We're on our way when you're ready."

"Engage."

Careful to mask the shuttle's own emissions, Aewon put Hypatia in motion slowly at first, creeping up to full impulse. Moving through the system, with the disruption of the star's outer corona obscuring them from True Way sensors, Tw'eak felt a sense of trepidation. This lost ship, USS Meitner, had been her actual duty to command, a responsibility which trumped her familial sense of obligation. There were some six hundred people on board, all of whom had depended upon her, as their admiral, making the right decisions and looking after them. Clearly, sending the Meitner unescorted into an area which, in hindsight, was occupied by the Cardassian-Jem'Hadar alliance known as the True Way, had proved to be an unforeseen error. But to compound that error by committing further starships to risk would have turned an unpleasant accident into a potential calamity. She found herself gravely concerned about the Meitner, its condition, and its crew, and she found herself willing the shuttle to move more quickly to the far side of the fifth planet, though stealth was of utmost importance given the chance they were taking.

Tw'eak's own career and what results her recent decisions would have upon her ability to remain in command of this task force remained an urgent question. She doubted sincerely that any wartime Starfleet judge advocate general would willingly consign one of its admirals to an early retirement or dishonourable discharge without the most just of causes. Unlike the KDF, Starfleet did not rely upon execution as a punishment (with very few exceptions), so this wasn't a question of her life hanging in the balance. Even if she was killed re-taking the Meitner, the court-martial would go ahead in absentia, and her legacy rather than her career would hang in the balance. She struggled to not keep worrying about herself, though, yet she found herself thinking that her fate, and that of the Meitner, were bound to each other.

The fifth planet was now fully stretched across the forward window of the shuttle, and Tw'eak watched as it moved away slightly to the right as Aewon took the shuttle into a decelerating turn towards the Meitner. Sure enough, a flickering static discharge was visible along the starship's duranium-tritanium skin, indicating the Meitner had received some battle damage. "We are now in visual range," Aewon acknowledged. "It's getting hotter on the hull. That planet's not a good one to orbit, especially not for a starship in that condition. Shall I maneuver us alongside?"

"No, bring her in from above and astern." Tw'eak pointed to the sensor pod mounted above the saucer on the Nebula-class starship. "As close to there as you can get us. "

"You don't want to dock at the shuttlebay?" Dashii asked.

Tw'eak shrugged. "I thought maybe we could at least use the Meitner as a heat shield."

"I like that idea," Aewon quipped.

"The shuttlebay would do the same thing and it'd be a good place to work our way inwards from there. Of course, if they've boarded her, getting into a shuttlebay won't be an option. Then we'd be in trouble."

"It also make a quick getaway impossible. I'd rather rely on the shuttle transporters." Tw'eak moved to the viewscreen upon which she had talked to Octavia, and adjusted the viewer to show a sensor screen. "Shields are offline, as are the weapons engines. Damage to its port nacelle and impulse engine, hull breaches in several locations..." She took a closer look. "But there's still power, it's just... not going very far."

"Doesn't seem like they've been boarded," Aewon noted. "Life signs are fleeting, but nothing in the numbers we'd expect of a Jem'Hadar boarding action."

Tw'eak mused for a moment. "My guess is that they're alive, but adrift. Hiding."

Dashii turned. "So what's our next move?"

"We have to find out what assistance they require. Those Jem'Hadar ships... I'm surprised they haven't come out here to finish the job."

"If that's even what they're after," Aewon pointed out.

"Exactly. We have no way of knowing what happened, but the fact that they're in tactical disposition indicates they're still spoiling for a fight." Tw'eak tapped the screen in front of her. "Can you overlay with commbadge signals?"

"Yeah, just a second." Dashii modified the sensory display to indicate a deck-by-deck display rather than a systems report.

"No one on the bridge... a hull breach?"

"Seems to be. Top couple decks are all empty."

Tw'eak nodded. "Quite a few vacant sections." Tw'eak tapped her display. "And emergency bulkheads are in place across the ship. So they're... effecting repairs."

"But why would they run the risk of being ambushed..." Dashii looked up, her words trailing off, pointing at the ship's aft end through the viewer. "Their engines. They can't warp away."

"That'd be my guess as well. They're hiding back here until they can escape the system." Tw'eak turned her head towards the window, looking past the planet. "And the True Way vessels... don't know they're here?"

"Or think them destroyed, perhaps," Aewon observed, receiving a nod from Tw'eak by doing so. "I can keep your signal clear enough using the subspace transporter - you can beam over at any time."

"Let's go." Tw'eak retrieved her subspace transport band and fitted it around her arm. "Dashii? Up to you, but they could probably use another engineer over there."

"Yeah, I can help."

"If you wanted to sit this one out, I'd completely-"

"I can help," Dashii repeated, shooting her sister a dirty look. "I want to."

Tw'eak turned to Aewon. "Are you comfortable here?"

"Yeah, hull temps are manageable if I keep the Meitner between that fireball of a planet and here. Don't worry about me. And I'll keep an eye out, let you know if there's anything going on. Should I pull you out in the event of an emergency?"

"Depends upon the emergency. Get in touch if you need to."

"Got it. I'll take up a position right on their hull, try to blend in with their emissions. Nobody will even know I'm here, and it'll be cool as space-normal."

"Good idea." Tw'eak shouldered her pulsewave and handed Dashii a phaser rifle. "You'll tell me if you're not feeling one-hundred-percent, right?"

"Stop that. Get me onboard a starship again and it'll be like I never left."

Tw'eak looked straight ahead, thinking more about what lay ahead for them once they returned to the Warspite, rather than what lay in wait aboard the Meitner. "Let's hope so," she said quietly. "Energize."

* * *

The heat in the corridor had been unbearable, and here in the EPS junction it wasn't much better. Lieutenant Hailey Chan took out her tricorder and tapped her commbadge. "Soleck? Come in, Soleck."

A very Vulcan voice could be heard through the commbadge. "Soleck here."

"I'm at EPS junction twelve, deck sixteen. Hot enough to roast a chicken in here."

"That would be unwise. The presence of atmospheric contaminants -"

Chan rolled her eyes. "Not literally." She opened the hatch and examined the EPS junction circuitry. "No signs of damage, no obvious breaks in the connectors. Checks out." She took a glance behind her. "How many more of these things are left to check?"

"Approximately one hundred and sixty-eight."

"On this deck, I mean."

"This was the last of them."

Chan blew out her cheeks. "Thank God. Alright, I'm headed back to the Jeffries tube." She clamped the junction shut again, locking it as she did, and turned towards the corridor. As she did, she heard the sound of a transporter beam just around the corner. She tapped her commbadge and ducked into a hiding spot just below the junction. "Soleck!"

"Have you reached the next corridor already?"

Chan waved at her commbadge, as if to silence it. "Shut up! Someone's here!"

"To what are you referring?"

Chan pointed to the hall, as though that would guide Soleck's understanding. "Transporters!" The footsteps came closer, and she looked up to see an Andorian in a command officer's uniform. Getting to her feet, Chan smacked her head off of the junction. Reeling from the impact, she found herself caught in the Andorian's embrace.

"Easy, Lieutenant."

"Sorry..." She rubbed her head and looked up, convinced she was seeing double.

"That hurt." A different voice. Two Andorians? Only now did Chan clearly see that there were two of them, one in an engineer's uniform much like her own.

"Sorry, ma'am. Lieutenant Hailey Chan. I was checking EPS junctions along this deck when you showed up, thought you were more of the True Way forces."

"That's what we're here to find out. I'm Admiral Sh'abbas."

"Holy - wow." Chan straightened up, adjusting her uniform. "I didn't expect you to send... well, you."

"It's a long story. Which way to main engineering?"

"You know about - I mean, of course you know what happened, I mean, you're here."

"Not exactly. It's complicated. Probably best if I speak to whoever's in command."

"That'd probably be Lieutenant Commander Abiade, ma'am. He's our chief engineer, highest-ranking officer still alive. Saved all of us, y'know."

"That way?" Tw'eak pointed. Chan began to walk in that direction, and both Tw'eak and Dashii followed. "What do you know of what happened?"

"Not too much, I'm afraid. One minute we were green across the board, engines at peak efficiency. We'd routed extra power to the sensors to take a scan of one of the planets. There was something there that the skipper wanted hit with some sort of penetrating scan. That's when the ship started rocking about, and we were at red alert all of a sudden. All these calls kept coming in, I figured we had a deflector burn-out, but then the chief suddenly says, 'bridge is out' and 'we're under attack', so he heads up to auxiliary control and leaves me in charge. It was a nightmare. We re-routed all the power we could to shields, to weapons, then the chief orders us to vent warp plasma."

Reaching the end of the corridor, Chan indicated a ladder, but Tw'eak held up a hand. "Wait, intentionally venting plasma?"

"Yeah. Desperate stuff, right? About two seconds later we hit warp speed all of a sudden. Damn near knocked us all over, because we'd taken a bit too much power from the dampeners. We didn't have much left. That jump sent us halfway to a warp core breach on its way, so I initiated emergency shutdown procedures... just in time, as it worked out. Otherwise we would all be dead right now, that reactor would've gone. Instead we only lost three-quarters of the EPS and a warp nacelle."

"Sounds like you had one hell of a ride," the other Andorian acknowledged.

The admiral smiled. "This is Lieutenant Dashii Zh'abbas. She's my... she's an engineer."

"She could be your sister," Chan noted.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Dashii quipped.

"While we're following you down the ladder, what happened next?"

Chan nodded, and reached for the ladder, making her way back downwards. "When we all of a sudden went to warp, you mean? The chief saw that one of the impulse manifolds was about to go, so he jettisoned the fusion pods and detonated them, hoping that with the explosion in the plasma, and our sudden disappearance, it'd look like a warp core breach had destroyed our ship. We think it worked, they haven't come after us, but we don't know. We've been too busy trying to make repairs to check."

"How long ago was this?" Tw'eak asked from just behind Chan.

"A couple days now. We've had a couple near-critical moments since then. I can't wait until we get this ship to a proper spacedock. We can't hide here forever, we've been having all kinds of problems because of the heat - even stuff we repair doesn't stay online and our sensors are iffy in here just like theirs are."

Tw'eak nodded. This wasn't a tactical analysis but at least it was a partial summary. Attacked, yes - ambushed? The bridge knocked out - the command crew dead, probably in the initial strike. But how? The shields and defense fields should have made such a precision strike impossible - and there was no visible sign of a ramming assault, which the Jem'Hadar were known to do. Still, losing the bridge made the chief engineer senior officer, and he had used his experience and knowhow to escape - quite cleverly, too, Tw'eak noted. She looked to Chan. "Do you know casualty counts at all?"

"No, but I can guess." Chan took a few steps onto Deck 20, heading in the direction of main engineering. "We don't have sensors to tell, but judging by the sheer number of hull breaches we had, I'd guess that the upper three decks, the port side of the sensor pod, probably quite a few compartments across the saucer... they probably all got blown out. You would've seen her from outside, so no doubt you'd know better."

Tw'eak set foot on Deck 20 and shook her head. "We did. Looks about how you described it."

"The good news is that sickbay's working. Doc T'laivi has been sending around regular patrols of medics, and they have enough auxiliary power to still use emergency transporters. Outer surfaces are really hot, because of the shadow of the gas giant we're in, so we've been staying clear and re-routing power away from the exterior. Chief says we can't stay put much longer than three days, but we've got damage that could take weeks to repair."

"Communications?"

"Nope. All our external arrays - comms, sensors, phasers - are just too hot to use. They've all been offline for most of the last day, until we can get the EPS flowing smoothly to them again."

Tw'eak silently cursed and wished she could get Aurora and her team over here to fix these problems. There was too much risk in bringing any ship in-system with that number of Jem'Hadar ships lying in ambush. Even the entire task force would be hard-pressed to defeat the True Way force, unless they were put into retreat... something the overzealous Jem'Hadar and Cardassians rarely did even when it was in their favour. She briefly considered having Aewon make repeat trips in the Hypatia, but that was too much of a risk - the shuttle, the engineers, and possibly the last hope of the Meitner would be at risk on every run. Tw'eak ran through the events in her mind again. "You said the captain had ordered some variety of penetrating scan."

"That's right. Can't remember which one, exactly, but sensors were mostly offline then, too - to keep the chatter from interfering."

Tw'eak grimaced. For a Jem'Hadar ambush to succeed required little more than cunning and timing. Their ships were difficult to detect at the best of times, especially the smaller attack craft. If they had masked their energy signatures and struck at the exact moment the unsuspecting Meitner had positioned itself for the scan, its shields down, its other sensor arrays offline, their bridge and engine systems specifically targeted by a threat they had neither imagined nor realized was there ... that the ship had not been destroyed in the Jem'Hadar's opening barrage was nothing short of miraculous.

The engine room was a shambles, but still largely intact, as it lay deep within the stardrive section of the hull, well beneath the far more heavily damaged saucer section. Signs of unusual levels of activity - more padds present in stacks or in random places, misplaced tricorders and still-open wall access panels, other evidence of a starship in damage recovery mode - were in evidence all across the deck. A tall, dark-skinned Vulcan in an engineer's uniform approached Tw'eak, Dashii and Chan cautiously. "Welcome aboard," he observed, offering a salute.

"This is Lieutenant Soleck," Chan indicated as Tw'eak returned his salute. "This is Admiral Sh'abbas and one of her officers."

"It is agreeable to find you here, Admiral. Our situation is grim."

"So I gathered, Lieutenant." Tw'eak acknowledged. "You all did very well to survive for as long as you have."

"It will improve crew morale for them to learn of your assessment," Soleck said, arching an eyebrow. "They will be most appreciative."

"I'd best get to wherever your chief engineer is and see how we can help." She turned to Dashii. "Perhaps you'd prefer to stay here."

Dashii smiled. "I'd just get in the way down here. Looks like everything is well in control."

"I'll walk you up to aux," Chan said. She turned to Soleck before she left. "Be right back."

"Indeed. I will remain here to continue to co-ordinate our EPS transfer check. Please advise me when you have returned to that task."

"Can't wait," Chan said sarcastically as she ushered Tw'eak and Dashii towards auxiliary control. "This way, please."


	32. Part II, Chapter 13

The auxiliary control room, otherwise called a 'battle bridge', was located in the very heart of the Nebula-class USS Meitner, between the saucer section and the stardrive. Working away fervently, the surviving officers of her crew put their best efforts into making the ship fully spaceworthy again. At the centre of the action, fusing a control circuit which had burned out in the central console, was Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Abiade.

"Try it now, Littrell."

Ensign Max Littrell resumed his helm station, tapping a few controls tentatively. "Yeah, much better now."

"The main isolinear conduit needed a little help remembering where it was," Abiade quipped as he straightened up. "Fortunate for you to have an engineer so close at hand."

"Thanks, Chief."

Abiade returned to the command chair, considering his words, and their predicament. "Fortunate indeed."

The door opened, revealing Tw'eak, Dashii and Lieutenant Chan. Abiade turned to see them approaching his position, and he stood. "Attention on deck!" he called. All the ensigns and lieutenants turned to see Abiade crisply salute Tw'eak as she arrived, which she returned in kind.

"This is Vice Admiral Sh'abbas," Chan said by way of introduction.

"Rear Admiral, actually," Tw'eak corrected, grimacing. Her anxiety over what lay ahead once Starfleet Command learned of the Meitner's state prevented her from adding a line about how that may not be accurate for much longer.

"Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Abiade, ma'am, chief engineer, temporarily in command of the starship Meitner. Welcome aboard."

"She's quite a ship, Commander. Wish her circumstances were better."

"Indeed. I was just discussing with my helmsman, that we are fortunate to be alive."

"If Lieutenant Chan's descriptions were anything to go by, they have you to thank for their good fortune."

Abiade looked over at Chan, who seemed to visibly shrink in her chief engineer's gaze. "Thank you."

"Can I ask for your version of events? Not that I disbelieve the lieutenant, I'd just... like to hear it from you."

"We were to rendez-vous with the USS Cornucopia, re-supply, then move on to map the Dorlanac star cluster. While we were en route, sensors reported the presence of some sort of massive energy source upon the third planet in this system. The ship's log indicated that the energy source was underground, possibly even an artificial planet. In order to confirm the results, the captain ordered an icospectogram of the interior of the planet."

"I don't understand," Tw'eak interrupted. "That usually involves a sensor reconfiguration, maybe a couple hours of work."

"And that would have meant we would be overdue to meet the Cornucopia. Instead, the chief science officer recommended realigning the main deflector to run the icospectogram using navigational sensors rather than the sensor grid."

"And the captain went for it?"

Abiade nodded. "So I went down to engineering to oversee the capacitance transfer required to make it work. I hadn't realized that they had intended to take all other sensors offline to do it until I got there and realized they were offline. According to the ship's log, the science officer had further requested it in order to clear the overall picture. I have no idea why our tactical officer would not have objected - especially as he was a Tellarite and objected to a great many things. But they were all lost in the first few minutes, as the bridge was destroyed in the first pass. As for those of us left alive, we had no idea what had happened - we had no sensors, few weapons, and no power."

"My," Tw'eak mumbled. Both she and Dashii nodded for Abiade to continue.

"I ordered my team to reroute power to battle configuration, and left Chan while I came to this place. Once I had a few other officers join me, we realized the ship was doomed without prompt action. The port-side impulse engine already badly damaged, so we had no way to fight. I picked a point near this planet for an emergency straight-line two-second warp flight. We overloaded the port-side fusion pods and jettisoned them just as we went to warp. The explosion may have taken out one of the Jem'Hadar ships as we fled, but our sensors had not yet fully recovered their view of the situation. It may have been wishful thinking on Edvard's part."

"Edvard?"

"Lieutenant Nikau, senior surviving sensor officer." Abiade pointed to a human engineering lieutenant just behind Tw'eak. "And this is my helmsman, Ensign Max Littrell." He looked over his shoulder at a tall Caitian male in a red uniform, and a Bajoran woman in a blue one. "My tactical officer, S'riss, and our science specialist is Lieutenant Shar Talyt."

Tw'eak smiled as she looked around. "Hello."

"I myself was looking after engineering tasks, but I see you have your own people to tend to that."

"Yes. This is Lieutenant Dashichal..." Tw'eak trailed off. Yet again, there was no reason to point out that Dashii was her sister. "She's an engineer."

"I hope you are here to take command of the situation. It will be challenging for all of us, but my challenges are on my engine deck."

Tw'eak moved towards the command chair which Abiade had vacated. "Certainly."

"These officers will have all the answers you're looking for other than that, I'm sure." Abiade nodded to Chan. "I'll need you back in engineering, of course."

Chan sighed. "It would fall apart without me, I know." She smiled knowingly at Tw'eak. "I hope you're all set from here, ma'am."

"Yeah. Thanks for showing us around." Tw'eak turned to Dashii. "Let's get you over at the engineering station. Shield distribution is up to you."

"Just like old times. Sounds like fun."

Tw'eak turned to see Abiade and Chan leave, then took the command chair. "Alright, people. Systems report, starting with the helmsman."

Ensign Littrell turned to face Tw'eak. "Warp power offline. The port nacelle support is damaged, if we run power through it, we might blow the whole nacelle right off. There's a team working on that right now. As for impulse, we're a bit restricted - starboard-side engine's offline since the port one's shot to hell, and the main engine is functional, but the commander didn't want us to push it unless we absolutely have to."

"It may come to that. How about RCS?"

"All set to go. She's no escort, but she'll get us through. I can't make any promises if those smaller Jem'Hadar ships make a suicide run."

Tw'eak turned to her tactical officer, Lieutenant (jg) S'riss. The tall, dark-furred Caitian bristled, his whiskers twitching in anticipation of her next question. Tw'eak smiled. "You know what I'm going to ask."

S'riss' tail twitched. "Our complement of photon torpedoes is half depleted, but launchers are fine both fore and aft. Phaser banks are in mostly good condition, though they don't have any power and they might be damaged by heat exposure. I won't know until I've run a fuller diagnostic once we're further from the planet. Most of the hull damage was to the upper saucer, but I can still make a good run. And in the unlikely event that they make a cloaked run at us, I can see them clearly on the tachyon detection grid, assuming it hasn't boiled away."

"Tachyon detection? Could come in handy another day, but not against the Jem'Hadar."

S'riss took a few tentative steps in place, as though he were about to pounce. He took a deep breath, then began, "I should note that my superior, Lieutenant Andrews, would undoubtedly have pointed out the flaw in the approach to the icospectogram, as the chief explained to you. Even with the support of Commander Vakza, among other recommendations, it seems to have been overruled. We should've made a better show of this, and for my part, I feel I should apologize to you."

"Apologize?" Tw'eak found herself taken aback.

"Yes, Admiral. As a tactical off- as the surviving tactical officer of this starship, I'm... I'm embarrassed for the state you find us in. Lieutenant Andrews, and Lieutenant Commander Xaal, both kept this ship in an efficient state of readiness - "

"I'm not here on an inspection tour, Lieutenant. I can assure you, I'm not holding anyone responsible. At least, not yet. There isn't time for blame." She felt the eyes of the whole bridge crew upon her, and she wheeled about in her chair a bit as she spoke. "Let me assure all of you on that point. Whatever actions were undertaken, whatever command decisions were made, you've made it through, whether because of or in spite of them. You may have lost friends, maybe even loved ones, in the past few days, and I'm sure you've all had plenty of time to cross-examine and re-examine both yourselves and others around you. Whatever your conclusions, we need to leave them aside in the meantime, unless they need to be learned from immediately. If so, let's hear them."

"We could start by not taking our sensors offline while the shields are down," S'riss said with an edge in his voice.

Tw'eak nodded. "Good." She chuckled slightly. "Glad we got that one out of the way."

"It made sense at the time," Lieutenant Shar, the Bajoran science officer, said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Just saying."

"As usual, Commander Holnat got her way..." Ensign Littrell said, shaking his head.

Tw'eak looked around, her expression confused even if her expectations were being sadly proven correct. These crew members were so thoroughly demoralized that they were speaking freely with her, as though confessing long-concealed misdeeds. "I feel like the only one not getting the joke."

"Sorry, ma'am. We're just... we really shouldn't be talking like this. I mean, they're all dead."

"Right. But there's clearly something you people want to bring me in on here. So let's get it off our chest, before we go any further."

Littrell looked nervously at S'riss. "Don't, S'riss," pleaded Shar. "Just leave it alone. She's right, they're all dead now. Prophets know it's too late to worry about it."

"Not like it won't come out at a court-martial," Littrell replied.

Surprisingly, perhaps, it was the heavily accented words of Lieutenant Edvard Nikau which Tw'eak heard next. "It's been an open secret aboard ship for months now that Commander Holnat and the captain were..." Tw'eak had turned to face the tall, blonde engineer, whose hand was spinning around in the space before him. "Together," he said, completing his sentence with a pained expression.

Tw'eak swallowed, and nodded slightly, well aware of the breach in regulations being discussed. "I see."

"Were they for real?" Littrell asked. "I thought it was just rumour."

"Oh, no, it was the real thing," Nikau replied.

"It's not right," Shar said again.

"No, it never was," S'riss snarled. "And everyone knew it."

"I meant talking about it now," Shar snarled in response. "It's not right to discuss, especially not in front of the admiral."

"She has a right to know," Littrell objected. "Captain Flint gets himself thinking with the wrong head, and we're all -"

"Max!"

"Well, it's true. Flint was the captain. It didn't matter if it was Holnat or a new Academy graduate-"

"He should've known better," S'riss muttered.

Tw'eak raised both hands. "Wait. Hold that thought. You're suggesting that Commander Holnat persuaded the captain to do the icogram this way, sensors down, no shields, because of their relationship?"

"Either way, shields never went up," S'riss replied.

"They would've caused interference on the icogram," Tw'eak noted.

S'riss shrugged. "Shields would've been sensor-dependent anyway, they wouldn't have gone up automatically unless the sensors gave them good reason."

Tw'eak pondered. "So the shields don't go up, the sensors are offline, and the Jem'Hadar pounce. The result is a wrecked ship, and half a crew dead."

"Boom," Littrell muttered.

"We don't know that," Shar said softly. "This is all just conjecture."

"Well, it makes sense," S'riss replied, his hands out towards his Bajoran shipmate. "It's not like they would've died if they'd followed procedure. And I know that Lieutenant Andrews never would've let this happen without objecting."

"You're just upset because you think Holnat got Andrews killed!"

"That's ridiculous!"

"It's true! He was your CO, you looked up to him!"

"Well..." The Caitian sputtered for a moment, then added, "You're just upset by the same thing! I'm blaming someone you looked up to for her mistakes, and because she couldn't keep her uniform on-"

"All right!" Tw'eak stood up from the command chair. "All right. Both of you. Look, I don't know who the ship's counselor is or anything, but let me settle one thing for each of you." She stepped towards S'riss. "You need to stop thinking that you got your commanding officer killed. Whoever is at fault, it isn't you. Had you been on the bridge with those people, you'd be dead too." She turned to Shar. "And you need to come to terms with the fact that, whether your commanding officer was involved in the decision-making process or not, something went terribly wrong to put this ship in the state it's in."

"You got that right," S'riss sneered.

"And that's another thing," Tw'eak insisted, turning to face S'riss again. "I don't know what kind of ship you people are accustomed to serving aboard, but you seem to have mistaken the uniform you're wearing for one that doesn't involve a chain of command. This is a Starfleet vessel, and as such, I will expect each of you to find the nearest spare compartment, take all of your biases, prejudices and divided loyalties... and kindly stow them there until we are safely on our way to the nearest spacedock. Otherwise we're all dead. Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Shar replied.

"Quite," S'riss acknowledged.

Tw'eak turned to Littrell, then to Nikau, each of whom nodded in turn. "Just because I said I wasn't here to deliver any judgments doesn't mean that your words, and actions, won't appear in my report to Starfleet Command. And I can promise you, both I and the Lieutenant whom I came with have excellent memories."

"Sorry, Admiral," Nikau said quietly. "It's just... there were lots of stories, things everyone knew that nobody could act upon."

"It should have been brought to my attention a lot sooner." Tw'eak's expression was cold. "You mean to tell me that, the whole time this ship has been a part of my task force, there was a general awareness of a violation of Starfleet procedures, and nobody thought they should report it?" She leaned forward, looking over to S'riss and Shar. "Especially when there was a clear danger to the ship?"

Littrell shrugged and spoke. "I guess we all just got used to operating on our own. Nobody really pays attention to us sci-boats, not with the war on. We can't do much other than map, chart and explore."

"The very definition of what Starfleet should be doing, Ensign."

"Well, you might want to tell that to Starfleet, ma'am. I've been on this ship two years and you're the first flag officer I've ever seen up close outside of a starbase."

"Same here," Lieutenant Nikau offered, "and this ship has been my home for seven years."

Tw'eak felt herself turn suddenly ashamed. She, too, had been dismissive in her turn of the Meitner's place in her task force. Alongside cruisers and escorts, it had felt like a token presence of Starfleet's original purpose, almost an insult to that purpose if taken another way. But they were right - the idea of visiting or getting to know the ships under her command had never occurred to her previously. It wasn't strictly necessary, since the majority of liaison contact took place between her and the ship's captain, and she had worried about sending the wrong message - of a lack of confidence in those captains and their command officers by showing up, invited or otherwise. It stood out as something of an unpleasant surprise to realize she could have done something, however trivial. Still, it was undoubtedly trivial.

"I don't have any easy answers as to why that's the case, but I can tell you this. Your jobs are to carry out your orders, as they're given to you by the chain of command. Whether it was Captain Flint, or Commander Abiade, or Admiral Quinn for all I care, you respect the chain of command. And if you can't bring yourself to respect the chain of command, you refer it up the chain of command, you go through appropriate channels, and you go back to your job, carrying out your orders. Now, for whatever reason, all of this never made its way across my desk. I didn't act on it beforehand, but I won't apologize for my lack of clairvoyance. It's my impression that a lot of things were allowed to let slide upon this ship. Efficiency ratings aside, something went wrong here." She gave a rather sharper look at each of them in turn, her voice menacing in its evenness. "Whatever comes next, I fully expect that each of you will acquit yourselves admirably of your positions, for the good of yourselves and your crew members, but also for the good of this starship and her reputation. And if we all survive, I will look forward to resuming this conversation once we have regained the safety of spacedock."

There was a lengthy silence, which it was Shar's turn to break. "Understood, ma'am."

"Yeah," Littrell agreed.

"All right. Where did we leave off, then? With our tactical disposition, if I remember correctly?" Tw'eak looked over to S'riss, who nodded.

* * *

Six hours of hard work and many sidelong glances later, the battle bridge of the USS Meitner was a much less desperate place. The warp engines were not yet back online, but the overall level of confidence that the bridge crew exuded in their actions had much improved. Tw'eak had carefully cultivated that in each of them, trying, in her way, to make clear that she harboured no ill feelings or doubts about any of them. Their morale had been shattered by the events of the past few days, and their narrow escape clearly put down to dumb luck. Still, Tw'eak had the feeling that her presence made them uneasy, and she had watched her sister milling about between them, often while Tw'eak was on the opposite side of the room, doing her part to reinforce the understanding that they were both there to help. Now they came together for a brief moment as Dashii brought her sister a padd with power relay junction information. "Latest report from Lieutenant Chan. Looks like quite a few relays on the upper deck are either fused or blown out completely." She leaned heavily on one knee as she spoke.

"You need a break?" Tw'eak asked from the command chair.

"I'll live for now. I'm in better shape than this starship, if that means anything."

Tw'eak read over the padd display. "I sure hope so. This is pretty dire."

Dashii shook her head, smirking at her sister. "You know, you really got them going back there for a while."

Tw'eak smiled. "Comes with the territory."

"No, I mean it. I thought for sure you'd space one of them, as an example or something."

"Too far to the airlock from here," Tw'eak said with a laugh. "Besides, this is their ship. I'm just the blue girl in charge."

"So what's the plan from here, then, Admiral? As soon as we leave our position, those Jem'Hadar ships are going to come looking for us."

"No, they won't. That's why we're going back."

Dashii started, astonished. "We what? With this ship?"

"Yeah." Tw'eak rolled her bio-synthetic shoulder in its socket, stretching her neck as she did so. "Sorry, it's just... a little tense."

"You're not kidding."

"No. Happens sometimes when I've been on my feet for-"

"Twaiheak!" Dashii leaned in closer to her sister. "You're changing the topic. You can't possibly take them back into combat."

"What, you'd rather we ran away?"

"Uh, yes! This ship is in no condition for a fight!"

"You're probably right." Tw'eak stroked her chin, giving herself the appearance of musing for a moment. "I'm going to go grab a cup of katheka from the replicator. Do you want anything?"

"How can you think of food at a time like this?"

"First order of business," Tw'eak said as she stood up from her chair. "Survival. But really, I just need a few minutes."

"If it means you'll reconsider us going back there alone..."

"Promise." Tw'eak patted her sister on the arm, and then stepped out of the battle bridge, walking down the corridor, which was hotter than she remembered, and into an adjacent compartment not unlike a break room or replimat. She poked the replicator, then realized that power to such services was offline. So much for her so-called break.

She tapped her commbadge. "Aewon, come in."

"Online."

"Is the Hypatia ready to set out again?"

"Yes, ma'am. The way she's heating up out here, I was hoping you'd either bring us into your shuttlebay or-"

"No. I need you to rendez-vous with Warspite."

"Can do."

"Then I want you to ask Octavia to carry out the following orders, precisely as follows."

* * *

 _Ship's log, supplemental. Admiral Sh'abbas reporting. Weapons, shields and sensors are all online, for the moment, but we've bypassed nearly a quarter of the ship's EPS junctions and conduits to make it work. It'll be a near-run thing, to be certain, but there are times when the meaning of a deed is more important than the sense it makes, or the cost of doing it. We're as close to ready as we're likely to be. And that's a good thing._

Tw'eak ceased the recording of her log entry, and pressed the intership comms button. "Engine room, this is the battle bridge."

"Abiade. Go ahead."

"Status of warp engines?"

"Still offline. Even if we do get the starboard engine operational, the port one's a hopeless wreck until we can get into EV suits and work on it. It's just too hot out there for EVA. The warp core, however, is in good condition, generating eighty-nine percent of typical energy levels, and the board is green. EPS is as good as it's going to get. I can't make too many promises if we run into company."

"I wouldn't ask you to make any promises, the shape she's in."

"Yes, ma'am. She's a good ship, but with what she's been in, well..." Abiade was heard to audibly sigh. "Not sure if you're aware, but we've had to evacuate three decks. They're getting too hot, and I don't think we can stay here much longer."

"We'll be mobile in about ten minutes. I want alerts on the board up here as soon as we run into trouble with any affected systems."

"Internal sensors are fully operational, and I have people across most decks ready to intervene as needed. Easing the exterior temperature on the hull will also boost our power - the structural integrity field is at one hundred and seventy-six percent of normal. I estimate another hour, and we'll be right out of time."

"Don't worry - not much longer now. Good luck to all of you down there."

"Same to you. Abiade out."

Tw'eak turned to Dashii. "How are our shields?"

"They'll hold up a lot better when they stop sizzling."

"Let me know how they are once we move out." She looked to Littrell. "Sublight?"

"We've got three-quarters impulse, thrusters max."

Tw'eak turned to Nikau. "How's the sensor picture?"

"Clear across the ship. Murky outside of it. I'll keep you posted."

Tw'eak leaned the other way, looking to S'riss. "Weapons?"

"Phaser systems are fully operational save for the dorsal saucer strip. And if anything shorts out the EPS junction relays we'll be firing blanks."

"What about torpedoes?"

"All launchers cleared for action."

Tw'eak looked beyond S'riss, to Shar. "Do we have anything we can use to make an unexpected impact from the science department?"

"Maybe. I can siphon power through the main deflector, maybe also use it to create a gravity well. It's just a question of power."

"We'll reroute all we can to auxiliary if it comes to that." She turned to face her helmsman. "Which brings me to Ensign Littrell."

"Ma'am?" Littrell turned to face her.

"How well trained are you in standard attack patterns?"

Littrell's eyes narrowed. "I think the admiral means, evasive maneuvers?"

"You heard me, mister."

Littrell laughed. "This- you're kidding. This is an Andorian joke or something, right?"

"Andorians tell jokes?" Nikau asked.

"Please tell me you're not serious."

It was Dashii's turn to speak. "May I remind the Admiral that the ship's condition is far from battle-worthy -"

Tw'eak spun slowly in her chair to face her sister. "I think we owe it to them."

Nikau smiled. "Yes."

"Ma'am?" Shar asked. "Who do you mean?"

"All of them." She pivoted around to look at S'riss. "Lieutenant Andrews." She then looked at Shar. "Commander Holnat." She looked back towards Nikau. "Commander Wakza. Captain Flint." She tugged the tunic of her uniform. "Whatever your opinions of them, of their decisions, their orders, their choices... they were Starfleet officers. And we never let our own kind down."

"Well, that's nice, but -"

"Shut up, Littrell." This, from S'riss, took the tone of a harsh rebuke.

"You're nuts. You're all nuts."

Tw'eak arched an eyebrow. "You're relieved, mister."

"I- what? You can't do that."

"I believe I just did. Do I need to have you escorted off the bridge?"

Littrell shook his head, stood and hastily left.

Tw'eak looked over towards S'riss. "You're trained as a helmsman, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am." He hastily added, "in all relevant attack patterns, ma'am."

"Glad to hear it. Take the helm. I'll man tactical."

"Aye." S'riss slid forwards, tucking his tail behind the seat. It was twitching with a nervous energy unlike any Caitian's tail Tw'eak could recall ever having seen. She gave a reassuring look towards Shar as she took the console just ahead of her, and looked across the empty command chair, towards her sister.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Dashii said.

Tw'eak nodded, with a quick blink. She then looked down at her console, quickly re-arranged her function presets and tray setup, then let out an anxious laugh. "It's been a while since I used one of these. Anyone here heard of the USS Bonaventure?"

"Which one, ma'am?" S'riss asked.

"About nine months ago, we engaged the Borg in the Orion sector as part of an impromptu task force."

"Yes!" S'riss practically cheered.

"That was your ship," Nikau acknowledged. "I remember from the reports. Hell of an action."

"I had a hell of a crew. Same's true of this ship." She looked down at the console and found the ship-wide comms button. "Attention, crew of the Meitner. This is Rear Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas, commanding. Over the past few hours, we've been able to get this ship operational and ready for its long ride home. We... have two obligations to undertake before we make our way there, however. The first is to other ships who might be lured into this system, to find themselves in the same ambush that very nearly cost you all your lives. The other is to our fallen crewmates, our friends and superiors, with whom many of you had served for years. Fortunately, these obligations have a common process by which they can be fulfilled. It is my intention to take the Meitner back towards the Jem'Hadar ambush from which it escaped, and in so doing, engage the enemy until we have forced their withdrawal. In so doing, we safeguard the lives of the innocent, and redeem the losses of our valiant dead.

"I realize that some of you will object to my plan, and my understanding is that some of you are accustomed to voicing your disagreements. While I trust that I can count upon your support, if you disagree with my intentions, I want you to be aware that I am authorizing the launch of shuttles with any of those of you who would prefer a safe return home rather than join us in taking the chance to strike back at the enemy that wounded us. And you know what? Go right ahead. Leave your posts and head to the shuttles, right now, if you want. I believe I speak for many of us aboard when I say that we would not wish to fight alongside any officer whose heart and mind aren't fully directed towards earning a little well-deserved payback. This is a choice I leave to you, but I suggest you hurry. We'll be breaking orbit and moving to engage in approximately ten minutes, and all shuttles had best be on their way before then. To those of you departing, good luck, so long. As for the rest of us... let's show them just what this sci-boat is made of. Sh'abbas out."

Tw'eak caught the eye of Nikau, who was beaming at her proudly. S'riss' ears were both angled towards her, and he nodded confidently as she wrapped up. Tw'eak glanced over at Shar, who wiped a tear from her eye. "It'll be okay, Lieutenant."

"I'm ready, ma'am. Prophets know I'm ready for this."

"You're sure? I meant what I said, about the shuttles."

Shar looked Tw'eak squarely in the eye. "You'll need me here, ma'am. I... need to be here."

"We all do," Nikau added. "It's not just payback, ma'am. It's redemption."

"It's about to be." Tw'eak looked over at her sister at the engineering station. Closing her eyes, Dashii gave her a nod, her antennae broadly spread over her head in an expression of readiness. "S'riss. Lay in a course for Planflar III."

"Course already plotted and laid in."

Nikau snickered. "Ready or not, here we come."

Tw'eak looked over her shoulder at him. "Earth expression?"

"Not exactly, ma'am. Part of a children's game, called hide-and-seek."

"Are you suggesting we're about to play that now?" Dashii asked.

"Not exactly. We know exactly where they're hiding."

Shar interrupted. "Plus, children on Earth tend to survive those sorts of games."

Tw'eak's eyebrows raised at the sound of Shar's fighting spirit. "Lieutenant... I'm impressed."

"Sorry, ma'am. If you're going to take the fight to the Cardassians, it's best to have a Bajoran along."

"Well said. Let's go, S'riss." Tw'eak took a sharp breath as she turned back to the viewscreen, the slight increase in vibration in the deck indicating the Meitner's acceleration away from the planet. She tilted her head back. "Ready or not," she said firmly, loudly enough for all to hear, "here we come."


	33. Part II, Chapter 14

The thick, churning atmosphere of the 'hot Jupiter' otherwise known as Planflar VII was a yellow-orange conflagration turning about a central axis. From within that mass of cloud and fire emerged USS Meitner, having used its silhouette and volatility to mask it from the sensors of the True Way's presence in-system. In command, Rear Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas leaned back in her chair, exuding a confidence to all appearances which she herself did not feel. She was anxious, to be certain - the idea of taking a science vessel, a starship configured for research and sensory observation, into solo combat against a task force made up of Jem'Hadar and Cardassian warriors, was something she would have laughed out of consideration at most points of her career. For one thing, commanding a Nebula-class starship, with her background and experience in ground and space combat, would have represented a clear sign that something had gone offline in that career, that she had been given a command which was not suited to her strengths, perhaps even as a reprimand. However, she now found herself in what would otherwise have seemed an impossible position, and responsible for the lives of the few hundred crew that had survived the initial ambush. They needed this chance to prove themselves. Only time would tell what they would make of it.

"Alright," she said softly to her crew. "Up to full impulse."

"Very nearly there, ma'am," Lieutenant (jg) S'riss said from the helm.

"Nothing yet," her sensor officer, Lieutenant Edvard Nikau, offered.

"Engines steady," her sister, Dashii, said from the engineering console.

Tw'eak stood up, took a pace towards the viewscreen, and turned her back to it. "I realize that you're all probably wondering if this is a suicide run, and I can appreciate your viewpoint. But you're wrong. I want you all to understand that I'm doing this for more than just revenge. If we can hurt them, if we can... if we can make them think twice about preying upon ships like this one, then maybe we'll spare a few of our number from certain destruction." She moved towards the tactical console, then positioned herself to operate it. "Anyway, I also wanted to wish each of you good luck. Just remember your training, and make it count."

There were murmurs of approval from Nikau and S'riss, but her science officer, Lieutenant Shar Talyt, merely nodded. Tw'eak offered her a soft smile, then leaned over towards her. "We'll allocate the balance of power towards auxiliary systems, grav generators and the like, to start with - then shift full power to weapons once we catch them off-guard."

"Power to aux? What for?"

Tw'eak waved Dashii over. "You can be ready to push power to aux?"

"EPS is shaky, but I think I can handle it - just don't take it too quickly or we'll risk damage. Were you thinking gravity well or something?"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking." Tw'eak looked to Shar. "We'll use the Meitner's own deflector dish to create a mess of swirling graviton out there, enhance the appeal of the planet, let's say. Set it up, and be ready to deploy it on my mark."

Dashii nodded. "And then once we've got them, full power to weapons?"

Tw'eak smiled at her sister. "That's exactly what I was thinking. And shields, of course. Do your best to keep them balanced, draw power from wherever you need."

"I'm hoping there'll be more than enough emergency power to transfer to shields as we need. Hard to tell if the shields will even hold after a few shots - especially the top shield. It'd collapse with the first winter snowfall."

"We'll have to take that into consideration," Tw'eak noted. "S'riss - remember that the top, port and starboard shields are going to be slightly harder to regenerate than the fore and ventral shields, because of the damage to the upper saucer."

S'riss looked at his console. "Hmm, good point... I'll revise our attack patterns to compensate."

"Good idea. Advise tactical and engineering teams to reroute as much power to the shields as they can, and keep them balanced to where the ship draw the greatest weight of fire. But yes - focus on getting us fore/aft on target as much as possible. And advise torpedo crews I want them to be loaded and ready to fire every chance they get."

"You can count on it."

The Meitner continued to surge forwards, now at full impulse, on course for the third planet. Behind it leaked a stream of particles from various damaged systems. Tw'eak organized her firing patterns, arranging to open with a volley at all available targets in order to draw their attention before initiating the grav-well. It helped to know that, unlike energy weapons, she could use the Meitner's torpedo launchers without concern as to EPS restrictions. She re-aligned firing control on the forward-facing dual beam bank in order to make it fire specifically at targets as she ordered them, rather than at targets of opportunity, and tied the forward torpedo launcher into the same pattern. She then organized the aft torpedo launcher, and photon mine launcher, to fire automatically, the former at any enemy as soon as the torpedo became available, while the latter would simply pump out as many photon mines as were available, continuously.

"The shuttlebay is opening," Dashii advised Tw'eak.

"So some of them are leaving," Tw'eak admitted, defeat in her tone. "Damn."

"I read five - make that seven shuttles," Nikau noted. "One of the shuttles is hailing us."

"On screen."

The face of Ensign Littrell appeared. "Hey, Admiral. Y'know this is a crazy plan, right?"

"So you said."

"Well, I found a few friends of mine - we're going to see if we can't help. We'll use these shuttles as fighters, see if we can't harass the big Cardie cruisers, maybe jam sensors... yeah, we know a few tricks."

"I figured you'd be halfway back to the Federation by now."

"Not gonna lie to you, I thought about it, but I'm not much of one for running from a fight."

"Same here."

"And the view out here was kinda persuasive, I'll tell you. She look this bad when you came onboard?"

"Yeah." Littrell made a face. Aware that she needed to clear the channel, Tw'eak cut him off before he could reply. "Good to have you back with us, Littrell."

"Yeah. Good luck. Littrell out."

Six shuttles, in three paired formations, took up positions around the Meitner in a rough semi-circle extending over the ship from one warp nacelle to the other. As the main viewer returned to showing the distant form of the third planet, Tw'eak saw Nikau shift uncomfortably at his post. "I've got movement. Three Jem'Hadar attack ships have broken off. They're on an intercept course."

Tw'eak turned to Dashii. "Those shuttles won't get caught in the grav well, will they?"

"Ooh, I don't know. I mean, one of the side effects is that our main deflector will juice our shields with graviton emissions as it lights off the gravity well, so it keeps us from being affected. If the shuttles stay close enough, they should have their shields affected in a similar fashion. It'll dissipate, but not before the well itself does."

Tw'eak looked back to Shar. "What do we have that we could use instead?" She searched Shar's board. "Ready a feedback pulse. When those attack ships move to intercept, fire."

"Right."

The Jem'Hadar attack ship formation came at the Meitner, and as they approached a burst of energy across the space before them caused their ships to rock slightly. They opened fire, but as they did, their weapons fire stopped, as their polaron blasts damaged their own shields- the effect of the feedback pulse.

"It worked!" Shar said, jumping in place.

"Alright." Tw'eak turned to Nikau. "Scramble their sensors."

"Got it."

"Boost our thrusters - evasive maneuvers!"

A further burst of energy from the Meitner caused the ships' targeting sensors to mistakenly allocate each other as enemies. Opening fire, the three ships began to tear into each others' shields, one of them spinning out of control before fire control was restored. By then, the Meitner had passed between them, deftly avoiding a collision through a rather nifty barrel-roll, and moved beyond the range of their attacks.

"Nice move, S'riss."

S'riss looked up for only a second and smiled, his ears perked proudly.

Nikau read his board. "Contacts are maneuvering... probably in pursuit."

"Let them. We're not after them." Tw'eak pointed ahead. "The Keldon-class ship. That's our target." She looked over her shoulder at Shar. "As soon as you're in range."

"Right." Shar looked up. "But it's still in orbit of the planet. Won't the grav well draw them down into-"

Tw'eak nodded, a sarcastic now-you're-getting-it expression on her face. "Yeah."

"Oh- oh! That's what you meant! But - but they'll be killed." Shar shook her head. "Right, right. That's the point. Sorry."

Tw'eak smiled. "There you go."

Just beyond range of the gravity well's effect, the Meitner continued on as fast as it could go on thrusters. From aft came several bursts of polaron fire, one of them striking the aft shield, before the photon mines and aft torpedoes began to rock the pair of Jem'Hadar ships who pursued. Another shockwave of energy issued forth from somewhere behind the Meitner as one of the shuttles attempted to jam the sensors of the Jem'Hadar ships. The pair of attack ships began to drift in their course, suddenly unable to effectively pursue the Meitner as their sensors no longer clearly maintained a lock on the big ship. Both ships throttled down, one at a time, letting the Meitner close the distance between its graviton-charged deflector and the Keldon-class True Way flagship ahead.

"Full power to auxiliary," Tw'eak ordered, hand raised, never looking away from the screen. She dropped her hand to her side. "Now - gravity well."

From the main deflector, a channelled burst of focused graviton particles issued invisibly, causing the dish itself to glow harshly with purple coruscating energy. The effect rippled over the shields, but not before a massive lavender-pink conical emission seemed to draw upwards from the planet. The Jem'Hadar attack ships which served as escort to the Keldon class cruiser in orbit there found themselves being drawn in, their engines failing to hold their position over the planet. The Keldon began to follow suit, listing to one side, its tail visibly angling planetward. A burst of weapons fire pierced the effect, a desperation shot which hit nothing and did nothing to mitigate the effect. A surge of engine power brought the Keldon back onto an even planform relative to the Meitner, and the two ships surged towards each other.

Tw'eak opened fire. Torpedoes burst from the launcher in the sensor pod, phaser fire swept across the Keldon, and the shuttles in their turn joined the effect, saturating the Keldon's fire control and jamming its sensors. The Keldon fired blindly, as did the Jem'Hadar ships, fighting to the last despite their death spiral into the planet's atmosphere. The Meitner slowed to turn, its aft weapons playing upon the Keldon's shields, and Tw'eak noted that the right shield was weakened. "Stay above them, helm!"

"Right!" S'riss replied.

"Watch the shields. Come around again!"

The Meitner turned, and climbed relative to the planet, now in a position looking downwards towards the Keldon and the attack ships being swallowed by the planet. The pair of Jem'Hadar ships which had previously engaged the Meitner now returned to the combat, slicing through above and beside the Meitner as it turned to bring its forward dual phaser bank to bear on the Keldon.

"Can we scramble sensors again?"

"Not enough power!" Shar replied.

"Try it now!" Dashii shouted as polaron fire and spiral-wave disruptor beams contacted the Meitner in three places along its shields.

"Firing!" Shar let forth another sensor-scrambling pulse, and it struck the Keldon, whose spiral-wave disruptors and torpedoes now targeted one of the Jem'Hadar ships, sending it tumbling out of control just past the helpless Keldon and into the gravity well, to meet the fate of four others like it.

Tw'eak locked onto the last of the Jem'Hadar craft, and, realizing that the gravity well was just about out of power, she located the nimble attack ship with the Meitner's overloaded forward beam bank, cutting the smaller vessel's shields on the port side and reducing them to a minimally-effective state. In that exact moment, one of the photon mines struck home on that side, and the attack ship burst into conflagration, destroyed by the impact. The Keldon, for its part, had used the opportunity to engage in some desperate evasive maneuvers, and now turned to bring its forward spiral-wave disruptor to bear upon the science vessel. Tw'eak turned and reached for Shar's console, inputting a command for a feedback pulse independently of her bridge officer's direction. As she did, the pulse reversed the energy of the Keldon's beams, causing its weapons to backfire within its own shields, damaging its hull. The effect of several systems powering down became visible as lights went off along the edge of the ship, and the Keldon rolled slightly to one side.

"All stop," Tw'eak said.

S'riss pressed his console. "All stop, aye."

"Open ship-to-ship."

Nikau looked to Dashii, who simply stared back, before he turned to Tw'eak. "That'd be your console, ma'am."

"Right." Tw'eak opened hailing frequencies. "Attention, commander of Cardassian vessel. This is the Federation starship Meitner. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. If you do not surrender within thirty seconds, we will commence beam-over."

Nikau reacted wide-eyed to the sensor readouts. "Their warp core is on a build-up to detonation!"

"Full reverse!"

"On it!" S'riss replied, and the Meitner began an urgent, desperate motion backwards.

"Full power to forward shields!"

"Right!" Dashii answered.

"Transfer as much as you can. Hold on, this is going to hurt!"

As the Keldon detonated, sending a shower of debris and molten plasma cascading through space, the Meitner took the brunt of the blast on its forward shield. Tw'eak noted that one of the Jem'Hadar attack ships, which had fought valiantly through graviton surges, energy damage and projectile impacts now fell victim to its ally's death throes, and it created a second burst effect visible upon the viewscreen. S'riss had been able to maneuver the ship so that its lower shield was exposed, sparing the upper saucer any further effects of additional damage. This, however, did little to keep the ship itself from being rocked by the kinetic force of the blast, and as the ship bucked and rolled under Tw'eak's feet, she noticed the lights and controls flicker, then go out. After a few seconds, she looked over at her sister. "Report!"

"No additional physical damage," Dashii reported, "but shields are down thirty percent and half the EPS relays are offline. I'm trying to reroute, but we're already well below minimum suggested availability of power here."

"Admiral," Nikau said with growing alarm, "there's another issue."

"You're having sensor problems?" Tw'eak asked.

"No. I mean... out there." Nikau looked up at the viewscreen. Out of the fading immolation of the Keldon ship, a Jem'Hadar heavy escort came into view, then positioned its nose facing the Meitner's. "It's what I was afraid of, ma'am - I thought I'd tracked a Jem'Hadar cruiser on long-range before, but it wasn't on sensors when we came into range."

"Where did it go?"

"I think it shot around the planet. I mean, how else could we have missed it?"

Tw'eak looked down. The Jem'Hadar were hailing the Meitner. She looked around. "Options, people?"

"Auxiliary power is almost gone," Shar noted. "We can't do anything. I'm channelling what's left back into shields."

"Those are almost gone, too," Dashii added. "I'm trying to give us more shields in front, but at this point our aft shield is at, like, one percent!"

"We can't outrun them," S'riss commented.

"And they have us both outgunned and outmanned," Nikau said.

Tw'eak looked up from her console. The thought of ramming the heavy escort came to mind, but while she was certain the impact would destroy her vessel, she doubted the impact would be enough to stop the Jem'Hadar. So that left talk. No stalling, either - no amount of urgent repairs would make the Meitner combat-worthy in time. She recalled a story she had heard in the Academy of a ruse that had been attempted once by Captain Kirk involving corbomite. It wouldn't work - the Dominion had probably heard that one at some point. Perhaps she could explain ...what? She had just sent several attack ships spiralling to the surface of the nearest planet, and caused enough damage to a Keldon to force its surrender and, in turn, self-destruction. Perhaps that was an angle she could use? Some sort of desperate dodge involving telepathic control? Whatever Vorta was in charge over there would see right through it. Tw'eak considered her options carefully. Then she opened the channel.

On screen appeared a male Vorta in a purple-and-green outfit, wearing a control headset, with Jem'Hadar bristling at either side, not fully visible on the screen. "Well," the Vorta began, "colour me surprised. The captain's chair is empty? My condolences on your loss." He raised his chin thoughtfully, then continued. "Or perhaps condolences aren't appropriate, given that we are about to destroy all of you."

Tw'eak stepped away from the tactical console. "Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas. I speak for the crew of the starship Meitner."

"Ah! An admiral! This was unexpected. Is this the part where you beg for their lives and surrender? The True Way IS merciful to those who show contrition."

"Contrition?" Tw'eak laughed, for dramatic effect. "Hardly. Withdraw from this system immediately. Your presence here is a violation of Cardassian law. Starfleet won't stand for it. " She leaned forward. "And neither will I."

"Admiral, please, you're in no position to threat-"

Tw'eak cut the channel. "Dashii, how much power do we have left?"

"Not a hell of a lot."

Tw'eak looked down at her console. "Alright." She punched up the communications console, and ordered ship-to-ship. "Attention all crew, this is the bridge. Prepare to abandon ship on my order. Evacuate on an aftward trajectory only, and do not use saucer section lifepods if you can help it." She turned off the channel, and looked up to see her crew's faces, shocked. "You heard me. S'riss, before you go, program a collision course. Warp power."

"Admiral, I-"

"That was an order, mister." Tw'eak made a few quick paces towards the command chair. She looked up at her sister. "Goes for you, too. Get to the shuttlebay, escape pods, whatever."

"No way. I'm staying here."

Tw'eak shook her head with a grin. "Stubborn right to the last. The rest of you, go."

Nikau did not move. S'riss, having turned his chair to face the admiral, now turned back to his station. "Course laid in and plotted, warp engines online."

Shar, who also had not moved, looked towards the screen. "They're backing away!"

Tw'eak looked up. "Nikau?"

"They're- of course they are. Warspite and the task force have arrived in-system." Nikau changed the viewscreen to show the tactical overlay of the system, which indicated six Starfleet signatures at their four o'clock, high. "The Jem'Hadar are retreating."

"Not a chance." Tw'eak turned to Shar. "Can we get a tractor beam on them?"

Shar fumbled to reroute power through her console. "Y- yeah! Just a minute."

"We don't have a minute." Tw'eak vaulted forth from her seat back to tactical. "Emergency power to weapons!"

"Already on it!" Dashii replied.

"Tie them down until the task force can engage. Reverse the shield polarity if you have to, just... let's go!" Tw'eak looked down as her weapons display indicated her energy weapons were back online. She locked in a firing solution and opened fire upon the starboard side of the turning, retreating Jem'Hadar vessel. As she fired, shots from the escort's weapons struck home onto the Meitner's shields, depriving them of further power.

"Shields are down!" Dashii exclaimed.

"Ours, or theirs?" Tw'eak called out, optimistically.

"Ours!"

"Keep us on top of them anyway. S'riss, angle us - use that big empty saucer as a sort of shield if we have to. Dashii, cut power to all forward EPS relays."

"But we'll lose forward phasers!"

Tw'eak programmed her console to use sideboard weapons arrays and torpedo launchers only. "It's not like we're going to stop them. Let's just hope we can disable them. Nikau, target engines!"

"Engines - lock!"

"Where's that tractor beam?"

"You just powered down the forward emitter!" Shar cried out in despair.

"Right- sorry! Ventral emitter!"

Sparks flew across the deck as an EPS junction circuit overloaded, blasting Nikau's station with energy and chunks of the bulkhead. Nikau fell, but straightened up quickly. "I'm all right," he called out, then returned to his post, using a small fire extinguisher in hand to regain control.

"Tractor beam locked- firing!" Shar let out a breath as the viewscreen pulsated blue and white with the energy of the tractor beam as it held the Jem'Hadar ship in place.

"They're powering up engines," Nikau said. "They're trying to get a warp field up!"

Dashii snickered. "Morons."

"They're really shearing on us-" Another cascade of sparks issued from the ceiling.

"Get closer, S'riss!" Tw'eak ordered.

"I'm trying - it's hard to angle the ship AND keep the tractor lock!"

"Well, forget it! Dashii, get me some shields forward!"

"Doing my best! We've barely got enough power for everything."

"Take weapons offline." Tw'eak tapped at her console. She didn't hear anyone else at theirs, and she looked up at Dashii. "You heard me. Channel weapons power to the shields and warp power to the tractor beam. Thrusters only, S'riss. Let's... be an anchor."

"With thrusters only, we won't be able to follow them."

"But we can keep them from going to warp. Nikau, how long until the Warspite engages the target?"

"Forty-seven seconds. They're on intercept, at full impulse."

"Then we hold them, here." She turned to Shar. "Another grav well?"

"We can try. It might burn out the deflector-"

"I only need that deflector for the next forty seconds. Then we can all go home."

"Alright," Shar said. "Configuring for grav well."

"Channelling warp power to the deflector." Dashii looked over at her sister, whose expression appeared confused. "Easier than channelling it to the tractor beam..."

"Grav well now!" Shar called out. The ship lurched with the emission of the graviton pulse.

"Keep our shields up!" Tw'eak shouted as the deflector came to life, activating the shields with gravitons. The silhouette of the heavy escort was illuminated from behind, completely surrounded in the effect of the gravity well. While not as strong as its previous incarnation, the cyclone of gravimetric force did as Tw'eak had hoped, pinning the hapless Jem'Hadar vessel to a particular set of co-ordinates in space, unable to activate warp engines.

"Shields are holding!" Dashii replied.

"So's the grav well!" S'riss added, pointing at the viewscreen. The Jem'Hadar ship held in place, and now freed from the additional weight of towing, the Meitner's thrusters took it forward towards a now-stationary object, on a collision course.

"Watch-!"

S'riss deftly worked his controls, pushing the Meitner up and over the suspended Jem'Hadar ship. As if on cue, the starship Ottawa came around the curvature of the planet and locked a tractor beam of its own onto the escort, accompanied by two Defiant-class starships and the USS Warspite, whose weapons disabled those of the Jem'Hadar craft. Tw'eak looked down and noticed the hailing frequencies were waiting to be answered. She put the Vorta back up on the screen.

"Admiral." The Vorta half-giggled effusively. "I don't suppose you'd be amenable to a request for asylum on behalf of my Jem'Hadar shipmates and I? We throw ourselves upon the mercy of your mighty Federation."

Tw'eak felt zero urge to join in laughing. "You'll be remanded to the custody of the Cardassian Union, whose sovereign space you have violated. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to consider your request as soon as the tribunal for war crimes has been concluded."

The Vorta's face fell. "War crimes-! You can't-"

"Meitner out." Tw'eak closed the channel. She turned to her crew, making deliberate eye contact with each in turn. "Well done, everyone." When she came to Nikau, she asked, "The shuttles?"

"Four out of seven returning to hangar." Nikau looked visibly upset. "Ensign Littrell's isn't among them."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Me too," S'riss added. "He did all right, in the end."

Tw'eak waited a moment before continuing with her orders. "Ask shuttle crews to retrieve crew and transfer them to... the Ottawa, I suppose. I'll contact her captain and have her tow the Meitner to Deep Space Nine for overhaul." She paused for a moment, intentionally. "As I mentioned before, everything that's happened will be mentioned in my report." She looked up, and added, with emphasis, "I'll write to Littrell's next of kin personally. If any of you would like to do the same, I can include your letters with mine."

"I'd like that," Nikau replied. "He was a good kid. Would've made a hell of an officer."

Tw'eak nodded. "Let's get back to our quarters, then. Anything you don't want left behind for the repair crews to pick through, take it with you."

"Right."

"All stop," S'riss advised. "Engines at station keeping."

"All systems except shields and life support offline," Nikau added. "We're configured for tow."

The three officers each stepped away from their consoles, relieved. "I could go for a raktajino right about now," Shar said wearily.

"Think I'll join you," Nikau added. As they made their way across the bridge towards the exit, it was S'riss who turned first on his way out, coming to a stop in the threshold of the bridge exit. Then the others, in their turn, joined him. Together, they saluted Tw'eak, who sharply returned the gesture. Dashii made a half-hearted impulse towards her temple with her right hand, trying to join in as she worked the controls to shut down the ship's power.

After the three officers had exited, and the Ottawa's tractor beam took the Meitner in tow, Dashii stepped away from her console, and came over to tactical, where she threw her arms around her sister.

"What was that for?" Tw'eak asked.

Dashii stepped back from the embrace. "You. I'd never seen you in command like that before."

"Yeah. Guess you haven't. I hadn't really thought of that."

"Are you embarrassed?"

Tw'eak looked away from the glowing blue energy of the Ottawa's towing beam. "No, why?"

"You're embarrassed. I know what your antennae say, remember? Got a pair of my own."

"That's not it at all..." Tw'eak knew her antennae were signaling her upset, but it was different. "I was so worried about you. The entire time. I almost ordered you to a shuttle directly."

"I wouldn't have gone."

"No, I know, but if the task force hadn't shown up when they did... look, I came this far trying to get you back, but to lose you again on a ship that isn't even mine, fighting these people... not sure I would've been ready for that."

Dashii hugged her sister again. "Come on." She pointed at the Warspite on the screen, never once letting go of Tw'eak. "That's your ship, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't you show me around? Maybe it'll give me an excuse not to run off if I see something I like. Or someone..."

"Oh no, not that again."

"You never know. Hey, that marine you brought with you to Nimbus, he was kind of cute."

Tw'eak gave her sister a playful shove. "He's mine. At least, I think he is. It's complicated. Look, everything's going to get complicated - I left my post to get you, then everything that happened on Nimbus, and here, happened.. Starfleet's going to want answers, and I'll have lots of reports to file."

"I better hail the Majestic and let them know I'm not dead, I suppose. Then I'll have to return to duty before long."

"Exactly. Everything's going to happen and we'll be kicking ourselves that we didn't get to spend more time together. So let's get back, we can get you a nice, long shower, a cup of katheka... and we can enjoy whatever time we have together."

"Oh, that sounds lovely. Sorry, I lost you at 'katheka'. It's been soooo long."

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge, relishing the thought of a cup of katheka, all her own. "Aewon? Where are you?"

"Docked aboard Warspite, ma'am. Hope we got here in time."

"Just in time, Lieutenant. Well done. We're standing by on Meitner's auxiliary control deck. Can you beam us back?"

"Using the shuttle transporter? Certainly. One moment... Energizing."

As the battle bridge of the Meitner vanished around them, Tw'eak kept her eyes tightly focused on her sister, afraid she might get lost on the way home in some sort of transporter malfunction or equivalent twist of fate. But after a few seconds, the interior of the shuttle Hypatia coalesced about them, its doors open to reveal the cavernous interior of Warspite's shuttlebay. Tw'eak took her sister's arm in hers and said, "come with me," then led her towards the nearest exit. The familiar corridors, and the sensation of having succeeded at bringing Dashii home at last, nearly overwhelmed her. It took a great deal more resolve than fighting Orions or the True Way had required to keep herself from displaying the slightest hint of outward emotion. Still, a single tear betrayed her and leaked its way loose, causing her to blink and run a hand along her face, as if brushing hair from her eyes, just as they reached the turbolift in the corridor. Once its door had closed, however, and she was alone with her sister again, Tw'eak drew her sister into her arms and squeezed her as hard as she could.


	34. Part II, Chapter 15

"Hold it right there."

The sheer joy of the moment - finally having her sister home safe - was brought crashing down as Tw'eak recognized the voice of Doc from somewhere behind her as they exited the turbolift and walked down the corridor. She turned, caught out by it, and saw the good doctor with a hand on her hip.

"Doc. Didn't expect to find you here."

"And it's lucky for me I found you." She nodded to Dashii. "Hello."

Tw'eak looked over at Dashii. "My chief medical officer, Doctor Shirley Ellington. Doc and I have served together for a very long time. I'm sure you two will have... lots of time to get acquainted."

"I'm taking her to sickbay. If she needs quarantine or anything else, I'll let you know."

"There are probably more wounded from the Meitner still to make their way over."

"I'm not surprised. We'll be ready for them, don't you worry."

Dashii gave Tw'eak a forlorn look as they separated, then followed the doctor, leaving Tw'eak alone for the first time in many, many days. She was struck by the weariness that overcame her every joint and muscle as she tried to move. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she realized she probably hadn't eaten anything in the better part of a day. She took a deep breath, resolved to fight her way through it, and put herself in motion towards the turbolift, and the bridge.

Lieutenant Aewon came into the corridor as she turned. "Good work over there, ma'am," he said as he moved into stride next to Tw'eak, going a little too fast for her liking.

"Yeah, same to you. Thanks for keeping a close eye on us."

"Oh, I figured you had it all under control. Always do."

Tw'eak smiled as the turbolift arrived. She and her lieutenant stepped through the portal and she said, "bridge," without a second thought.

"Deck four," Aewon requested. After a few moments of the turbolift whirring to life towards its destination, he turned his head slightly towards her. "I wanted you to know that whatever happens next, pretty much the whole crew is with you. We all recognize that you did what you had to do, and even if Starfleet didn't order it, what you did on Nimbus, and for the Meitner... well, we're all glad you're on your side."

"Let's hope Starfleet sees it that way," Tw'eak replied.

"Oh, they'd be stupid not to. With the war? With everything else that's going on? They shouldn't discipline you, they should clone you." Aewon laughed.

Tw'eak smiled. "I appreciate that, Lieutenant." Then she raised a hand. "Except for the cloning part. Let's... let's hope Starfleet doesn't start putting a race of Andorian clones in charge, like the Dominion does with the Vorta."

"Point taken. Couldn't stand that Vorta - I was monitoring channels, couldn't believe he'd go from threatening you to requesting asylum, just like that."

"That's Vorta for you," Tw'eak acknowledged. The turbolift came to a stop, and Aewon took a step out. "But really, thank you for everything."

"Same to you, ma'am. Always an honour." He saluted cleanly, and walked away before Tw'eak could fully return the gesture. The doors closed, the turbolift resumed along its path, and the motion of it nearly made Tw'eak's knees give out. She felt quite frail - unusually so. Perhaps she should have gone with her sister to sickbay.

The doors opened, revealing Warspite's bridge before her. From the captain's chair, Octavia rose to her feet with a slight pirouette towards the opened door, Tw'eak proving to be a welcome sight. Such was the case, too, for Aurora, standing at the engineering station adjacent to the turbolift door. "Admiral on deck!" she shouted.

Tw'eak took a few steps forward, tentatively, desperate not to faint upon her first appearance here in nearly two weeks. "As you were," she ordered. She gave a smile, and a nod, to Aurora, then stepped past her to grip the edge of the tactical console. "Status report, please?"

"All systems functioning normally. We took minor damage fighting the True Way, nothing we can't handle."

Tw'eak looked over at Centurion Oulius. "Good fight?" she asked.

Oulius gestured towards his displays. "Not bad. Our dual beam bank's accuracy needs re-aligning, I'm not happy with its performance. I nearly missed."

Tw'eak smiled. "The mark of a good tactical officer." She looked down at the console. "Not happy with ninety-two percent accuracy."

"Well, why should I be?"

"Exactly." Tw'eak looked over to Octavia. "You have the bridge, Oulius. I'd like to get filled in on everything I've missed."

"Shall I maintain course and heading?" This question was directed to Octavia from an ensign at the helm whom Tw'eak did not recognize.

"Yes. Advise me-" Octavia cut herself off, looking over towards Tw'eak. "Please advise the admiral should the situation change."

"Yes, ma'am."

Tw'eak nodded towards Octavia, who followed the admiral to her ready room. The doors closed behind them, then quickly opened to admit Aurora. Tw'eak and Octavia turned to see the chief engineer looking sort of disappointed. "Where is she?"

"Sickbay. Doc wanted to give her a full checkup. She's been through a lot."

"But she's alive. Wow!"

"I was contacted by Commander T'uni," Octavia added. "She was able to advise me that the children whom you liberated are all being returned to their families."

"Yeah!" Aurora exclaimed. "What was all that about?"

"According to T'uni, many of the children belonged to families of prominent individuals in the Klingon Empire, the Federation, and both the Romulan Republic and Star Empire."

"Leverage," Tw'eak added. "Give us what we want or your children get it."

Aurora gasped. "That's horrible!"

"That's the Syndicate. They do horrible like no one else."

Octavia brushed her hair aside from her optical implant. "In utilizing your console, I also noted that you have a series of private communication attempts from various individuals at Starfleet Command. I think it safe to say that our secret is well and truly out."

Tw'eak sighed. "I expected as much."

"One would hope that your actions on Nimbus, coupled with your recent conduct in bringing home the Meitner and her crew, will be considered successful actions, if unorthodox."

"I don't know. They make you believe that every command officer is a James Kirk, or a Kathryn Janeway, out there on the edge of the known galaxy making the hard calls and taking risks. But that's not really what they're after when they call you captain, or admiral. They want someone who does as they're expected, just as they're told - no less, and certainly not anything more. This time, I just couldn't let those orders dictate my actions. It wasn't a decision I was prepared to live with, to abide by Starfleet's will and let my sister suffer and die. The fact that we did all right by a lot of people in the process simply tells me I was right all along."

Both Octavia and Aurora sat in silence for a moment after listening to Tw'eak. It was then that Tw'eak saw Aurora brush a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry," she said suddenly. "I- I couldn't do it either."

"It's okay. She's all right now."

"I know-" Aurora sobbed, "but still- my mom always... I would walk with her to school, and now- she's out there someplace... and I just want to call her up on subspace and say hello- make sure that -that she's okay!"

"She is," Octavia added.

Aurora looked up sharply. "She is?"

"She is." Octavia looked up nervously at Tw'eak. "I made a point of reviewing the personnel status of family members of certain officers aboard." Octavia glanced at Aurora. "Yesterday. She is fine."

Aurora's teary expression was radiant with joy. "Oh! Oh, I could - thank you, Octavia!"

Octavia merely nodded. There was something in her expression which Tw'eak found unfamiliar, but she brushed it off for the moment.

"I'm gonna go call her anyway!" Aurora leapt from her seat, then quickly turned about. "I mean, can I go?" She cleared her throat and straightened her uniform. "Permission to return to quarters, Admiral."

"Granted." Tw'eak smiled appreciatively at her engineer's departure. After she had left, nearly walking through the doors before they had fully opened, Tw'eak took a deep breath. "Was she like this the entire time I was gone?"

"Fortunately, no."

"Good." Tw'eak settled back in. "That's more anxiety than I can deal with right now. I haven't been this tired since Academy finals."

"I can imagine it was incredibly difficult for you."

"Not particularly. I mean, you get to a point where your training kind of does the hard part for you. That's the best way I can explain it. People start shooting at me, and I figure out their firing pattern, their plan, their angles, all that sort of stuff. It happens really quickly. If I'm lucky, I figure them out before they figure me out. And once they're dead... I can relax. But this was different. A real command challenge - both on Nimbus and once we found the Meitner. Not a fight I'd wanted to get myself into. Fortunately, we had good people. Improves the odds against the bad guys that way."

"Indeed. I've read your report. Selkirk Rex and his people played a vital role in the rescue, as did representatives of the Republic?"

"A few friends of your old Romulan admirer, perhaps? Doesn't matter - believe me, it was all appreciated. We needed all the help we could get. There were Klingon kids, Reman kids, Cardassian kids - even a young Breen - all in there with others from across the Federation. And so many kids - almost every Federation member I could recognize had a young representative." Tw'eak paused for a moment. "Now that - that was scary. That many kids in one place. It's funny, you know - I can knock 'em down, but don't ask me to raise one of my own." She laughed, but only briefly. "Some times, I wonder, you know. How motherhood would've changed me, if I'd been able."

"I know what you mean." Octavia shrugged her shoulders. "It is an ability neither of us possess."

"Because of the Borg, in your case, I presume."

"Yes. But also personal choice. I suspect I would be a difficult mother to have. The requisite bonding experiences would be very different for a liberated Borg."

"All of those kids... they all have at least one parent who's been out there, waiting to resume that bond, wondering if they ever would. There were thousands of those kids. Thousands. I guess you add up all the kids all those important functionaries and commanders from across the universe would have among them, and it's not even a fraction of their number. But it was enough for the Orions to keep their hands on the throats of every major power across the galaxy."

"The familial bonds are a critical component of all sentient species, to be certain. It represents their continued genetic survival, along with that of their civilization. For the Orions to exploit those bonds like this is only surprising in that it took this long for them to consider it."

"Or perhaps only now they've become this desperate as to consider it," Tw'eak thought aloud. "After all, they had a good thing going for a while before T'uni foiled their last effort, infiltrating so effectively as they had. Perhaps they escalated their abductions after we ruined their efforts last time."

"That makes sense."

Tw'eak looked up bemusedly at her first officer and friend. "You didn't actually contact her, did you?"

"Pardon?"

"About Bianca duBois, I mean."

Octavia looked up, reviewing. "Lieutenant duBois - sister of..." Her head came down. "No."

"Ha! I knew it."

"I consider myself fortunate that she did not challenge me for the name of her sister's ship, or current assignment, as I knew nothing of her beyond that the commander had a sister."

"So why'd you tell her that?"

"I have learned many things while serving under your command, and most notable among these is the distinct disadvantage I possess in not having an appropriate balance between my rational side and my emotional self. I have learned several methods, which I have mostly adapted from your command style, to support me in overcoming this weakness."

"But lying to Aurora about her sister's well-being? Kind of... cold, no?"

Octavia tilted her head and lowered her eyebrows. "Perhaps, but necessary. She was in a state of self-inflicted distress. I knew that assuring her of what was doubtless an established fact in the record would set her mind at ease, and propel her to an action which she surely would have undertaken anyway. Instead of contacting her sister in uncertainty, I provided her a certainty, which her contact has by now hopefully confirmed."

Tw'eak smiled. "I hope you're right. Now." She made an effort to stand, but felt her head spin.

"Are you unwell?"

"Just a bit tired. I haven't had much to eat lately."

"Shall I retrieve a meal for you from the replicator?"

"No, that won't be necessary. You've got things you need to do, I'm sure."

"Were you a drone, I would direct you to regenerate immediately."

Tw'eak looked up, amused. "And I'd say that resistance is futile, then."

"As you are my commanding officer, however, I will request that you consider returning to your quarters. I can look after the bridge for the time being."

Tw'eak relented. "All right." She moved to stand again, but the dizzy sensation refused to permit it. "You know, maybe I'll eat here first. With your help, if you don't mind."

Octavia merely smiled. "Of course." She walked over to the replicator, and Tw'eak let herself fully collapse into the chair.

* * *

The sustaining force of the drumbeat in Tw'eak's head had finally started to subside by the time she finished her bowl of plomeek soup. The katheka she had made was also now sadly room-temperature, and she took a sip largely out of regret that she hadn't enjoyed it while it was fresh. There was less of an urgency about Tw'eak now, and she felt herself start to drift off to sleep, but she knew full well that there were immediate matters of command which required her attention. Still, they could wait. Perhaps until after another cup of katheka.

As she stood in order to walk over to the replicator, the door chime sounded. "Come in, "she called.

Through the door, hesitantly, came Lieutenant Shar, formerly of the Meitner. The Bajoran who had been Tw'eak's bridge science officer stopped quickly on the other side of the door. "Is this a bad time, ma'am?"

"Not at all, Lieutenant." Tw'eak sat back down, brushing the bowls and mug onto an adjacent part of her ready room desk. "I didn't realize you were aboard. How can I be of assistance?"

"I... just wanted to ask if you'd heard anything about the Meitner."

"She's a good ship, isn't she?"

"I don't know. I mean, I've only served on two starships, and the other one - the Donetsk - was destroyed about a month into my tour."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Me too. I was lucky to escape. We all were, really. We were on our way to the front lines, just a few hours out of Station K7, when they ambushed us. It was the Enterprise that came to rescue us. Sounds so cliche, but they showed up just in time."

"The Enterprise-F?"

"Yes, ma'am. It was one of her first actions, or so I found out once they brought me aboard. Their captain was from your world, too, if I remember."

"Yes, Va'Kel Shon." Tw'eak smiled at the mention of her old friend. "He and I have known each other for... forever."

"I don't know if it's appropriate to admit, but I'm kind of jealous of your people."

Tw'eak tilted her head. "Really? Why is that?"

"You've been fortunate enough to be part of the Federation from the beginning. My people weren't so fortunate - we put our faith in the Prophets, and while it certainly sustained us throughout the Occupation, having corporeal allies might have counted for something more against the Cardassians."

"I seem to recall Bajor's neutrality being a major reason why it wasn't occupied by the Cardassians, or the Dominion, during the War."

"No, you're right, but... I don't know, I just wonder how much more we might have achieved otherwise. There aren't any Bajoran admirals or even many captains yet, so it's a bit daunting." Shar laughed. "Not that I should imply that having a Bajoran commander would be better somehow - Prophets know we barely understand ourselves sometimes!"

Tw'eak nodded. "That's the wonderful thing about the Federation. It doesn't consider itself a closed room, where only so many people - or so many types of people - are allowed. There's a space for everyone, because we all have something to offer."

Shar stared intently at Tw'eak, as if she had long awaited someone to say such things. Then she caught herself, and shook her head. "Anyway, I just wondered if I would be reassigned."

"If you'd like to be, then I'd be happy to help."

"No! No, ma'am. I..." Shar shook her head. "It's complicated." She sat silently, shifting in place.

After a few moments, Tw'eak said, "You're not under any obligation to explain, but I'm willing to hear you out."

Shar took a deep breath. "I'm sure you figured out that things ran... a bit differently aboard the Meitner. We had a much more casual approach than many other ships. When I served aboard the Donetsk, I wouldn't even dream of speaking to a lieutenant, or a commander, after my shift was done, but the Meitner had these communal sort of areas where rank held no privilege. It was Captain Flint's idea. Some people really liked it, but I rarely ever went. It probably held me back, but I rarely drew much notice either way. There was a better sense of community since people felt they could be free, be a part of the family, no matter who they were. So that's what they did."

Tw'eak's eyes became increasingly inflamed as the lieutenant spoke. "I... see," she stammered out before becoming locked in a battle between a sense of embarrassment and absolute, unbridled rage at the abuse of power that Shar so casually discussed.

"It was good, in the sense that it gave people the opportunity to relax, maybe have a little fun, even. But that was only because the commanders really meant it to be that way. We all knew that it wasn't really appropriate - it's not like they'd forget, or really mean it when they said rank held no privilege. I know Commander Wakza was never a fan of it. I don't remember ever seeing him in there, in fact. But for some of the crew, it was a chance to get to know their commanders a little better, and vice-versa. And we all lived and worked in close contact with each other so it was no big deal. At least, until we came under attack."

"I wondered how that affected the events of that attack. Were you on the bridge at the time?"

"No, ma'am. Wouldn't be sitting here if I'd been."

"Right." Tw'eak nodded, remembering that the uppermost decks of the ship had been decompressed in the attack. "Still. Was it common for Commander... Holnat, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Was it common for her to be able to persuade the captain to set aside procedure like that?"

"Well... I mean, you know about the captain and her."

Tw'eak nodded again. "It seemed to have been an open secret."

"Wouldn't even call it a secret, ma'am. They shared quarters, in fact."

"Really." Tw'eak pursed her lips, furious.

"No sense keeping it from you now - they're both dead. But the commander got anything she wanted. A lot of us, in science, we're not exactly the most... assertive people. We really admired that she could always come through for whatever we needed. We'd go to her, and she'd get it done. It was one of the reasons I appreciated her. On a sci-boat that's just what we need, to do our research and get the results. But I wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable with how she gained her ...influence, I guess?"

"I'd say 'influence' is an understatement."

"Exactly. There was just this attitude on board, like if you were a female crew member, you should be using that influence - and if you were a male officer..."

"Then you should be open to being influenced?"

Shar nodded. "Yeah." She adjusted her hair. "I didn't get anywhere with that - I mean, maybe it was because I was Bajoran or whatever, but there was definitely a sense ...like certain things were settled in other ways. I can't prove any of it, but... resource access, shift scheduling, even promotions... all of it was open to influence."

Tw'eak leaned back in her chair and adjusted her uniform tunic. "You're aware of the gravity of what you're telling me."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And I should advise you, this conversation will be on the record."

"I don't really care, ma'am. I'd testify to this in public. Most of the people that could've hurt me for telling you... they were on the bridge that day."

Tw'eak raised a hand. "Hold on a second. Firstly, let me deal with how felt like you were being held back on account of being Bajoran."

"As I said, I can't prove it-"

Tw'eak jabbed the desk with her hand as she spoke. "You should never, ever be made to feel that way aboard a Federation starship. Matters of species membership, even if you're two-thirds Tholian and one part Gorn, should never impact upon either command decisions or personnel assignments. That's against your rights as a Starfleet officer, and as a citizen of the Federation. I'm astonished to think that such a situation existed on a ship under my command."

"So you had no idea?"

"None. Captain Flint did a masterful job of covering this all - I'd imagine that even if I'd gone looking for it, I would've been none the wiser. But that's another thing. No one aboard your vessel, neither officer nor enlisted personnel alike, brought any of this to the attention of myself or anyone else in a position to investigate."

"I don't think anyone felt you'd listen, to be perfectly honest. 'Nobody cares about sci-boats', right? The war takes priority."

"Doesn't matter if you're a top-secret experimental vessel or a two-hundred-year-old patrol cruiser restricted to Warp 2. All Starfleet ships have their place on duty. And all officers have an equal commitment to uphold that duty regardless of their orders. This sort of thing undermines confidence in the uniform, and keeps people from doing their duty. It shouldn't ever happen aboard a starship, anywhere, at any time."

Shar nodded. "I know S'riss - you remember S'riss - he struggled with it a lot, too, but I think he had a sense that the whole command structure was affected, no point fighting it. Same with Littrell - I think he liked it, actually, tried to fit in with them. No idea what Lieutenant Nikau felt. I don't know him very well."

"I wouldn't worry about the others. I can see that re-assigning the crew of this ship will be a bigger task than I had originally envisioned."

"I understand. And I'm sorry."

Tw'eak looked up, her antennae nearly touching with rage and embarrassment. "This really isn't your fault at all, Lieutenant. I wish you'd brought it to my attention a month ago, when I could've done something about it and kept the Meitner's whole crew alive. But again, not your fault - I was willing to trust the captains under my command to exercise their prerogative within Starfleet regulations. These... off-rank meeting areas would definitely never be permitted, and there's a reason for that. Each cadre of officers in Starfleet has its ranks and divisions precisely because what we do is too important to allow the personal to interfere with the professional. We have to separate the two. It's how we do the job."

"I guess Captain Flint just felt that - I don't know."

"He was trying to bring in a more open, democratic feeling to a place where, under duress, no such feeling can be permitted. There's a big difference between, say, what I would do in getting to know my immediate subordinates, and in having a sort of shipboard house party every night once the work is done." Tw'eak stood up. "I'm afraid that your life may be a lot more complicated in the coming months, Lieutenant."

"I understand, ma'am. I knew it wouldn't be easy for you to hear."

"And it mustn't have been easy for you to tell. That much I can figure out myself. But there would have been an investigation regardless. Having this already on the record may preclude a cover-up, and prevent complications for other officers' careers."

"Oh, that much I know. S'riss was already telling me how he couldn't see himself coming forward, since he feels like his service record would be tarnished by it."

"The truth never tarnishes, Lieutenant, it shines through."

Shar stood and leaned towards the door. "Thank you for your time."

"I'll let you know if I hear anything. But, to be honest, an officer of sincerity, of conviction... is the kind of person I'd want serving aboard one of my ships. You, Nikau, S'riss... your conduct really impressed me in the fight we had back there. Littrell, too, after a fashion. I hope the three of you won't be so bound to the memories of those who let you down in the past, that you aren't looking forward to your future service."

"Far from it, ma'am. I'm very proud to be in Starfleet. I just hope this won't reflect badly upon me, going forward."

"Only one way to find out. Keep going forward. As I said, there'll probably be a board of inquiry. I can safely guess at how that one turns out. But when it all shakes out, whatever happens, I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you, ma'am." Shar snapped to attention in a salute.

To her astonishment, Tw'eak extended a hand and gently shook with her. "I appreciate you taking the time to come and see me."

Shar gushed slightly. "I might actually sleep tonight," she said as she did. "Thanks again, Admiral." And she turned and went, leaving Tw'eak to amend her report on the destruction of the Meitner with this new information. Closing her eyes and shaking her head at the idiocy which had been described to her, Tw'eak took her dishes to the replicator and ordered up another cup of katheka.


	35. Part II, Chapter 16

_Captain's log, stardate 99523.2 - The starship Meitner is on its way to the Bajor shipyards, and I suspect I'll be called to testify whenever the board of inquiry is established into its near-destruction. I can't help but wonder what the results of whatever inquiry is due for my actions recently, and hope to hear something conclusive in the coming days. In the meantime, Warspite has been ordered to Deep Space Nine. I've been requested personally, and I find myself apprehensive about the reasons why._

The door from the docking ring slid open, admitting Tw'eak to the Promenade. She well knew the way to Ops from here, and silently found herself wishing she could stop into the replimat, or Quark's, for an hour or two before heading up there. It might improve her overall disposition to have a raktajino, or a pint of Andorian ale, even. She felt herself blush slightly at the thought of Andorian ale, and the thought of the last time she had enjoyed any, in Leo's company. That had been quite a night. Her anxiety over being here on official business prevented her from enjoying that memory, however.

As she strode along the Promenade, Tw'eak couldn't help but be captivated by the station. So much of the Federation's history had been determined by the actions of Captain Sisko and his crew - here, not on a starship, although the USS Defiant certainly played its part in the Dominion War. _Both starships Defiant_ , Tw'eak thought to herself. _There were at least two_. Somehow the thought that Captain Sisko had been through much, much harder circumstances, at a lower rank, reduced her anxiety somewhat. _  
_

She recognized the places she had read about, a sort of ritual she had undertaken on all the many occasions she had visited while her ship had docked here - the place where Elim Garak's tailor shop had once been, the spot on the Promenade where the Pah-Wraiths and Prophets had squared off, the Bajoran Temple where Jadzia Dax had been murdered, and through the window, looking that way - there it was, opening just now! - the Celestial Temple, otherwise known as the stable wormhole that led to the Idran system, the Dominion, and the Gamma Quadrant.

As she stepped into the lift, on her way to Ops, she recalled the missions she had herself been asked to undertake on this station by Captain Kurland, its current commander, during the unpleasant period in which first the Mirror Universe, then a force of temporally-displaced Jem'Hadar, had run rampant on board. The war against the Klingons had left this place untouched, and it enjoyed status as a place of neutral refuge despite the war. Now, however, as the turbolift shuddered to life, its dilapidated Cardassian design not nearly as efficiently operated as the Starfleet lifts Tw'eak was accustomed to, she wondered whether the station would provide her with sanctuary, or be the place where her career came to die.

The door opened onto the operations deck, and Tw'eak strode forward, looking upwards in the direction of the captain's office, Sisko's baseball still upon the desk within, an artifact of his time in command. A lieutenant commander, a female Vulcan in a tactical uniform, stepped away from the main display table, and approached her.

"Rear Admiral Sh'abbas?" she inquired.

"I am."

"Lieutenant Commander T'pril. Adjutant to Fleet Admiral Kells."

Tw'eak was immediately alarmed. Her task force was nominally under the command of Fleet Admiral Kells, but he was two ranks above her. His involvement in her command was supposed to be limited to signatures on orders and perhaps a rare conversation over subspace. But he was here? She saluted instinctively, desperate to hold her emotions in check, aware that the Vulcan adjutant would closely monitoring her response. "How may I be of assistance to the fleet admiral?"

"I believe he can explain that himself. He requested that you meet with him aboard the Ranger. I am to accompany you."

"In that case, let's not keep him waiting." Tw'eak gestured a hand towards the transporter pad, and she and T'pril stepped aboard. T'pril nodded towards a lieutenant, who activated the device, and before a few moments were up, Tw'eak found herself in a transporter room nearly identical to the one aboard the Warspite.

"This is the starship Sherman, flagship of the Eighth Fleet. Follow me, please." T'pril moved briskly towards the corridor, through the door and down the hall. Tw'eak followed closely.

"May I ask what I'm doing here?" Tw'eak asked.

"There are certain aspects of your recent service which I understand the admiral wishes to discuss with you."

So this was it, then. Tw'eak opted for a bit of bluster. "May I ask which 'certain aspects' are to be discussed?"

"I believe the admiral would be better qualified to answer that question, although I can... understand your apprehension."

"Not apprehensive, merely trying to understand. I'd hate to misremember or not recall whatever aspects of my recent service the admiral felt it was appropriate to discuss with me."

"Indeed," T'pril said, her tone sour. "That would be most unfortunate."

A few paces further and they came to a door. T'pril sounded the chime, and moments later, the door opened. T'pril preceded first. "Rear Admiral Sh'abbas," she announced. Tw'eak entered to see a rather large set of quarters which had been converted to a private office for the admiral. Behind a large desk with a display unit and a series of padds across its surface sat a graying human male, who stood as Tw'eak entered. Tw'eak came forward and saluted, and as her salute was returned, she stood at attention.

"Yes, it is." The admiral returned to his seat. "Barnard Kells. Eighth Fleet, commanding."

"It's an honour to meet you, sir."

Kells cleared his throat and sorted through some padds. "T'pril?"

The Vulcan had acquired a padd, and looked up from it. "Please be seated."

It hadn't been often in her life that Tw'eak had been in trouble - not official, admininstrative trouble, anyway. She had gotten herself into and out of more scrapes and skirmishes than she could count, often times with a tendency towards being brought to places like this for official recognition or acclaim rather than for the sort of intensive, anxious purpose for which they were presently met. Tw'eak took a look around the sparsely-decorated interior, hoping to locate a point of focus, around which she could concentrate, and in so doing, control her emotions. She had to settle for a picture on the far wall, an abstract series of boxes. She picked an orange one between two shaded blue, and fixated it in her mind. If she could keep her gaze from wavering, keep her antennae parallel to its sides, she could convey a sense of calm, of cool, confident certainty, which she in no way felt. It couldn't hurt, she figured.

T'pril began. "According to your report, on stardate 99501 you arrived at space station Deep Space Nine."

"That's correct."

"At which point, you were provided with intelligence regarding your sister, Lieutenant Dashichal Sh'abbas."

"Zh'abbas," Tw'eak corrected. "Dashii is a zhen female, not a shan, as I am."

"Noted. Nevertheless, the statement is otherwise correct."

"Yes."

"What was the source of your information?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "I'm not at liberty to provide any identification of the source."

"Yes, you are," Kells growled.

"Please answer the question," T'pril insisted.

"I'd sooner invoke my rights under the Seventh Guarantee than provide any information." Tw'eak glared at Kells. "Whether ordered to, or otherwise."

Kells shook his head. "Next question."

"Once provided with the information, you returned to USS Warspite immediately?"

"Yes."

"How did you proceed from there?"

Tw'eak knew just what to say. "I returned to my ship, summoned my senior officers together and asked for volunteers. We... during one of our previous missions, we had encountered a force of Starfleet veterans who had opted not to continue their service. They serve under a former Starfleet officer named Kwazii, who refers to himself presently as Selkirk Rex. As a group, they undertake the rescue of those who are captured by Orion slavers or other forces who utilize slave labour. As part of their mission, they patrol a broad area ranging across the Tau Dewa, Pi Canis and Psi Velorum sector blocks, in vessels formerly in the possession of those very slavers. They assisted us in fending off an attack by Hirogen forces in the Mylasa system while I was commanding officer of the Bonaventure, and their existence is known to Starfleet."

"And you contacted this group? With what intention?"

"I didn't personally make the contact. One of my crew members did."

"Which crew member?"

Tw'eak shrugged. "Can't recall. I'm sure it's logged." She fought the urge to smirk - she knew Octavia had used the shuttlecraft's subspace communicator to contact Selkirk Rex's people. As such, no log would have been created aboard Warspite's computers. "With regard to my intentions, I was well-aware they had a better sense of the area, along with more recent intel on what to expect, and thus they could advise how best to proceed. I took a small team of volunteers, and we went to Nimbus III."

"So you claim not to have used your influence as their commanding officer to induce volunteer service?"

"Quite the contrary. I told them I wanted to go alone. They refused to let me. This is all in my report."

"We've read your reports," Kells replied sharply. "Just answer the questions."

"I believe I have." Tw'eak raised an eyebrow at Kells. His hostility was rampantly obvious, and he looked prepared to chomp the end off the padd he held in his hands, or perhaps snap it in two. Tw'eak couldn't really tell which was more likely, but equally likely they seemed.

T'pril, quintessentially Vulcan, simply proceeded unperturbed with the next question. "Your volunteers were... four in number, correct?"

"Yes. Lieutenant Aewon, Lieutenant Zolnaen Didaggo-"

"That's in the file," Kells said, gesturing for T'pril to move along.

"At any time, was your crew or your command staff aware of your departure?"

"The crew was not, nor were the commanders of the respective task force vessels. Commander Eight of Twelve, my first officer, proved more than capable of acting as ...my secretary while I was out of the office, let's say. I was consulted via real-time subspace communications regarding a series of issues aboard during the roughly sixty-eight hours it took for me to retrieve my sister and return to my post."

"Sixty-eight hours." Kells's voice was disbelieving.

"Roughly." Tw'eak addressed Kells directly. "In that time, I was able to traverse the quadrant twice - once in either direction - and co-ordinate a liberation and relief effort of not only one of my family's children, but thousands from across the Federation, but also the Klingon Empire and both major Romulan powers. I believe there were also several Cardassian, Breen and Deferi children among those missing who were safely returned home."

Kells's bad temper had been brewing, and now, the storm raged. "You recklessly abandoned your post, wilfully, in wartime!"

"A thousand light-years from the front."

"In so doing, you directly disobeyed standing orders and procedures, all in the name of retrieving some wayward sister who ALSO abandoned her post."

Tw'eak found it increasingly difficult to remain calm. She channelled her inner Vulcan as best as she could. "As I have stated, Admiral -"

"And then you justify it by saying you sent these kids back home to their mothers. Well, what about the mothers of those kids you left behind on the Meitner?"

"The Meitner was not 'left behind' during my absence, sir." Tw'eak was very clipped in her tone, and the 'sir' she uttered could've cut glass. "Furthermore, as her mission was to undertake scientific survey missions in reportedly unaffiliated systems, she had her own command staff who operated autonomously, as science ships often do and as is Starfleet standard procedure. That command staff's failure to maintain appropriate combat readiness is something I sought to rectify once I had taken command - and, I should add, there are quite a few mothers, sir, who can appreciate that their sons' and daughters' ship is safe in port again."

Kells shook his head, looking around the room as he did. "You let them go into a hostile system without any tactical escort-"

"As I have stated-"

"-and now you want me to believe that they're to blame?"

Tw'eak clenched her jaw momentarily. She considered the situation as though it were a verbal firefight. Admiral Kells was clearly trying to needle her to the point where she conceded the high ground in a frontal assault, made a sort of spoken equivalent of a bayonet charge. Maybe he was counting on her behaving in a fashion typical of Andorians. _Maybe he's seen too many holo-vids,_ she thought to herself, then quickly bit her lip to keep from laughing. She cleared her throat, using the silent moment to balance her emotions.

"Well?" Kells demanded.

"The situation on the Meitner was detailed in my report. A command error, based on a decision taken internally, left her defenseless in an ambush. Her chief engineer's quick thinking was the only thing that prevented the Meitner from being lost before my arrival. Once I came aboard, I set about making that right. We'd had zero intelligence about the True Way being active there - in fact, not a week earlier, the starship Taurus had swept the system and found no sign of anything other than a few long-degraded impulse trails, either from freighters or Cardassian vessels. That was the closest we had to an indication of the, what was it, eight? nine? True Way ships that we destroyed in that system once the task force came to action."

Tw'eak's clear memory had caused the admiral to check his facts on the padd. "I see here the report from the Taurus. It confirms what you've said."

"I submit to you, Admiral, that the fate of the Meitner would have been the same regardless of whether or not I had been onboard the Warspite at the time of the ambush. In fact, it may have been better this way."

Kells snorted. "You've got a lot of nerve saying that. Fifty-three officers, including the entire command crew of that ship, are dead!"

Tw'eak raised a hand momentarily. "Hear me out. Under regulations, to say nothing of my instincts, I would have taken Warspite directly to the last sighted position of the Meitner. On our own, it would've been much the same thing, wouldn't it. A new Avenger class starship, less than a year out of spacedock, would make quite a pelt for the True Way - to say nothing of whether they would take prisoners." Tw'eak leaned back. "As it was, the science and research equipment aboard the Meitner proved invaluable for asymmetrical warfare against the Jem'Hadar ships, and was directly responsible for the destruction of the True Way vessels in-system. To say nothing of the intel on their operations which we've been able to gather from a very co-operative Vorta prisoner. I would've had a hard time repeating all of that from my command chair aboard Warspite."

Kells mulled it over, then narrowed his eyes at Tw'eak. His tone lowered from the furious timbre of previous, from a boil to a simmer. "There'll be a board of inquiry, Sh'abbas. All of this is going to come out, and become public knowledge. And if we don't handle it right, from this moment forward... they'll crucify you."

Tw'eak tilted her head, surprised at the revelation. She had thought this was the crucifixion. "I understand."

"What happened aboard the Meitner, as you've written about in your reports on the subject, have proven to be a regrettable and unavoidable contributor to this entire tragedy. It's bad enough that Flint was running his ship like a brothel, but that you had zero oversight of it will undoubtedly become a major factor in the inquiry."

Tw'eak's eyes shone. Despite his grave tone, she had an idea. "Would the Fleet Admiral be so kind as to permit me just two quick questions?"

"Certainly."

"It would be considered unusual for a commander of a starship to permit his crew members to participate in the civil wars of other powers, to undertake unauthorized experiments that create unexpected new life forms to be brought into the universe as a result, and to allow their personal feelings to interfere with their exercise of the vital powers of command. Do I have all that right?"

"That is correct."

"I'm not sure if you're aware of it, sir, but my first service aboard a starship was aboard the starship Enterprise - the Enterprise-E, to be precise. I was nobody, just a lowly ensign in a phaser room, and I didn't come aboard until about five years after Romulus was destroyed... but I served under a captain who remains my inspiration to this day, Jean-Luc Picard, now Ambassador Picard. During his tenure, he lost a starship under his command and narrowly avoided or prevented the destruction of trillions of lives, and yet all those things I asked of you... he permitted to happen, sometimes on multiple occasions. Picard trusted his officers, sir. And his admirals, in turn, routinely permitted his judgment to prevail on the assumption that, as captain, he knew his ship, his crew, and his orders."

"Are you saying-"

"I'm saying, sir, that the command prerogative afforded a starship captain by Starfleet is, and has always been a broad mandate to do the right thing. Rarely have I ever been issued orders that were specific, precise and inviolable. During my time with the service, I have been given direction, been offered advice, been permitted to make my own contingency plans and, what's more, to make my own mistakes... and learn from them in the process. That I offered the same leeway to Captain Flint should not come as a surprise to anyone. I admit, freely, that I had no idea how the Meitner was organized, and that it was allowed to happen on my watch, I accept was my responsibility. But I wouldn't want any different from a superior officer were I in Flint's position. Leniency, permissiveness... or simply perhaps an expectation of the best that comes as a precondition to wearing this uniform. We trust our officers to make the right decisions. Flint made his mistakes. That's on him. That's not how I would have expected him to behave. But I had every right to expect better from him without verification. He heard the same speeches I did while at the Academy, I'm sure."

Flint furrowed his brow. "I see what you're saying. And, to be clear, I respect it. You've got thirty years' service, or damn near it. Flint was barely seven years in."

"In all that time, sir, I should note... it never would've occurred to me for a second to run any crew of mine with the kind of reckless power-trip that Flint did."

"No, I get that, too. It's this other business that concerns me. The Federation more or less expects its admirals to be old gray-haired Vulcans, putting their feelings aside at all times. You and I both know that it's hard sometimes even for the Vulcans to do that." T'pril's ears perked up. "That's not intended as an insult - what I mean is, if we operated starships by the cold path of logic alone, we could automate every starship and not run the risk of what my people call 'human error'. Vulcans have instincts they follow, just like humans do, like Andorians do. Sometimes those instincts lead to... unorthodox situations. It's just hard to explain how you felt your mission to Nimbus was an acceptable risk - especially given the extreme risk of your death or capture. No superior officer would have ever cleared you for this, and that's probably why you went ahead and got it done. I know your record well enough to understand that your comfort level with extreme risk is far different from most command officers, which is part of the reason you've got a Pike Medal for Valour... and part of the reason you lost an arm. But will the board of inquiry understand these things? Hell... I have no idea."

Tw'eak sensed another opportunity. "Do you have any family, sir?"

"I do. A wife, three kids - two in the service. Both out of harm's way, thank God." Kells raised a finger. "Not that I had anything to do with that, to be clear. Simply a happy coincidence, for my sake."

"My family - Andorian families, you know, they're big." Kells nodded. "Four parents, seven siblings. At least, that's where we were, before I attended the Academy. My zhavey was killed in action just before I graduated from the Academy, and my thavan died fighting the Klingons somewhere - Marine records, even of death, remain classified for a while, so I don't know where. All four of my brothers and one of my sisters have died in the line of duty as well during this war. Now there's just my shreya, my charan, myself... and now, once again, Dashii." Tw'eak watched Kells shift uncomfortably, letting the silence linger for a moment, before she continued. "I know you're worried about the consequences of my decisions over the past couple weeks. Believe me, I have been, too. But this was the least dangerous, the most efficient way I could find to get her back. I wasn't prepared to go through this universe as the last of my parents' children. I wasn't prepared to tell Dashii's bond-mates that I had the option to act and couldn't, or wouldn't, because regulations said so. And believe me, too, when I tell you... if it hadn't been available as an option, there would have been absolutely nothing holding me back from making an option out of nothing at all."

Kells placed a hand across his mouth, rubbing a five-o'clock shadow which was present, while looking down at the padd. After a few moments, he leaned back in his chair. "Let's wrap this up, T'pril. Rear Admiral Sh'abbas, I hereby notify you that pending a board of inquiry- here Kells's tone shifted to a near-whisper "-which I sincerely hope will largely be a formality as it regards your involvement or culpability... you're to be relieved of command and placed upon administrative suspension."

"I understand." Tw'eak felt herself exhale for what felt like the first time. Her antennae curled down slightly in disappointment. Then she raised an eyebrow. "And the task force?"

"We're promoting Eight of Twelve to full captain. She's earned it. Warspite will be her ship now."

Tw'eak smiled. "I can think of no one better qualified. I'm very happy for her."

"Not sure whom I'll put in charge of the task force until you've returned to duty - and I know who that shreya of yours is whom you referred to, and you'd be sooner advised to fist-fight a Capellan power cat than serve as opposing counsel. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more capable advocate - but once you've returned to duty, contact me to let me know if you intend to raise your flag in Warspite, or what Starfleet has in mind with you. I would envision that you'll be promoted further to Vice Admiral once this is all over with."

"Vice Adm-?"

"That'll mean a move away from front-line command, you realize. No more command chair, no ship of your own at all, in fact. They don't let VAs use these starships for much more than floating office complexes, well back of the danger zone, I'm afraid. Gets worse once you're a full Admiral, never mind Fleet Admiral. However, the rank is a reflection of both your ability and Starfleet's need for strong leadership - and trust me, you'll certainly have earned it. Circumstances aside, that was a damn fine bit of work on Nimbus. Can't believe you pulled that off."

"Thank you, sir," Tw'eak began, then she added, "You might've said that from the outset, sir."

For the first time, Kells smiled. "Naw. Had to figure you out. If this thing gets heated, I need to know that you're as cool under fire in a court of judicial inquiry as you are under actual fire. Seems to me that we've got nothing much to worry about in that regard. Besides which, as you said, Flint was a maniac, but he was an exception to the rules that most Starfleet captains aspire to uphold. Had you told me you'd been his inspiration or some such thing, or that it'd been your idea, this conversation would've gone a whole different direction."

"Far from it, sir."

"And don't take this suspension thing too hard. It's a formality. Mostly for public relations. Gives you a little time off, if nothing else."

"With all due respect, sir, that's the last thing I want - just as being posted on the far side of the galaxy from the front lines has been all along."

"Yeah, I understand that, but you know how this works. Starfleet needs you someplace, that's where you go."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. Kells's sudden cordial turn was somehow harder for her to deal with than when he had been furiously interrogating her. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to talk to him - it was that the sudden shift in tone had left her in a position where she was less familiar with the risks involved in what she felt she should say. Despite the fleet admiral's candor in speaking to her, she knew full well that she was in considerable trouble.

"Now, I'll have T'pril here notify your crew and staff of the changes, and I'll see to Eight of Twelve's promotion to captain personally." Kells nodded to T'pril, who began tapping upon her padd. "Now, is there anything we can do for you?"

"Short of letting me return to duty? I'm not really sure."

Kells chuckled. "Soon enough. It'll be hell, but you know what they say - if you're goin' through hell, keep right on going."

"Sorry, sir, Hell's a vacation spot to an Andorian."

"Ha!" Kells nodded, amused. "You're all right."

"But I can think of a couple things I'd like to ask. Will I be confined to my quarters or anything?"

"No. Unless you're issued a summons to appear, you're free to conduct yourself as you will - out of uniform, of course, you understand. And keep out of trouble. The lower a profile you can keep in the meantime, the easier it'll be for all of us. I think we can loan you a shuttlecraft, but beyond that... Oh, you'll be restricted from access to any Starfleet installations or starships. You're a civilian again until we tell you otherwise. You'll have time to return to your ship, get your belongings together, that sort of thing - but that's it."

"Even Deep Space Nine?"

"Not technically a Starfleet installation, exactly. If the Bajorans don't have a problem with you being there, then you're fine."

"I hope not. Um..." Tw'eak thought about it for a moment, carefully wording her next point. "I heard what you said, about my shreya, but truthfully, sir, I have pretty strong feelings about nepotism and perceived family-related abuses of power. I'd rather she not get involved for that reason." And about ten thousand others, Tw'eak didn't say.

"I can appreciate that. As I said before, I never once interfered in the careers of either of my kids - and one's a musician, went his own way in life. My wife tells me he found his calling, but I don't know if I'd call it that. Look, I can understand you wanting to choose your own advocate. I'm sure you know a couple yourself."

"I do, sir," Tw'eak lied. The only one she knew was the parent she was hoping would find out after the court-martial.

"That's that, then. Anything else?"

"One last thing, sir. My sister, Dashii."

"Will also be suspended from duty. I understand she's been confined to guest quarters aboard Warspite, pending court-martial for dereliction of duty."

"I'd like to ask that her medical examination be entered into the record as part of the proceeding. They tortured her pretty badly, and used her as a lure to get to me. She was pretty badly off when we found her, but she stayed with me when I took command of the Meitner and did a fantastic job. The whole surviving crew of that ship is worthy of commendation, in fact, but few of them were as harshly treated for as long as Dashii."

"That information did not appear in your report," T'pril said unexpectedly. Tw'eak had half-forgotten the Vulcan was even there.

"Of course it didn't. She asked me not to mention it."

"That's fair," Kells admitted, before adding, "If there are mitigating circumstances, then yes, they'll be acceptable as evidence, but that'll be at her discretion, not yours. You don't get to release her medical information - you're not even listed as her next of kin."

"I'm aware of that, sir - her bond-mates would be anyway. But I would like to request that, pending her investigation, she be transferred to the crew of the Warspite."

Kells tilted his head backwards, looking down the length of his nose at Tw'eak. "On what grounds?"

"Well, presuming I'm still in command, of course, and presuming Dashii is also cleared returns to duty... I'll be less likely to run off across the universe after her, and she'll be less likely to get away with doing it, too."

"I'm... not sure I understand. She does this a lot?"

"We've both run away from home - from Andoria, I mean. My admission to the Academy was deferred while I hid out on Vulcan for a few months. I was convinced my 'calling', to use your phrase from earlier, lay elsewhere."

"Seems to me you were wrong."

"Sure does. But I've accepted that - and when I left home, I was still a teenager. Dashii's a bit of a romantic sometimes. She doesn't always make good decisions. And if Octavia - Eight of Twelve, I mean - is promoted to captain, she'll want a good first officer."

"And you think your sister would be that?"

"No, sir, I think my chief engineer, Aurora duBois, would be. It's not my place to tell Octavia who her first officer would be, but the choice should be obvious. That means, however, that Warspite will need another engineer. They will anyway, now that the Orion we knew as K'Vor is dead. And since I doubt that Dashii will be welcome aboard the Majestic, it's probably best that she be transferred administratively to a ship where she can have a fresh start."

"You just told me you hate nepotism. Now you angle for me to put your sister on your starship?"

"My old starship. If your expectations are accurate, I won't be part of that crew for much longer. Octavia can keep her in line if I'm not around to do it."

Kells looked off at the far wall. "You're sure? I mean, if you do end up with Warspite in your task force, or God forbid as your flagship, you'll have to issue orders to your own sister. This is one of the reasons why Starfleet protocols don't permit family members to serve together - we'd have to issue an order of special permission because of it. And you'll have your shreya breathing down my neck if either or both of you are lost in combat. Remember what I said about fist-fighting a Capellan power cat?"

"It's an unusual request, I know-"

"Damn right it is. Why do you think I'm saying yes?"

Tw'eak blinked. This admiral was full of surprises. "I... don't know, sir."

"If it'll keep you from fundamentally shifting the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant once every few months, then I'll sign off on it immediately."

"I - um, I'll do my best. Thank you, sir."

"Not sure you should be thanking me yet. We'll see." Kells tapped upon his padd. "There are a lot of unknowns in the near future, Sh'abbas. Probably a few more than that down the way. Where your sister is... shouldn't be one of them."

"I appreciate that, sir."

"Besides which, if she's an officer anything like her sister, or has the potential to become like her, then I think we should nurture that."

"Indeed."

Kells stood up. "If there's nothing further, I'm late for dinner with my wife. She hates that."

"Not at present. Although - wait. Yeah, one thing."

"What is it?"

Tw'eak stood up and smiled. "Any chance of you demoting me to Captain?"

Kells shook his head. "If you think for a second I'm going to let you pull a James Kirk, you're going to be sadly mistaken."

"I... see your point. Alright. Thank you, sir." Tw'eak stood to attention and saluted. Kells returned the salute, as did T'pril, who rose from her seat to do so. The Vulcan ushered Tw'eak to the door, and from there, back to the Warspite. Her head still reeling from what had just transpired, Tw'eak found her mind leaping rapidly from topic to topic, frantically seeking some reassuring centre, some point of stability - the kind she would typically have gotten from simply going about her business from one day to the next. But with an impending suspension from duty, from that daily business of being a flag officer... well, now what? The question followed her like a dark cloud as she went down the corridor, following T'pril back towards the USS Sherman's transporter room.


	36. Part III, Chapter 1

Tw'eak's return to the Warspite was a brief, rapid trip. She packed her things, left her quarters intact, avoided a trip to the bridge or her ready room, and changed into a white patterned sweater and blue denim outfit. When she returned to the transporter room, however, she found Octavia and Aurora waiting for her. The lieutenant who had been present at her beam-in was nowhere to be seen.

"Admiral," Octavia said as Tw'eak entered the room.

"Hello." Tw'eak resumed her path to the transporter pad.

"May I inquire where you are headed?"

"Good question. Not sure myself. Guess I'll start with DS-Nine, maybe see some more of Bajor. I've got nothing but time."

"Why?" Aurora asked. "They... the fleet admiral hasn't informed you yet."

"No, ma'am."

"I'm suspended from active duty until further notice. She's your ship now, Octavia. I'm very happy for you."

"I... I am sorry, but I do not feel it appropriate to assume command."

"Why not? Those are Starfleet's orders."

"Yes, but I would question whether or not I am qualified to do so."

"Again, Starfleet didn't ask, so guess what. Captain."

Octavia inclined her chin upwards slightly, in surprise. "Are you using that term in conjunction with the ship's tradition of-"

"No. That's part of it. Captain in both rank and command, and this is your starship."

"Wow, congratulations, Octavia," Aurora offered. Tw'eak looked from Octavia to Aurora.

"You'll probably want to start by naming your first officer. I know who I'd choose."

"Of course," Octavia replied. "This is... an unexpected privilege. However, your presence aboard the ship will be greatly missed."

"It might be temporary. No idea. We'll see soon enough."

"In that case, I will leave your ready room intact."

Tw'eak gave a thin smile. "Hardly matters. Whatever you'd like." She looked down at her cylindrical kit, which hung about her shoulder. "I should really get going. I don't want to run afoul of any regulations - if I'm here at fifteen-oh-one hours, I'm sure they'll beam me right to the brig or something."

"Hey, if it means we can beam you to our brig, sure!" Aurora offered, then reconsidered. "I suppose it wouldn't be very comfortable... but we could figure something out. We could come visit, though!"

"I appreciate that, but really. I'll see you both later. Maybe when you're off-duty we can get some dinner on the station, or something."

The door burst open and Dashii stepped inside. "What in Uzaveh's name are you doing?" "Dashichal - you're confined to quarters!" "I don't care - you're leaving?"

"How did you find out about that?" Aurora said, astonished.

"I was reading on my padd when I got a notification that I'm being transferred to this ship, and they had information about your being suspended from duty in the text. So I asked one of my guards and they said you'd just walked by - you weren't even going to tell me you were going?"

"I didn't see much point. I was going to call you once I got to the station."

"Oh. So that's it, then."

"No." Tw'eak indicated Octavia. "This is Captain Eight of Twelve, she'll be your commanding officer. Aurora duBois is my chief - the chief engineer of this vessel. You'll report to them. Once your court-martial has concluded, that is."

"Why wouldn't you come to see me?"

"And get you in more trouble? You're confined to quarters, remember?"

"I don't care - I can still have visitors." "No you can't. Not ones outside the rank hierarchy, that is."

"I am also concerned with your fraternization with the guards," Octavia added.

Dashii raised both hands. "Don't expect me to name any names."

"That won't be necessary. I will have the First assign you a new detail."

"Damn it. One of them was kind of cute."

Tw'eak crossed her arms. "Dashichal."

"All right, just... I don't know, let me hug you before you go."

Dashii stepped onto the pad and embraced her sister. "Thank you," she said quietly, "for everything."

"Just take care of yourself. And listen." Tw'eak leaned back, out of the embrace. "These are two of the finest officers in Starfleet. I've managed to set it up so that you'll report to them. But if you just take off again, or if you do anything other than become a damn fine officer, in their sterling example, I will personally stuff you into the nearest airlock and blow it. Understood?"

Dashii snickered. "I would like to see you try." Tw'eak offered a mock jab, which Dashii swatted aside. She then offered her own punch, and before long, a sort of sparring contest had begun on the transporter pad.

Aurora cleared her throat. "Um... please, before one of you breaks a transport coil or something."

"All right, all right," Tw'eak said, throwing herself into a bear hug around her sister. "Go on. Back to your quarters, you delinquent." "You can't order me around anymore," Dashii said with a smile.

"Well, Captain?" Tw'eak replied, looking to Octavia. "First big command decision."

Octavia crossed her hands behind her. "I will not make it an order, but a request."

Dashii smiled, stepping in order beside Octavia. "I like that. But only once we've said goodbye."

Tw'eak nodded, grinning at two of her closest friends and her sister. "Whenever you're ready, Aurora."

"Say the word, Admiral." Tw'eak lowered her head, still grinning. "It's just Tw'eak now, remember?"

"Oh, right. Say the word..." Aurora sputtered with laughter. "I can't do it! I'm so used to calling you by your rank!"

"In that case, let's go."

"Okay." As Aurora initated beam-out, she, Octavia and Dashii each offered a salute. Tw'eak simply nodded as she faded out, re-appearing on the ops deck of Deep Space Nine. Tw'eak took a deep breath and moved into the turbolift to the Promenade. Thinking better of it after a moment, she turned to the nearest operations officer and asked, "Would you mind if I used your subspace communications array for just a few quick minutes?"

"Certainly, Admiral."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "How do you know who I am?"

"I was given orders by Captain Kurland to notify Fleet Admiral Kells of your arrival."

"Ah. Yeah, that. Thanks." The lieutenant showed Tw'eak to a console, and then went back into the lower section to carry on his work. Tw'eak tapped up the console and entered the contact code she kept in memory.

After a few moments of a screen reading 'PROCESSING REQUEST', the screen blinked to life, showing the interior of a Hirogen vessel, its cargo nets, once jammed with skulls and relics of prey, now packed with consumables and provisions. After a moment, Tw'eak's heart skipped at the sight of Leo approaching the monitor. "Hey, look who it is," he said after a moment.

"Good to see you."

"Yeah. Place hasn't been the same without you."

Tw'eak smiled, blushing slightly. "How fast can you get to Deep Space Nine?"

"DS-Nine? Uh... no idea. What do you need?"

"I'm out of a job for the foreseeable future. Pending a board of inquiry."

"Really. Well, their loss. We could sure use you. Selkirk's been gone a week, I'm the only one here with any command experience."

"What?"

"Yeah - damn, he didn't call you?"

"No, what about?" Leo smirked proudly. "His cubs. We found 'em. The Orions had 'em after all."

"Fantastic!"

"Yeah. He's taken one of the ships to bring them back to the Caitian homeworld, get them settled. There's a pool onboard as to whether or not he comes back. I bet thirty creds on 'yes'. But until he gets back, I'm in charge."

"I'm happy to hear he found them and all."

"I can give Maurice overall command for a couple days, bring the Shieldmaiden to DS-Nine to meet with you, but that's way more attention than I think Selkirk would want."

"No doubt." Tw'eak shrugged. "To be honest, I was kind of hoping to have you to myself for a couple days."

"Yeah, that does sound nice." Leo looked up off-screen for a moment. "I think we have a shuttle I could use somewhere. Give me a couple hours to get things set up here and I'll be on my way, should get there early tomorrow."

"But I thought you said there wasn't anyone there with command experience?"

"Yeah, but that was before you said- look, they're gonna get command experience, starting the minute I leave. Besides, your guy Zed knows enough, him and Maurice just need to keep out of trouble until Selkirk or I get back. The two of them together... Shouldn't be too hard."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. Could use a couple days away myself. Especially, y'know... there."

"I'll meet you in the replimat here tomorrow. Shall we say eleven-hundred?"

"Wouldn't miss it. We have lots to talk about."

Tw'eak smiled. "Let me get one thing out there first. I never really thanked you for your assistance on Nimbus."

"No need. It was fun, having you around."

"Yeah, I remember." Tw'eak took a moment to gaze longingly at the screen before she continued. "Alright, get going. I've got guest quarters and a few things to set up here. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You got it. Take care of yourself, eh?"

"Same to you. See you soon."

"Out."

Tw'eak looked over, to where the operations officer was now working at an adjacent console. "Can I ask you another question?"

"Certainly."

"Is there someplace I can stay for the next few days?"

"Yeah. We've arranged guest quarters for you in the habitat ring. I can show you the way, if you'd like."

"If you wouldn't mind." The lieutenant gestured to the turbolift, and Tw'eak followed, barely conscious of anything other than her anticipation of the following morning, and her reunion with Leo.

* * *

The station replimat was a quiet place. A Ferengi trader poked at the replicator, a few off-duty personnel still in uniform toasted each other near a countertop bar at the far end, a couple of freighter crew from the Romulan Republic sat deep in conversation at an adjacent table, while the usual traffic made its busy way along the Promenade... and a single Andorian shan female, with a cup of freshly-replicated katheka in hand, sat with her back to the nearest wall, placidly watching the universe go by. Through the windows of the upper Promenade, Tw'eak could make out the purplish-blue glow of the opening of the wormhole. For once, her mind was utterly blank, and she felt herself to be completely in the moment. She wasn't happy to be sitting here instead of on a starship, but at the same time, it was a change of pace that she wasn't disappointed in, either. She watched the young officers with particular amusement. One human, one Bajoran, and one an Andorian with short white hair that could have been either of her sisters - well, presuming that Sassil was still alive, and had somehow switched careers to serve in engineering. She felt the urge to ask her what part of Andoria she was from, if she had even grown up on the homeworld, as most Andorians tended to do, but she left well enough alone. For the moment, Tw'eak was simply content to watch the three of them, out for a boisterous round of drinks after having been out in space for months. That was as far as Tw'eak had been willing to listen into their conversation. Out of uniform, with her hair down and her disposition completely unlike that of a Starfleet admiral, they had no way of knowing who she was unless they recognized her, which was unlikely. So she carried on as she had been, sipping katheka and keeping her watch.

The truth was, though, that Tw'eak felt as though the entire space station's gravitational field was out of focus - that the station was shifting upon its normal axis of orientation around her. She had this impression of being just a little bit off from the regular, as though a Q being had re-imagined how the universe should be aligned and with a snap of its fingers left Tw'eak struggling to adapt. The power of a fleet admiral worked on a similar level, as far as her career was concerned, and now she felt herself adrift in chaotic space, out of control and desperate for some sense that everything would, in fact, turn out to be all right. The katheka had helped, at first, but now it was mostly gone and kind of granulated near the bottom. A fresh cup might help - but really, nothing would help as much as Leo.

She felt herself straining to remain in place, overcome with an urge to speed about the station, from docking port to docking port, up and down until she found him. Yet she knew this was their arranged meeting place. It would do her little good to race about when he would be looking for her in turn. It might make a reunion worthy of a trashy holo-novel, but it didn't suit Tw'eak. Only the remembered dignity of her earned rank kept her in place.

Perhaps it was the running which was the problem - among other things. In a valiant attempt to restore some sense of normalcy, Tw'eak had attempted to figure out a route to run around the station earlier that morning. All she had received for her trouble was a stilted, frequently-interrupted jog. Many of the station's areas were off-limits to non-active-duty personnel. A Bajoran constable had taken a particular dislike to her intentions, and she had been forced to endure some well-intentioned but ultimately unnecessary questioning before attempting to take a run around the Promenade - then the upper Promenade - then the deck below the Promenade. Suspicion and unintentional blockage of her path had been her experience, and the whole process had left her intensely frustrated.

She felt like yelling. There was no particular reason why, or direction - a sort of primal scream she felt percolating in her chest, no doubt as a response to the displacement from normal which the past few days, and indeed the past few weeks, had represented. There was a sort of lonely, hostile place which seemed to surround her wherever she had gone, her own private Andorian wilderness extending a metre or so in every direction from where she sat. She simultaneously wanted someone to approach, to try and break through to her, and for that person to approach simply so she would be able to crystallize her anxiety into a screaming response, to break the tension inside herself. The hostility of her frustration, the perception of an injustice having been done to her, was overwhelming her, and she found herself fearing slightly for the well-being of others around her.

Fuming to herself, Tw'eak felt a surging annoyance towards the impropriety of the Starfleet personnel seated just a few metres away from her. Perhaps that was part of their problem. Their attitudes, their service status, hell, even their age... it was an unappreciated irony from the universe that they should be here, now, when she was like this. Didn't they know? Couldn't they sense the seething Andorian seated just behind them? Shouldn't they know who she was, why she was there, what she had done - what she had done wrong? Didn't everyone know by now?

This crushing barrage of shame and self-loathing was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice. "Not often I find a nice girl like you in a place like this."

Tw'eak turned her head to see Leo standing next to her. "How did you-?" She stood up and put her arms around him.

"Wasn't easy," Leo said as he responded to her embrace. "I walked across the upper Promenade, saw you sitting here, planned my approach. Helped that you were giving those kids the Andorian death stare."

"I was not. Besides, it's not like I was planning on staying here."

"Where to? Quark's?"

"They assigned me some quarters." Tw'eak arched an eyebrow, waiting to see how long it took Leo to catch her drift.

It didn't take long. Leo leaned back, smiling fiendishly. "You really don't mess around."

"It doesn't have to be that." Tw'eak pulled herself closer. "Well, y'know, I wouldn't mind if it was. Let's just... not be here."

"I like the sound of that." Leo stepped back, took Tw'eak's hand in his, and the two of them walked towards the nearest turbolift.

* * *

"That happened pretty quickly."

From where he lay beside her, Leo leaned up on his elbows, giving Tw'eak a suspicious glare. "What do you mean by that?"

"No, not - I mean, the last time I went from 'hello' to ...like this, that quickly, I think I was still in the Academy."

"Oh." Leo put his head back down onto the pillow. "Never mind, then." He looked up at the ceiling. "What did you want to talk about?"

Tw'eak sighed, turning over onto her stomach, her breasts grazing the surface of the mattress. She gave a slight sigh. "It can probably wait."

"For what? I mean, we already-"

"No, I just..." Tw'eak tucked an arm under and propped her chin on upon her hand. "I'm really glad you're here."

"Yeah, me too. I couldn't believe how much I missed having you around."

"Yeah." Tw'eak smiled. "You... you really... why is it..." She blinked, making an awkward, embarrassed expression come across her face. "I have far, far more stressful conversations than this when I'm on duty. Why is it I can't just say what I feel?"

"You don't think you can?"

"Not really. I mean, I never do. It's always what I have to, or should say. Commanders still get to say more than their subordinates, in terms of expressing themselves. But I have to be so careful, every word, like it's going to shatter. And yet I feel like I need to be even more careful with you."

"You really don't, you know. I've seen you naked."

Tw'eak laughed. "Not much to see, is it?"

"Same shade of blue all over, except for down-"

"Okay, hey, c'mon now." Still smiling, Tw'eak wrinkled her nose. "You don't get what I'm saying?"

"Not really. I don't really talk much. I mean, this sort of thing... I just go with what feels right."

"And that's how you ended up in bed with me?"

"Was your idea, remember? But yeah, I could sit there looking for the words, or I could just move a little closer and let it happen."

Tw'eak's eyebrow arched playfully. "So soon?"

"Well, you said it was too quick-"

"I didn't mean like that, I already said!"

It was Leo's turn to laugh. "God, you're easy to tweak."

Tw'eak no longer smiled. "Tell me you didn't say that on purpose."

Leo clasped a hand to his mouth and shook his head vigourously.

"Tell me!"

"I swear I didn't!"

"Okay, good." Tw'eak smirked. "I hate when people do that."

"I see your point - about the 'what to say' thing, I mean. I swear I didn't do that on purpose."

"All right, all right..." She gazed into his eyes for a moment. "So should we?"

"Should we what?"

"Tell each other. How we feel, I mean."

"I think it's pretty obvious. I don't do this often."

"No, me either."

"So that counts for something, right?"

"Yeah. But still. There's something about hearing it."

"What?"

"How the other person feels." Tw'eak used her other hand to give Leo's shoulder a little push. "You could stay with me on this."

"I thought I was!"

"So tell me, then." Tw'eak reached out with one finger and dragged it lustily across Leo's chest. "Come on."

"What do you want to hear?"

Tw'eak let her hand fall flat on Leo's chest. "What I want-?"

"Yeah."

"No. What you want to say."

"Me? God, I don't know."

"Neither do I. Was hoping you'd go first."

"One thing at a time?"

"If you want."

"Well... you're so beautiful. I can't believe you'd want anything to do with a guy like me."

"Yeah?" Tw'eak felt herself blush.

"Yeah. So I guess that makes it your turn, then."

"We're taking turns?"

"We are now!"

Tw'eak let her chin fall. "I don't know. I mean, it's all muddled. I don't know how to say it. I'm afraid to say it, really."

"Well, I'll tell you what. You say it, and if it's some horrible thing I never want to hear again, I'm okay with you taking it back."

"Really?"

"There are very few things you could say that would make me want to get out of this bed. Especially when I'm this comfortable."

Tw'eak smiled, still blushing. "That's what I mean. Anything I come out with is going to sound like a performance appraisal or something."

"I'd say my recent performance was stellar, if I do say so myself."

"Uzaveh's name." Tw'eak shook her head.

"Knew you'd agree."

"No, I mean, that. Your sense of humour. Your inability to let anything really bother you."

"Lotta things bother me."

"But not the little things. You don't over-think them like I do, you just... you handle them."

"Uh, I've seen you handle plenty. I'd have to say that you, in ground combat... it's like an art form for you. I've seen you operate - it's hard to remember to fire when I'm afraid I'll miss some sweet move of yours by looking away."

"Well, you did really well in supporting me. Wouldn't have come together without you."

"We wouldn't have come together if you hadn't shown up like that."

"And now that we have..." Tw'eak snuggled together with Leo. "What about it?"

"What about what? I have this crazy Andorian for a girlfriend, I guess."

"Girlfriend? Well." Tw'eak pulled Leo a little closer, wrapping a leg around him. "That sounds sort of... official."

"Well, it's true. Whoever else I could possibly want to be with, she'd have to be something special to make me not want to be with you. She'd have to be - you'd probably ushaan her or something."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you - make your girlfriend fight for the right to be with you."

"No. But I'd fight for you if I had to. I'd fight alongside you. Anywhere."

Tw'eak rested her head on Leo's shoulder. "Yeah. I'd feel a lot safer with you next to me, whether it was here or wherever."

"So this is all... kind of big." Leo cleared his throat slightly.

"I know."

"That doesn't... scare you at all?"

"It should, right?"

"Scares the hell out of me!"

"Okay, good. Just a little, in my case." Tw'eak brought her eyes up to meet Leo's. "I mean, now that we've done this sober and all..."

"I was wondering if you'd bring that up."

Tw'eak smiled, looked down at the pillow for a moment, then locked her eyes in contact with Leo's. "I think I love you, you know."

Leo tilted his head up and kissed Tw'eak, putting his arm around her shoulders. Her arms tightened their grip, and after a few moments in a passionate embrace, Tw'eak flipped herself over and picked up where they had left off earlier.

* * *

Later that evening, Leo and Tw'eak were seated at the small table adjacent to the replicator, each enjoying a meal of their respective choices. Tw'eak had on her woollen cardigan, unbuttoned, and a pair of panties, while Leo wore a regulation undershirt and a pair of boxers.

"How's the steak?" she asked.

"They always replicate steak wrong. There's a texture to beef... I don't know how to explain it, it's like the grain of a piece of wood."

"Sounds delicious."

"No, I mean - it all goes in one direction. On the actual cow, I mean. For replicated steak, though, it's like they try too hard. I always replicate it medium rather than medium-rare just to compensate. I don't know how to explain it - you ever had a steak? I mean, a real one."

"Last time I had non-replicated food... was a while back now. My helmsman on the Bonnie, his mom had a restaurant on Earth. We all went down together the one day. It was fantastic. Mostly stuff you'd expect for breakfast. But you're right, something - maybe it's only a psychological thing, but something about it just really, really feels good to eat." Tw'eak took her tray back to the replicator. "One thing I've never gotten used to, on starships. The feeling like my plates and fork are going back to the same place, to become my next meal."

"Tell me about it. I still can't get my head around replicators. Give me a good ready-pack any day."

"Those are mostly replicated, you know - it just comes in a box instead."

"I know, but I ate so many of them over the years, I could tell you what was in them just by sniffing the package."

Tw'eak tapped the replicator. "Katheka. Sweet." The replicator complied, and a cup of katheka awaited Tw'eak, her first in a few hours. She sat back down. "You ever been to Defera?"

"Don't think so."

"There's a Borg colony there. Well, not a colony. They're trying to assimilate the whole world, there's a sort of ongoing resistance, and there's a Preservers archive behind it all - anyway. I was called in there a couple times over the last few-"

There was a chime at the door. Tw'eak's eyes widened, and she looked up at Leo, who was not the least bit alarmed. "I'll get it."

Tw'eak got up and tucked herself around the corner as Leo opened the door. In stepped a Bajoran constable - Tw'eak recognized him as the one she had encountered during her run earlier. "I apologize for disturbing you in the middle of dinner... I'm looking for Twaiheak Sh'abbas."

"Hello," Tw'eak said after she finished buttoning up her shirt. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Constable Bruar Daritza, station security." He raised a hand, showing he was carrying a padd in it, then tapped upon it. "Were you in a replimat on the Promenade between ten-hundred and eleven-thirty local time today?"

"I was."

"Then you..." Bruar looked up at Tw'eak, nonplussed by her half-clothed state. "I'm going to need you to get dressed and come down to the office with me. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Is it anything I can't answer here?" Tw'eak realized the ridiculousness of taking an indignant pose with her bare legs visible, but she did anyway.

"I'd prefer to get this on the record, given the severity of what's happened."

"She's not going anywhere until I know what this is about," Leo said, crossing his arms.

"Are you her husband?"

Leo tilted his head back. "I am."

The flutters of excitement in Tw'eak's stomach - her husband? since when? - turned to anxiety as the constable responded matter-of-factly. "In that case, you'll probably have to come along, too."

Tw'eak's eyes opened wide. "As a courtesy, Constable, what 'severe' incident are we referring to?"

Bruar looked up. "You mean you have no idea what's happened?"

"We... my husband and I don't get to see each other very often. We've been predisposed of this entire afternoon."

Bruar gave a sort of grunt. "I can imagine. It's a fairly common occurrence around here, given the comings and goings." He shook his head. "There was an explosion. Our investigation is pointing to some kind of bomb, located at or near that replimat. Thirty-one people are wounded, some rather gravely. Fortunately we had advanced warning... unfortunately, it wasn't far enough advanced to make a complete evacuation possible."

Tw'eak raised a hand to her mouth. "Uzaveh's name." She looked sharply towards Leo. "You don't think-"

Leo's knit brows said it all. "You bet I do."


	37. Part III, Chapter 2

Her mind still racing from the news, shocked, saddened, Tw'eak struggled to understand what had happened. A bomb in the replimat - was it intended for her? Leo's look of deep concern remained, his arms crossed, the both of them neither dressed for nor expecting the gravity of the news. She turned to Constable Bruar Daritza. "I'm not sure if you're aware that I'm a rear admiral in Starfleet."

Bruar nodded. "Actually, that fact has come up in our investigation. It's another reason I would prefer to have you relocated to the security office, for your own protection."

Leo scoffed. "Yeah, that means a lot."

This visibly agitated Bruar. "I had already taken the liberty of posting guards on this deck around your quarters. I would have been by earlier, but as you can imagine, these investigations take a great deal of my time."

"I understand, absolutely," Tw'eak replied, giving Leo a meaningful glance.

"I'm not sure what your agenda is like for the next couple of days, but you may want to consider altering your plans."

Tw'eak half-smiled. "To be honest, we hadn't planned on getting up to much."

"Right," Bruar replied, with a scoff of his own. He looked to his padd. "I should note that the file we received from Starfleet on you indicated your marital status as 'single'." Bruar gave Leo a look.

"I apologize for the deception. Leo was trying to protect me. We're only planning to be married, not quite there yet."

News of their engagement caused Leo's head to snap around towards Tw'eak. She gave him a sly wink as Bruar tapped on his padd. "In that case, I'm going to ask that your ...fiance here remain under guard, until we can clear him."

"I'm under suspicion?" Leo asked.

"Just have to be sure, in light of your... misremembering." Clearly Bruar was not one to be slighted.

Tw'eak smiled sweetly. "It's nothing you have to worry about, Constable."

"I'm afraid it is, ma'am. I prefer to do things by the book, if you don't mind."

"I understand, but-"

"I'll wait outside. Please try to be quick." Bruar gave Leo another harsh glare, then walked out the door.

Tw'eak rushed into the bedroom, retrieving her garments from the floor. "I don't get it," Leo said after a moment. "He puts me under suspicion of trying to blow you up - then he leaves me alone with you?"

"I guess he figured that if you were going to try to kill me, you'd have had better opportunities," Tw'eak replied, then added, "when I was more vulnerable."

"Damn it," Leo said, his tone dejected. "He said thirty-one people wounded?"

"Yeah. I'm really glad no one was killed, although who knows."

"So what's your plan?"

Tw'eak stopped what she was doing and straightened up, pants on, shirt buttoned, once again somewhat presentable. "What makes you think I'm coming up with a plan? This isn't my op."

"No, I know, but... how are we going to keep in touch? What if something happens?"

"I don't know. I'll think of something. In the meantime, they're doing this to keep me safe. If they try to bundle me away on a shuttle or something, I'll make sure you find out."

"That's a great idea. Speaking of which - The Republic gave us a set of shuttles to use, I brought one with me. It's got a cloaking device and everything. I parked it on the outer ring, we can rig an emergency beam-out just in case."

Tw'eak tapped a finger to her chin. "Sounds risky. I don't want them to have any reason to suspect me."

"They won't. Look, do you know if there's anything particularly rare about your arm?"

"My arm? Oh, the bio-synthetic replacement."

"Yeah. Any weird isotopes or metals in there?"

"Probably not. I have no idea, why?"

Leo went to the computer console at a desk in the next room and began looking up bio-synthetic arms. "I need something specific that I can search for, so that if I need to scan the station from the shuttle, I can find you and get you out."

"Do you really think I'm going to go quietly if they try to abduct me?"

"They're not trying to abduct you. There was a bomb, remember?"

Tw'eak nodded. "Yeah. I know."

"And who knows who's behind it."

"I know. I just finished dealing with the True Way, and this IS their neighbourhood, after all. Plus, the Orion Syndicate would love to have me dead. The Tal Shiar, too."

"So we can rule out the Borg, then?"

"Probably?" Tw'eak gave Leo an amused, if confused, look. "Wouldn't they assimilate the station?"

"Just trying to figure out who we're NOT fighting against this time."

"Oh. Could even be Section 31."

"Section who?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "Look, just stay low, keep out of trouble, and if you somehow find out I'm in trouble, do your thing, okay? What's the shuttle name? How should I contact you?"

"Don't. I'll find you." Tw'eak nodded, and turned to go. "Hey-" Leo leapt from behind the desk and gave Tw'eak a goodbye kiss for the ages.

Tw'eak raised her eyebrows and shook her head slightly afterwards. "What was that for?"

"Just in case." He leaned down, and looked her right in the eyes. "You meant what you said? About us planning to get married?"

"Hey, you were the one who jumped ahead and made it so already."

Leo shrugged. "I was just... telling stories. I don't know."

Tw'eak raised her chin, trying to match Leo's height. Even crouching slightly, he was taller. She took his chin in her hand and, her eyes deeply staring into his, said, "Pretty sure I do." After a moment, she added, "I love you."

"Love you," Leo replied, his emphasis on the latter syllable. Tw'eak gave him another kiss, and as she did, the door chime sounded. "God, he's impatient."

Tw'eak smiled. "You would be too, waiting for me."

"I already am! Go, so you can get back here already. I'll be... picking dress patterns or something." Tw'eak laughed. As she turned to go, Leo caught her hand. She looked back. "Be careful," he said meaningfully.

Tw'eak looked up and smiled. "You first," she said with a wink, and walked out the door.

* * *

Tw'eak walked to the Promenade in the company of Constable Bruar. Ahead of them, two of his security personnel provided escort, one of them armed with what Tw'eak thought was a Bajoran high-density phaser rifle. She wasn't completely familiar with Bajoran weapons, as she had never faced them in combat, and only had a brief orientation session during her Academy days. Behind them came two further Bajoran security personnel, each also armed with the same type of rifle. It seemed like a bit of overkill to Tw'eak to have this many guards for one person, especially for her, who could probably take better care of herself than most.

The door ahead opened, and Tw'eak saw the forward security detachment move into position on either side of the door as she came through. One of her antennae started to twitch slightly, perhaps out of instinct, perhaps just from anxiety. Or she might have bumped it against the headboard of the bed and not noticed until now. It was hard to tell. But twitch it did, and Tw'eak knew well enough to pay attention to her surroundings regardless of what her antennae might think of the situation.

"The security office is down the Promenade on the right," Bruar pointed out as they reached the doorway leading unto the station's main thoroughfare.

"Right," Tw'eak replied, "I remember."

"I've stationed personnel along the route on both levels, just to be sure."

"Seems a safe precaution."

Bruar snorted. "If it were safe, no precautions would be needed."

Tw'eak looked up as she entered the Promenade and saw a Bajoran security officer, rifle in hand, standing a post on the upper level. Another just like her stood on the opposite side, watching the crowd. Tw'eak saw the first one raise her rifle and point, somewhere off behind her, where another group of security had temporarily cordoned off the Promenade's traffic.

A Starfleet officer that Tw'eak recognized as the operations lieutenant who had assisted her when she beamed in was moving quickly towards the edge of the security perimeter. "Wait!" he was yelling. "Admiral! Let me pass!"

"Secure that man!" Bruar shouted to his people, and the security forces moved in on his position. Two of them held him back against a line of civilians before a third gave a yell. Into the midst of the crowd of pedestrians had fallen a phaser set to overload, tossed by the operations lieutenant.

Tw'eak took a few steps backwards, looking for cover. Clearly the operations lieutenant was working for whoever was after her. The odds of it being Orions went up considerably. Still, there wasn't time to speculate. She found space just out of its effect behind a pillar. Bruar, true to his training, tapped his Bajoran commbadge. "Station transporters, this is Bruar - lock onto my signal and energize in five seconds!" He moved towards the overloaded phaser, sticking his commbadge to it just moments before it was beamed away into space.

The commotion below had allowed two Orion infiltrators to beam onto the upper promenade - just as they had planned. Tw'eak's antennae had noticed, however, perceiving the beam-ins electromagnetically. She looked up as one of the Orions raised her rifle to fire, point-blank, at the unshielded Andorian. Tw'eak pitched into a hard roll to her right, behind one of the support columns for the upper Promenade. Beam fire came down on both sides of the pillar, and within seconds Tw'eak heard the sound of Bajoran rifles returning fire. She took the risk of peering around the edge of the column and saw Bruar and one of his personnel being struck by weapons fire. Bruar's shields held, but the other security officer fell. Bruar moved him out of the line of fire, leaving a rifle in the midst of the carpet.

Tw'eak saw her chance. She sprung forward, sprinting across to Bruar and retrieving the rifle in the process. "Shield belt!" she called.

"What?"

"Give me your shield belt. Now."

"What are you doing?"

Tw'eak gave Bruar an exasperated look, and gripped him about the waist, removing his shield belt. "You stay here and get a medic."

Bruar looked to the upper Promenade, where beams criss-crossed as his forces and the Orions traded fire. "They're coming around!"

"Let me handle this." Tw'eak fitted the shield belt around her waist, its beige colour standing out against her dark blouse and pants, but this wasn't the time for fashionable dress. She checked the phaser rifle's setting and moved out from cover, scanning around in the open. No one was visible - the security personnel must have all moved upwards. She moved from pillar to pillar, scanning first down the Promenade, then upwards. She came to a staircase which linked the two, and ascended. As she did, her eyes locked upon a green-skinned individual in an alcove underneath a viewing port. She took aim and fired, using the secondary blast setting for maximum effect. The Orion turned, his arm falling as the blast hit him, sending his disruptor clattering to the Promenade below. From about his midsection tumbled forth an armed grenade, and Tw'eak leapt back towards the staircase, her shield flickering where it contacted the staircase's metal grating. She had no time to steady herself before the explosion caused the staircase to tremble mightily. There was a sudden change in air pressure, followed by a snap of energy that Tw'eak associated with emergency shielding springing into place. From below, a security officer - not Bruar, but a younger Bajoran - stepped forward and extended a hand towards Tw'eak, which she accepted and used to steady herself.

"We should get you out of here," the security officer said.

"Right. Where to?"

"I... well, that's probably a good question." He looked around. "Maybe we could get you to the docking ring."

"I don't know if that's a good idea. Those Orions beamed in from somewhere."

"Yeah." The Promenade was chaotic, with security personnel and civilians running in various directions. "I'm Lareb, by the way."

"Hello," Tw'eak said with a nod. "Hope you're not one of them."

"Nah, green's not my colour." Lareb pointed to the doorway on the inside curve of the Promenade. "Turbolifts are out. I tried."

Tw'eak silently cursed, wishing she had a commbadge. It would make it far easier for her if she could contact her former ship, and get them to arrange for a -

From amidst the crowd, the civilians running from him as much as from the sounds of weapons fire, emerged a de-shrouding Jem'Hadar warrior. His weapon at the ready, Pal offered a gesture of obedience. "I stand ready to assist."

"How in the hell did you get here?"

"Knowing you were here, I had myself beamed aboard - with permission, of course. Despite your suspension from Starfleet, your well-being and security are of utmost concern to me, though I expect such a warrior as yourself to be more than capable."

"Prophets," Lareb said, gazing upwards to look Pal in the eye. "I've- I've never met one of you before."

"He's with me," Tw'eak said with a slight smile. "C'mon. They're after me. So I should get away from the crowds, as much as possible."

"This way!" Pal said, gesturing in the direction of the Bajoran temple.

"What's that way?" Lareb asked.

Pal checked his march, looking at Lareb in surprise. "Our exit."

"Let's go," Tw'eak said, springing into step behind Pal, with Lareb trailing behind.

The interior of the station linked one set of corridors to another, all of which Pal seemed to know instinctively. "So where are we headed from here?" Tw'eak asked.

"Back to your designated quarters."

"Won't they be looking for her there?" Lareb asked.

"Perhaps. If so, we will be ready for them."

Around the next corner, Tw'eak spotted a dead Bajoran guard. "Prophets," Lareb exclaimed, running to his side. "Nemuc! He's dead!"

"I know. I think he was one of the guards. This door."

"Careful," Pal nodded. He shrouded, and Tw'eak opened the door. Inside, strewn across the table, was a dead Orion with his neck at an angle that made Tw'eak's stomach turn.

"Leo?" she called out. There was no answer.

"Admiral!" Pal cried, causing Tw'eak to look about. Pal de-shrouded, handing her a padd. There was a note.

" 'Hey Tw'eak, if you get this, hold onto it. I'll explain later.' What does that-"

"NO!" Pal called out, as a transporter beam enveloped Tw'eak. Moments later, she found herself aboard a Romulan shuttle.

"I knew that would work!" Leo said from the forward console. "I had it voice-encoded."

"Quickly - beam out the two others in the quarters with me. There's a young Bajoran and a Jem'Hadar."

"A Jem'Hadar? You want him beamed into space?"

"No. It's Pal. My chief of security."

"Oh. What? Never mind - I got them. Energizing."

Moments later, two beams descended behind Tw'eak, but only Lareb was visible. After a moment, his rifle aimed clearly at Leo's head, Pal appeared. "Shall I destroy him, Admiral?"

"You'd better not. His girlfriend would be heartbroken if you did."

Pal looked over at Tw'eak, confused.

"I mean me. That's Leo. He's one of Selkirk's people. Leo, this is Pa'lakaklan, First of the Jem'Hadar aboard USS Warspite, and my head of security. And that's Lareb."

"This is a Romulan shuttle, right?" Lareb asked. "Never seen one of these before, either. Sorry, I... this was my first posting off Bajor. I don't think I've ever been so scared."

"We should really beam you back, Lareb. The constable will need your help." Tw'eak noted, handing Lareb the shield belt. "Here, take this. Find Bruar. Tell him I'm off the station, and that we'll be in touch once things are safe. Thanks to both of you - and you did great."

"Really? Thanks. And take care of yourself. May the Prophets look after you."

Tw'eak nodded at Leo, and Lareb beamed out, smiling.

Pal's shroud resumed itself, and as the big Jem'Hadar faded from sight, Leo turned to Tw'eak. "Some honeymoon this turned out to be."

"Lucky for you that Bruar didn't hear you say that."

"I know, right?" Leo laughed for a moment, then looked to Tw'eak, his expression uncertain. "So, now what?"

For once, Tw'eak felt bewildered. "No idea. Guess we keep the cloak up, and wait."

"For how long?"

Tw'eak looked out the viewport at the station. "Wait," she repeated.


	38. Part III, Chapter 3

The shuttle's interior was larger than that of a standard shuttle - more like a runabout, really. This was not a situation to which Tw'eak objected. It meant there was a section aft of the flight compartment which was quite comfortable in size. The intention had been to give Republic crews the option of using these shuttles as temporary habitats while establishing colonies and forward outposts - convenient in the event of a quick evacuation being necessary. Now, however, with the ship under its cloak and nobody in the adjacent area of space being quite certain where they were, this aft section provided a refuge. From the wall hung a group of sleeping pods, while in the centre was a desk across from a table with an adjacent replicator. Beyond that was a walkway leading to the forward compartment, along with a small restroom. It was at the table that Leo sat, and Tw'eak returned from the forward compartment to find him with a cup of coffee.

"Auto-pilot's on. We'll be okay out here, right?"

"Yeah." Leo took a sip of his coffee.

"So how did you set that up?" Tw'eak asked.

"Set what up?"

"The padd interface."

"Oh. I left you a note, coded it for contact with you - it matched your voice. They had it on record - wasn't hard to find."

Tw'eak blushed slightly as she took the seat next to him. "Right."

Leo smiled. "There's a bunny-hopper, too."

"Bunny-hopper?"

"Yeah. Old recon trick. I took a commbadge, rigged it with your signal, then attached it to a portable transporter device. It's beaming in and out of places all over the station, unless they find it and deactivate it."

"That's terrible!"

"Yeah, but it lets the Orions think you're still there - and sends them on a wild goose chase all over the station."

Tw'eak nodded. "Makes sense. They definitely had help from the inside."

"And that gives Bruar and his boys a better chance of finding them, since they won't find you."

"Glad we got Pal out of there, then. Haven't had a chance to see what he can do on the ground, yet. If he hadn't find me, he'd be running search-and-destroy right across the station - and him doing it - that could be hazardous for everyone."

"You seriously haven't seen him on the ground? I'd have thought you'd bring him along everywhere."

"I have. It's just that the past few months haven't been particularly active, in terms of ground combat."

"We did a lot of combat training - even live-combat on a few occasions - against Jem'Hadar like him. Am I ever glad I wasn't in uniform during the Dominion War."

"Same. I was really little the day it ended. I remember thavan came home and we all went out to meet him. It was wonderful." Tw'eak looked up. "You have any relatives in that war?"

"No." Leo took a long drink of his coffee. "My family's been in service since before there was a Federation, but somehow we missed that one."

Tw'eak glanced around. "Say... This is a lot better set up than most runabouts."

"Yeah. More intelligent use of space. The Romulans said they had help from the Vulcans designing these. It shows."

"Very logical compartment design." Tw'eak's antennae perked up. "Wait a minute, we don't have a transport inhibitor active."

"No, we don't. The emissions would make us stand out like a starship-sized rubber duck. The Orions would be on us in a nanosecond. We've got your big bad friend. He'd handle the inhibiting, I'd imagine."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Leo gave a sideways glance towards Tw'eak. "So... I mean, is he..."

"Pal."

"Yeah." Leo took another sip. "You call him 'Pal', for one thing. Is he?"

"It's not like we're close friends, but yeah. He's very capable. Kind of scares me, sometimes. I think of things we need to be sure of and he's already taken care of everything."

"I can think of lots of reasons to think Jem'Hadar are scary, but why that?"

"Just the idea of it - that I'm not the one who has to do the thinking anymore. I was a tactical officer for so many years. It feels like that's where I belong. This... well, not anymore, mind you, I'm suspended, right? But when I wasn't, it felt like so much more responsibility than I could handle."

"But you did, right? That's all that matters."

"Maybe." Tw'eak smiled and gave Leo a playful shove. "You really are front-line infantry, aren't you?"

"What does that mean?"

"Just that it seems like things are either handled or they're not with you."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing... reminds me of thavan, that's all. He was always so direct, so... in control. But cool about it, y'know? I'd get all worked up about something and he would say something, make me think about it, then the next steps were all clear. I feel like I still do that - like I have to feel like things are falling apart before I pull them together and make the best of them."

"Yeah, I know that feeling. I don't know, I'm used to having people do that sort of thinking for me. All I do is find ways to make it fit my plan."

"It's why we worked really well on Nimbus, then. You followed me, anticipated my next move, but you let me lead."

"That's how it works, yeah."

"Not at my rank it doesn't. Command authority changes that, you don't get just moments of that kind of decision-making being expected. It's always up to you."

"Wow. No thanks. I mean, in the short-term, yeah. I like being in charge of my own life, of my own section, or my own op - but not permanently, not always on."

Tw'eak put her elbows on the table, leaning forward. "Always on. Yeah, that's about it. Even when I get some time away, I can't get free of it. Do you know, being with you, today, before we knew about the bombing and everything else... that was probably the first time I really just... let go. It's been months. Maybe a year or more."

"Even more than that last time?"

"Yeah. I was so nervous that last time - I think it's part of the reason I got so drunk, actually. I don't know. I keep thinking back to when I was at the Academy. You don't realize it, don't appreciate it, when you're a cadet, but that's the last real freedom you get until your career's over. I mean, I like life aboard ship - it's a lot like home, really, just with family I choose instead of actual relatives. Don't get me wrong, I like my family... well, mostly. Never mind. But I find, the more Starfleet expects from me, the more I want to pull a Dashii."

"What do you mean?"

"You know... like my sister did, just not report for duty, disappear, go someplace else."

"And get yourself abducted or killed by the Orions." Leo put his mug back in the replicator. "Fantastic idea."

"You know what I mean. But you're right, I probably couldn't. They've clearly got a price on my head."

"A high price. I wouldn't take any freighters or transports anytime soon."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "This is a very different world than what I'm used to. Can't get anywhere, limited access to everything... can't even shoot back."

"Look, maybe it might be for the best for you to come back to the flotilla with me."

"Where?"

"We don't really know what else to call our collection of ships. We're not organized enough to be a fleet, or a task force, and we're not well-armed enough to be an armada. So it's a pirate flotilla. Selkirk might even be back by now, depending on how things went with his kits. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."

The thought held little appeal to Tw'eak. There was only one group of ships she felt a desire to return to, and that was the one she had commanded. "I should really let them know where I am."

"Who, the Bajorans? You saved the life of at least one of their people, I don't think you owe them any favours."

"No, no... Octavia, Aurora... my crew."

"If you want." Leo got up. "I'll try to maneuver us in close, so we can use narrow-band transmission."

"Yeah, let's do that."

Tw'eak and Leo returned to the flight deck, where Leo programmed a course correction and the automated pilot system engaged thrusters. Tw'eak found herself whispering. "Nice and slow, now. Passive sensors only. That's right."

"You know this is automated, right?"

"I... Sorry. I'm used to having a crew."

Leo shook his head, laughing softly. "Another command thing."

"Yeah," Tw'eak acknowledged. "Let's go with that."

"There's the ship," Leo noted. "Activating comm relay."

Tw'eak turned to face the screen, where Octavia appeared. "Hello, Captain."

"Admir- er... Greetings. We have been monitoring the situation aboard DS-Nine. Do you require emergency transport?"

"No, I'm not on the station."

Octavia gave a confused look over her shoulder. Tw'eak could hear Oulius' voice, trying to explain the situation, very quietly in the background.

"It's okay, nothing to worry about. This is no trick. If it was, I wouldn't know anything about the regeneration alcove in the arboretum."

Octavia appeared to relax slightly. "It is very good to see you. Are you aboard a Romulan vessel?"

"Yes. Well, Romulans built it. It's one of Selkirk's transport shuttles. Listen, I can't be on the station.

"Of course. We had decided as much from here. I had decided against simply beaming you out from the station, and was awaiting contact from you. I can see now that was a prudent choice."

"Definitely - that's not me over there, after all. It's a decoy. Leo's idea."

"I see. Well. If you are safely aboard a shuttlecraft, however, I would ask how we would be of assistance."

"Best not to come on board. It seems that wherever I go, trouble seems to follow. These Orions seem determined to kill me. I have no idea who they work for, but I have every idea why they want me dead."

"I would venture to suggest that you have, perhaps, made things difficult for yourself."

"It was for a good cause. Would it be possible for you to transfer my sister to my custody?"

"Do you believe she would be a target?"

"Absolutely."

Octavia considered for a moment. "I cannot accede to your demand, for the simple reason that it would be in the lieutenant's best interest for me to refuse."

"Explain."

"Your respective courts-martial may depend upon your respective co-operation levels, in the terms laid out by the judge advocate general. It would be best for her to remain in her quarters, as it indicates a willingness to fully participate in the process. I will see to her safety personally, in the First's understandable absence."

"I appreciate that, Octavia."

"On a personal note, I would like to observe that your presence aboard ship has been dearly missed, by myself, Commander duBois, and numerous others."

Tw'eak nodded. "Won't be long until the matter is settled. They've tipped their hand, though. I know they'll be after me."

"Do you know where you will head next?" Octavia's eye darted about. "It may be a better idea for you not to answer that question."

"I'll send you a postcard, wherever it is."

"I hear that Risa is ...nice, this time of year."

Tw'eak smiled. "Risa's nice every time of year."

"That was the joke."

"I got it," Leo mumbled.

"Perhaps my intonation was incorrect. Something to work on, as you would say."

"By the time I'm back in uniform you'll have the whole bridge crew rolling on the floor with laughs."

"We shall see." Octavia adjusted her uniform tunic. "I wish you the best of luck."

"To us all," Tw'eak said with a nod. "Sh'abbas out."

* * *

Later in the day, Tw'eak was sitting against a window in the rear of the shuttle, with a padd in her lap. It displayed a map of the known galaxy, detailing the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and their various destinations. Tw'eak looked from place to place, never quite satisfied with any of them. "No..." she muttered to herself. "Hmm. No..."

Leo returned from the flight deck. "We're station-keeping on auto-pilot. We'll be right behind Warspite's port nacelle until further notice."

"So I realized." Tw'eak glanced upwards, out the window, where the aft section of the starboard nacelle was visible, as were the name and registry of Warspite written upon it.

"Seemed as good a place as any until you figure out where we're going."

"That's the hard part. They all have something about them that doesn't work."

"Like what?"

"Let me show you." Tw'eak tapped in the locations, turning the padd to face Leo after each. "New Romulus."

"They could certainly use someone like you."

"They're also non-aligned and wouldn't offer any protection. Not unless I joined up."

"Maybe Starfleet could organize an exchange?"

"I highly doubt the Romulans have any admirals on suspension of their own to offer. Plus, the background radiation messes with my perception - to say nothing of the seismic instabilities." She tapped the padd again. "Risa."

"No way. No security there."

"And I'd go crazy."

"That, too."

Tw'eak turned the padd again. "Andoria."

"Brr."

"Brr?"

"Sorry, human thing to say when it's cold. I suppose when it's cold, Andorians don't even notice."

"For your information, we do. We just have a different idea of what constitutes 'cold'."

"No doubt. So what's the problem with Andoria?"

"There isn't one, really. It's the least dangerous option, at least until the Orions realize I'm there."

"And I'd imagine it'll be difficult -for them, when they have to fight through half the planet to get to you."

"That's part of what worries me, actually. There would certainly be casualties. No matter where I go, this trouble is certain to follow."

"Still, it'd take them longer to find you in some barren wasteland-"

"Andoria is NOT a barren wasteland."

"No, I mean you'd pick a part that was, and settle there."

"Who said I would do that? It'd actually be more dangerous to do that - and even then, I'm not going there to hide."

"Right, no, that makes sense. Hiding in plain sight, almost."

"Yeah. I just... never want to go back there, that's all."

"Why is that?"

Tw'eak sighed. "Honestly? I don't know. It's boring, it's... what's expected. The whole planet belongs to bond pairs there, little blue children all over. My antennae stand on end just thinking of being back there."

"How long has it been?"

"I don't know, pretty much my entire career, except for funerals and such. Quick day trips back, not much reason to stay."

"I don't get it."

"Why not? I didn't have any reason to go back. Most of my family were on starships, or at the Academy, on their way to serving aboard starships. And even though a lot of people I knew growing up still lived on the homeworld, I was happier not seeing them every day."

"Really."

"You grow up, right? Things change. You don't crawl back into your cradle once you've left it. You look back on the kid you were, that stupid younger you, and you feel better for not being them anymore. At least, I do."

"Or you don't - you go the other way and spend your whole life trying to still act like nothing's changed since you were twelve. I know lots of guys like that - the guns are bigger, sex is an option, and the muscles are tougher, but that's about it. Mentally, they never grow up."

Tw'eak took a breath. "I think my problem was with the people I knew growing up who don't think I did. Seeing some of these people at funerals and other events over the years, you'd think I had never aged past six or seven. It was ridiculous to try to explain to them - so I just... stopped trying. I think it was the arm."

"What about it?"

"Part of my recovery after I lost my arm was on Andoria. I'd be walking around with a temporary replacement, as part of my adaptation therapy. And I'd run into them - you'd think I was home on holiday."

"They didn't know you were injured?"

"I don't know what they thought. But I thought I didn't really belong there."

"So what did you do?"

Tw'eak shrugged. "I'd like to say I fought back, or ran away, but it didn't go like that. I just felt so lonely. So I requested to do the rest of my rehab aboard ship. It helped."

"But now you feel more at home there than on Andoria?"

"Always did." Tw'eak sighed and nodded her head. "Things were never really the same after Sassil arrived."

"That's your other sister, right?"

"Yeah. She was a shan, like me. But she was, well... different."

"Different how?"

"Family secret."

Leo nodded for a moment. "Right, I'll ask Dashii."

"No!" Tw'eak made a frantic hand gesture. "Don't you dare!"

Leo smiled. "Relax. I wouldn't ask her."

"Good."

"Well, not in any way you'd find out about-"

"Leo! I'm serious. That subject is not open for discussion. She's different. Or was. She was KIA years ago. Doesn't matter."

"So why can't we-"

"Don't make me beam you over to the Warspite. Octavia will throw you in the brig."

"Oh. Where Dashii is. By herself. Wonder if she's chatty."

Tw'eak gave Leo an unimpressed look. "Let's keep looking, shall we?"

"Okay, okay. Fine." Tw'eak kept staring at Leo. "Subject dropped. Seriously." The stare continued. "Can we get on with it now? I'd rather be in the brig than have you make that face."

"Good." Tw'eak returned her attention to the padd.

"She was adopted, wasn't she?"

Tw'eak didn't look up. "Do you want to find out if this padd fits up your-"

"Wow. Really? Okay!" Leo leaned back, hands raised. "Point taken."

"Thank you. Now. Where were we. New Romulus is out. So's Risa. And Andoria is a maybe. Vulcan."

"Nope. Too hot. Plus, a Romulan shuttle, on Vulcan?"

"It wouldn't stand out that much. And I have friends on Vulcan."

"You have friends on our flotilla, too."

"Yeah, but I don't want to endanger anyone. Actually... that's actually not a bad idea."

"Since when is endangering people a good idea?"

Tw'eak gave Leo the same death-stare for a moment. "The Republic maintains a flotilla, too. Older ships, a few command warbirds... nah, they'd never let me on board without a thousand clearances. They can be very thorough. Some of them are former Tal Shiar."

"Former Tal Shiar?"

"Hey, if D'Tan trusts them... anyway." Tw'eak tapped her padd, looking for other places. "Bajor's out - had one scare there already... which is too bad, it's such a beautiful world."

"What about Earth?"

"Too many people. Too many people in uniform - let me clarify."

"Yeah, but you don't have to go to anywhere that's Starfleet controlled."

"What I mean is, that human in uniform could easily be an Orion spy."

Leo shrugged. "Then we kill 'em."

"Unless they kill us first. I'd really prefer someplace that's killing-free for a while."

"That ruins my suggestion, then."

"Which is?"

"Drozana."

Tw'eak's eyes bulged out. "Drozana? Are you nuts? I may as well go back to Nimbus."

"What? It's Ferengi controlled! All we have to do is pay well enough to have our privacy maintained."

"The Orions can afford to pay quite a bit more. Besides, I'd rather avoid that end of the galaxy altogether."

"Why? Hiding in plain sight, remember?"

"I don't really think I could do that on Drozana station."

Leo shrugged. "Might require a holo-emitter, but it could be done."

"No." Tw'eak kept looking around on the padd. "Maybe on Defera?"

"The place you told me about? Half-assimilated or whatever?"

"Yeah."

Leo considered it, scratching his head. "Trying to figure out how that's a better choice."

"Orions don't usually go there. They don't really get along with Breen very well. Long story."

"Yeah, I get that."

"And Starfleet would have no problem reaching me there."

"Neither would the Borg."

Tw'eak tilted her head back and forth for a moment. "So Defera's out."

"Seems kind of weird. Like, I never would've believed it if you hadn't told me."

"What?"

"Defera. I mean, the Borg only sent the one ship or something?"

"It's really complicated. Some of it's classified."

"They sent one ship to Earth. A couple times. It really went badly. Have you ever been to Wolf 359?"

"Yes. Two ancestors of mine died there." Tw'eak furrowed her brow. "Don't even think of it."

"What?"

"Suggesting that I should hide out in Wolf 359."

"You seriously think I would-" Leo stopped, as Tw'eak's unimpressed face returned. "Now, come on. It's a war grave."

"Just want to make sure we understand each other."

"Look, we've ruled out most of the places on that list - why not look beyond the list. What about another Federation world, like Tellar Prime?"

"A world full of Tellarites. Seriously."

"Okay, what about Betazed?"

"A world full of telepaths. You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"Ferenginar?"

"Again, I want to avoid any place that information can be bought and sold."

Leo gave a long sigh. "And you won't just come back to the flotilla with me."

"I'm worried that if I do, it'll send the wrong message to Starfleet. There's still a court-martial to worry about, remember. It's best to avoid any impression that I can find another command structure to serve in, without them."

"Wow, they're needy."

"No, they're the best. It's different."

"I just..." Leo shifted about a bit. "I guess it's that I feel comfortable there. It's my choice of posts, and I left all this behind already, months ago."

"No regrets?"

"Only that I never served with you. You're amazing."

Tw'eak blushed. "It's just what I do."

"I'm not going to bore you with the fan-club newsletter or anything."

"There's a fan club?"

"Just one member so far. I was thinking of trying to sign up some of your officers, I don't know, might be worth mentioning at your court-martial."

"Oh, come on. 'Your honour, in my defense, I know I endangered lives, but I have a fan club!' You really think that'll work?"

"Maybe not," Leo said with a laugh.

Tw'eak shook her head, chuckling, and after a moment, once her smile had faded, she looked around. "Pal? You here?"

A moment passed before Tw'eak saw the corridor from the flight deck start to seem to melt, revealing a de-shrouding Pal. "Yes, Admiral."

"You don't have to call me that."

"I believe we have discussed this before," Pal stated with a glower.

"Okay, okay. I had a question for you."

"I stand ready to assist."

"The Gamma Quadrant."

"It is my point of origin. I have no homeworld there, as you do here, but my people and the Dominion are there."

Tw'eak raised a hand. "Hear me out. Is there any place in the Gamma Quadrant where we could hide out, without annoying the Dominion?"

"I do not know. Jem'Hadar are not typically given that level of information. And I myself have never been to many places in that quadrant. Their threats would be unknown to me. We would have to contact the Dominion for information. This... would annoy them."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not."

"Wait," Leo said, his head shaking as he did. "What's your plan?"

"Go someplace beyond the reach of the Orions." Tw'eak tapped the navigational console. "Can't think of anywhere better than a quadrant away."

The shuttle began a slow crawl towards the opening of the wormhole. The pattern of space around the ship, visible on the deflector array's display screen, began to shift and change as verteron particle traces began to appear in increasing concentrations. Just then, the opening of the wormhole coruscated into life, like a series of hands sweeping open to reveal a bright orange entryway.

Pal took a step towards the forward viewport. "I have never seen the Celestial Temple this closely before."

"It's about to get a whole lot closer," Leo replied.

Tw'eak, however, was concerned. "No, it's not. Coming to a halt."

"Someone's coming through?"

"Yeah." She looked up to see the interior tunnel of the wormhole become visible, followed shortly thereafter by a flickering point of light, which after a few moments, grew in shape to conform to the outlines of a fairly advanced Federation shuttlecraft. Tw'eak read the transponder code, and the shuttle's name, aloud, in an astonished tone. "Hypatia?"

"I don't understand," Leo said.

"Shuttle Hypatia... we stole it from Section 31, months ago. Now it's coming out of the wormhole... Makes no sense." Tw'eak opened a channel to the Warspite. "Warspite, come in."

Octavia's image appeared on the adjacent viewscreen. "Warspite, Octavia here, Admiral."

"Shuttle Hypatia is emerging from the wormhole. Did you authorize a launch?"

"I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken. The shuttle is docked. Aewon?" Octavia looked away off-screen. "Yes, that's confirmed."

"Then how-?" Tw'eak was interrupted by a hail. "They're hailing me. Why are they hailing me?"

"They're hailing you?" Leo asked.

"Yes, by name." Tw'eak could feel Pal bristling behind her. "This doesn't make sense."

Octavia remained on-screen. "Sensors indicate intense concentrations of verteron particles, not typical for the wormhole's operation. Please let me know how we can assist."

"Alright. Stand by, I've gotta take this call. Out." Tw'eak closed the channel, then looked over at Leo. "Now what fresh hell is this?"

"I don't understand," Leo repeated. "Nobody knows we're here. And that shuttle shouldn't be there."

"Exactly." Tw'eak turned to Pal. "You better do your disappearing act, just in case."

"I understand." Pal engaged his shroud, becoming invisible.

"Wish I could do that," Leo quipped.

"No you don't." Tw'eak opened the hailing frequencies, and looked towards the viewscreen. She took a quick moment to straighten her shirt, then, realizing she wasn't in uniform, found herself feeling completely out of place.

Upon the screen appeared a younger Andorian female, probably a shan like Tw'eak, with shorter antennae and a broader chin. Unusually, her hair had a tint of yellow to it. She looked up towards her own viewer on the Hypatia, and her facial expression became notably paler, her blue-white complexion softening with a slight shade of pink, her serious features fading into a sort of sad smile. "It worked." She closed her eyes and squeezed her hands together. "Thank the Prophets."

"I'm sorry," Tw'eak said, utterly confused. She looked over at Leo, who half-shrugged, then back to the screen. "I'm going to have to request an explanation for your presence."

"Could you tell me today's stardate?"

"It's 99525.1, presently," Leo noted.

"Nine-nine... perfect. Right where I wanted."

"Again, please."

"I realize this is hard. You have no idea who I am, even though I know you both so well."

Tw'eak shook her head at the younger woman, her eyes narrowing. Clearly this was some Orion trick. "Go on."

"Let me explain." The lone occupant of the Hypatia leaned forward in the seat, her antennae spread wide. "My name is Esperanza Sh'abbas de Salaberry." She smiled. "And the two of you... are- well, you're my parents."

Tw'eak looked over at Leo, whose face wore an expression of pure shock, his jaw hanging open. As she looked back at the screen, Tw'eak felt herself overcome with a sense of indescribable tension. Her antennae felt as though they were tied in knots. "M-Maybe..." She stopped herself, regaining her composure, and cleared her throat. Her suspicion of an Orion trick turned into a general confusion as to what, precisely, was going on. "Maybe we better have you come aboard."


	39. Part III, Chapter 4

_Personal log, stardate 99525.3 - We have returned the shuttlecraft to the interior of the Warspite's shuttlebay. The shuttle- the future shuttle Hypatia has also docked, and Warspite is currently at warp 8, heading: Earth. While I had hoped to avoid the use of my old ship, the circumstances of the situation were sufficiently unusual to make this necessary. I don't know how else to describe what's happened. I don't understand at all._

* * *

The sight of Tw'eak on the bridge again made many of the officers present stand at attention despite her being out of uniform. As she and Leo made their way across to the conference room, Tw'eak stopped, smiled slightly, and gestured for her crew to sit back down again. Oulius nodded and turned back to his station, Aewon sat down and turned his chair around, but Octavia remained standing and walked to face her admiral. "I will not deny that I am quite happy to have you aboard again."

"I appreciate that."

"Additional security has been posted on all decks."

"See to it that they escort our unexpected guest here quietly."

"She is waiting in the conference room. Would you object to my coming along?"

"Not at all. Could we arrange for Dashii to join us, perhaps?"

Octavia turned. "Oulius?"

"I'll request to have her brought up the same way we did with... I didn't catch her name."

"Esperanza, apparently." Leo shook his head. "It's a human name. Not one I'd have chosen."

Octavia tilted her head slightly, then said to Oulius, "Ask Doctor Ellington to join us as well."

"I will."

Octavia looked at Tw'eak. "Good idea," Tw'eak said before Octavia could explain.

"I hoped you would approve."

"Yeah, hope," Leo said. "That's what it means."

"What does?" Tw'eak asked.

"Esperanza." Leo nodded.

"Of course," Octavia explained. "From the Spanish language, I believe."

Tw'eak frowned. "I don't know why that name would be given to an Andorian child. We have very specific naming conventions - then again, my parents didn't exactly follow them either."

"But she's not Andorian," Leo noted. "She's part human, too, if we're her parents."

"I do not understand," Octavia pondered. "I had thought the two of you should be sexually incompatible, since Andorian shan-females lack-"

"Yes, thank you, Octavia," Tw'eak said quickly. "No sense giving an anatomy lesson here on the bridge, if you don't mind."

"Oh!" Octavia looked shocked at herself. "I apologize for any embarrassment I may have caused."

"Let's..." Tw'eak raised a hand, then slowly let it fall again. "Good. Now."

The turbolift opened, admitting Doc onto the bridge. She had a medical tricorder clipped to her waist underneath a white lab coat. "Couldn't keep you out of this place even with a Jem'Hadar for an escort, could they." Doc walked over and gave Tw'eak a quick embrace. "I'm glad you're all right."

"Yeah. Just lucky."

"But you both seem all right. Why am I here, then?"

"We'll need you in the conference room for a minute."

"Is Pal okay?"

"He's just fine. Were there many casualties on DS-Nine?"

"I don't know. I sent a triage team over anyway. Was about to go over myself, actually, see how they were doing, when I got the call from the bridge."

"So you've got a tricorder, then."

Doc looked around, exasperated. "Yeah, right here, as usual. Would somebody please tell me what's going on?"

Tw'eak nodded towards the door. "Come on in."

Into the conference room, Octavia followed Doc, Tw'eak and Leo. On the other side of the door, Esperanza stood looking out one of the massive windows, clad in a light brown outfit with red highlights worked into its fabric, with a security detail at either side of her. She turned to face the sound of the door opening and closing. "Don't worry," she said. "I'm here to help."

"How in the hell?" Doc reached in and retrieved her tricorder. "I've seen a few things in my time, but this?" She scanned and read the results. "This is - how?"

"This is Esperanza Sh'abbas de Salaberry."

"Please, call me Spera." She looked up at Tw'eak as she stood. "That's what everyone calls me."

Doc looked from Spera, to Tw'eak, then back to Spera, before finally rounding on Tw'eak. "You mean you've known about this?"

"For about an hour. Scan her for chronometric disruption."

Doc scanned. "Yeah, it's all over her. She definitely came through time. From the future, I'm presuming."

"She's my daughter."

"That I knew, too. Andorian-human hybrid. Very impressive engineering, whoever put her together. But I'm-" Doc took a step back. "Her pocket."

The security officer to Spera's right stepped forward, reaching for where Doc was pointing. Spera raised her hands. "It's all right. I was told to bring this with me." She removed something from her pocket, which Tw'eak recognized instantly.

"It's... really." Tw'eak stepped forward and took the kut'luch from Spera's hand. "This is supposed to authenticate your story."

"Doesn't it? It's the same one." Spera then added, softly, "it was your idea that I bring it."

"You recognize this?" Tw'eak said to Octavia.

"It appears to precisely match the one you had in your ready room." She tilted her head so that the Borg ocular implant could do its work. "A metallurgical analysis would be more accurate, however."

"There'll be time." She looked back to Spera. "This... must be hard for you."

"Well, yeah. You're so different. I mean, I'm used to seventy-two-year-old you, remember."

"So that would make you-"

"Twenty-one."

Tw'eak gestured over to Leo. "Come here." She looked back to Spera. "Do you recognize him?"

"Yeah. He died when I was really young, like, six or seven." She looked up at Leo. "I just remember you being very fun to be around. You used to tell me stories. Shreya-" Spera looked over at Tw'eak, catching herself. "You said it'd probably sound weird to be called that, is it okay that I do?"

Tw'eak swallowed hard, staring at Spera as if she were a ghost. "I'm not your shreya." She forced herself to smile. "Technically."

Doc held up her tricorder. "According to this, Tw'eak, you very much are. I don't much pretend to understand it either, but you may as well accept it. She's your daughter, all right." She looked to Leo. "Both of you."

Tw'eak nodded. "Let's come back to that. You're here, after all. I'm much more interested in why."

"It was your idea."

"I gathered that. What was her - that is to say, my thinking?"

"Qo'noS."

Leo leaned forward. "She sent you back to stop the war?"

"No, no point in that - but my shreya didn't send me back. Didn't order me back - let's be precise. I only left because, once you died, there was no reason to stay. It took a long time for that to happen - I suppose you'd see that as a good thing, but we lost the fight against the Iconians years when I was just a child. We made our way through the Delta Quadrant. We've been out there, floating between Borg space and the territory the Iconians control, for most of my life."

"Wait." Tw'eak sat down. "You just said, Delta Quadrant. But that wormhole links to the Gamma Quadrant."

"Yes, I know - but they helped me get back. It was a difficult trip."

"The wormhole's inhabitants, you mean."

"Yeah. The Prophets." Spera pushed a lock of white-grey hair out of her eyes. "The Iconians had already destroyed the Guardian of Forever, and I couldn't get Q's attention. They were my only hope. And... they delivered."

"Why not just slingshot around a star?"

"You taught me never to do that. It doesn't work as accurately. Then I remembered what you told me about a trip you'd taken through that wormhole, just before you two got married, and it gave me an idea. I had some sort of... vision or something - then I was coming out rather than going in. And there you were."

"Wait - we took that trip, in your timeline.

"Yeah, it was a good story. That was how I happened, sort of. While you were on leave, you took a trip to the Gamma Quadrant together, and decided to get married, try to start a family. It took a few tries, and you both struggled with whether it was worth it after a few... missed attempts, shall we say." Spera looked up at Doc. "It was your work that made me possible. That's why I was amused when you said you thought I was well put together - it must have been you. Shreya said that her doctor friend was the one that talked her into trying one more time, and along I came."

Leo waved a hand. "Can we go back to that bit about the Delta Quadrant? Iconians?"

"Right. They found a Dyson Sphere. Then another. They linked together somehow. Admiral Tuvok was there, as were you, and Ambassador Worf... I don't remember much else. Both those Dyson spheres were the Iconians' to use, and once they arrived, everything fell apart. The shuttlecraft computer has more on how all that happened. I brought back all the information I could find. It was why I came back now, before you went to the Gamma Quadrant."

Leo shook his head. "We don't know anything about any Dyson Spheres, though."

"Actually, we do." Octavia stepped forward. "One such sphere was discovered by the Enterprise-D some time ago, but has since vanished from where it was found. We have no idea where it has gone, or how it was possible to move such a massive structure."

"Really. It just- well." Tw'eak looked back to Spera. "So how does Qo'noS figure into this?"

"The Undine are being provoked, in fluidic space, by the Iconians. Right now, out there."

"Yes, we know. We led a mission into their territory a few months ago, back when we were still aboard Bonaventure."

"It's working, whatever the Iconians are doing. The Undine are going to attack Qo'noS."

"But we're at war with the Klingons," Leo pointed out.

"Not for long. Once Qo'noS is destroyed, they figure there's no honour in fighting us if they can't savour the victory. Before long, another planet-killer arrives and destroys Earth, among other worlds - Andoria among them."

"We don't stop them?"

"We try. One of the first casualties is your old friend Va'Kel Shon."

"Shon?"

"Yes. During the fight over Qo'noS, this Undine planet-killer, ships from every fleet in the quadrant show up. During the fighting, the Enterprise is disabled. So Shon decides to use the auxiliary craft - the Aquarius - to try to ram the planet-killer and destroy it. But he doesn't make it. Most of the ships in orbit - the Bortasqu', the Lleiset, the Voyager, the Enterprise... they're destroyed along with Qo'noS."

"My God," Leo says. "We warp to the rescue and we're not enough to stop them?"

"I don't know what else could have been done, but the defeat demoralizes the entire galaxy. And the Undine swarm across the quadrant, and between them and the Borg, everyone's forces are decimated... just in time for the Iconians to mount a concentrated invasion that no single power is strong enough to stop. That's how we end up in the Delta Quadrant - we have no choice but to flee, in a flotilla of ships, the ones you used to serve with, I think?"

Leo's eyes widened. "Selkirk's fleet?"

"The Selkirk fleet. Yeah, that's what they're called. It was Shreya's fleet to command after a while, and she kept us alive for long enough that she died in her bed, at home. For as long as I can remember, we just focused on keeping alive. We couldn't do much against the Iconians - hit and run, guerrilla stuff, like the Maquis used to do to the Cardassians. But only if we had to - there would always be reprisals. Heavy-handed stuff. Whole systems destroyed." Spera looked at Leo. "That was how we lost you."

"How?"

"You stayed behind to get ...some people out. In the meantime, the Iconians wiped the system."

Leo sat back. "Just like that, huh."

"Yeah. I'm sorry. We missed you terribly. Shreya especially - she never re-married." She looked at Tw'eak. "You used to tell me it was one of the reasons you were so close, with me, with the few officers who survived that you'd served with, and not with anyone else. But you led the fleet, kept us safe. And you thought ahead. Whole ships, usually really resilient ones, like cruisers, were rebuilt to house just classrooms, like a warp-capable space academy. We couldn't risk staying put in one system or another. We had other ships for energy storage and food production, water storage. We adapted. It wasn't uncomfortable, and we got to see lots of planets... for brief periods."

"That sounds rough."

"I don't know, it's the only upbringing I had." Spera sat back in her chair. "It might help to point out that you never let me doubt whether or not you loved me, and you never let me down. And the older I got, the more I wanted to help out wherever I could. But we spent my whole life at war. It was a little hard to have fun, I'll admit. Everything was always for the cause - and you and I, we had to be the best, because everyone was counting on us."

"Hardly what I'd call a childhood," Doc interrupted. "I mean, everything going on around you."

"Yeah. I... I was born on this ship, but it was destroyed protecting... I can't even remember what planet - maybe it was Andoria - from the Undine. By then Shreya was reassigned some other ship, and so were we... maybe that was the Wichita? I can't remember. Was a big cruiser. It didn't last long - when it was destroyed we all got out together and went to the flotilla. Starfleet was just about gone by then."

Tw'eak got up from her chair, walking over to the windows. "And this all happens... in the next few years?"

"It all starts with Qo'noS," Spera said. "I don't have any specific stardates in my memory - this stuff was all ancient history by the time I was old enough to learn it. And we focused more on weapons, ship systems, science... not history. I mean, I liked it. Dad - like I said, you used to tell the best stories." Leo nodded slightly, smiling. "Sorry."

Tw'eak pointed out the window. "We're heading to Starfleet Command right now. I have some friends in Intelligence. They should really hear what you have to say. They might know more than I do about all of this, and hopefully we can use this in order to help."

"That's really why I came back. I thought the best way for the future to happen was for it to happen differently. If it does, well, then it was worth it. If not, I can still help - we made a lot of other mistakes after Qo'noS, too."

Tw'eak gave a sigh. "You realize, of course, that... that your father and I..." Leo shifted uncomfortably, but Tw'eak continued. "Your being here might change the overall progress and direction of our relationship."

"Oh. But we talked about this. You said you were sure about him from the moment you met him again, on the flotilla."

"That may have been true, but I'm not really sure that you can compare something I said after my relationship had been permitted to develop to actual application in the real world. It'd be like... if I told Octavia, or Doc-"

"Keep me out of it now," Doc interjected, "I'm already married."

"Fine." Tw'eak fumed with frustration. "If Octavia's future husband was, I don't know, one of these security guards here-"

"It would be an inappropriate relationship as I am their commanding officer," Octavia interrupted.

Tw'eak gave an unimpressed look over her shoulder. "You know what, never mind." She turned back to Spera. "They're usually much more helpful."

"Right. But I get your point. My intervention probably made your relationship go a lot differently."

"You can say that again," Leo added.

"You used to have the Temporal Prime Directive. I know, and I know I just walked all over it in coming here. But I had to try. It meant so much death and destruction if I don't come back. You thought it was worthwhile."

Tw'eak was surprised. "I did?"

"Yeah. You told me to expect this, actually. How did you put it... that you'd both be more likely to choose to save the world than be happy."

Tw'eak gave an embarrassed laugh, and looked over at Leo. "You sure nailed us," he said, shaking his head. "Wow."

"Alright, point taken," Tw'eak said, still laughing. "We'll have to worry about that later. You and I, I mean."

The door opened, admitting Dashii. Spera stood up as she came in. "Uh, _shi_?" Dashii asked. "What's going on?"

"This is Spera," Tw'eak said. "Our daughter."

Dashii looked from Tw'eak to Spera, then at Leo. "Yeah, I see that. Wait, no I don't. What?"

"That's going to happen a lot, isn't it," Spera observed.

Dashii walked over, and looked closely at Spera. "How did you even happen?"

Spera smiled. "It's really good to see you again, too, _zhayra_ Dashii." She shook her head. "I didn't think you'd be here yet."

"Under lock and key. Big mama doesn't like me going where she can't follow."

"Dashichal - do you have to-"

"Just... she's cute, _shi_. You should definitely keep her."

"Why did I want you out of your quarters again?"

"No idea. Nice to meet you though - your auntie Dash will show you around later. I know some cute young ensigns." Dashii looked up at the security detail. "None of whom seem to be on duty in here. Sorry, boys."

"So is _zhayra_ Sassil here, too?" Spera said, looking from Dashii to Tw'eak.

Both sisters looked directly at Spera, their antennae spreading wide. "Say that again," Tw'eak asked flatly.

Spera panicked. "Oh no - I didn't- God, I'm so sorry." She put her hands over her mouth, embarrassed. "You had no idea."

"We had no idea what?" Dashii looked at her sister. "Twaiheak, what is she talking about?"

"I'm so sorry," Spera repeated.

"Look, kid, cat's out of the bag," Leo said, palms upturned. "Out with it."

"No, I - damn it." Spera lowered her hands. Tilting her face towards Tw'eak, she frowned. "She's still alive."

Tw'eak's eyes were cold steel. "Where?"

"She's in the KDF someplace."

"You'll have to do better."

"Come on, Tw'eak, how does she know?"

"If another of my sisters is a prisoner out there someplace, then I expect to have details-"

"She's not a prisoner!" Spera exclaimed. She then said again, calmly, "she's not a prisoner. She's a commander."

"A what?" Dashii asked.

"She defected. Years ago. She served under a lieutenant general, a Gorn. She's actually working with KDF intelligence, some secret group. Her and this Gorn general are working with his people's resistance forces. A lot of Gorn have been actively committed to rebellions and sabotage against the Empire from within. Have been for a very long time. She's helping keep them in the fight. She... doesn't know I came back yet. I couldn't face her. We never really got along."

Tw'eak leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Can I get in touch with her?"

"In the future?"

"No, no - now, in the KDF."

"She won't really want to, I don't think. When the war is over, she only comes back because she has to. She's like you - she doesn't like Andoria, doesn't like anyone from Andoria, never really got along with you or _zhayra_ Dashii until you all met up again after Qo'noS was destroyed. She went out to the flotilla and immediately joined up there. Even turned down the Federation's offer of rehabilitation and a return home."

"Yeah, that's Sassil," Dashii mused. "Stubborn as a _zabathu_. But what about me? I don't get a place in this future of yours?"

Spera looked down, then over at Leo. "You remember what I told you, about how you went back?"

"Yeah," Leo said, leaning in slightly.

Spera glanced over at Dashii, then down again.

"I went back for her?"

"Don't sound so disappointed," Dashii shot back.

"No, I mean - really?"

"Yeah. By then, Shreya told me later, she figured you two had gotten involved in some way." Spera looked up at Tw'eak. "You always told me not to take anything I couldn't be sure of keeping. It took me years - and a few broken hearts - to figure out you meant men, too."

A stunned silence fell between the three of them. The idea of a future love triangle involving all of them caused them each to find the idea uncomfortable. Tw'eak took the opportunity to stand. "We should really let Octavia return to her bridge. I'm glad we met, all things considered. It was... your mission, after all."

"Yeah. It's so good to see your faces - for real, not just in a holo-memorial. I know I made everything really awkward, and I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You'll never be able to run from your experiences. Your timeline might not be ours - at least, not yet. There's still hope."

"Yeah, that's me," Spera replied with a smile. "I figured you named me that for a reason."

"So let's just see what happens next." Tw'eak turned to Octavia. "If you don't mind, we should really go to guest quarters."

"On the contrary," Octavia said. "We have yet to repurpose the captain's quarters. I would consider it my privilege to extend their usage to you for the time being."

"No, that won't be necessary."

"It will, actually. I am far more comfortable regenerating in the arboretum. Moving my alcove will take some time, and may be difficult for me. They are still your quarters." She nodded to Dashii, then Spera. "I have already arranged quarters for the lieutenant, to which she will be confined once again as soon as she is dismissed." Octavia looked to Spera. "I will arrange quarters for you very shortly."

"Thank you. Leo can probably stay with me, if he wants."

"Yeah," Leo acknowledged. "We've got lots to talk about."

"Wait." Spera held out a hand, stepping towards Tw'eak. "I know this... this is going to sound really awful of me to ask, but... Shreya and I... we got to be really affectionate with each other."

"Wow, I've wanted that for months," Leo quipped. Tw'eak shot him a glare infused with the purest Andorian winter gale, and he raised his hands in mock-surrender.

"I would give both my arms for a hug." Spera shook her head. "I mean, my Shreya. Who isn't you. Yet. Or may never be. God, this is confusing."

"How did I- she die?"

"She got old, she got sick... not bad for a life spent on the run, right? But before the end, your bio-synthetic arm didn't work anymore. It just wasn't the same. I lost you... four months ago. Every day since then has been about getting ready... to get back to today."

"Yeah." Tw'eak gave an awkward smile. This was all incredibly overwhelming. She needed time to process what-

"Hug the girl already, Tw'eak," Doc said, nudging her shoulder towards Spera. "Go on."

Tw'eak smiled and opened her arms, not so much to get it over with as to offer needed comfort, the way -she realized- the way she would've for a crying child. Spera practically leapt into them, and the two shared an embrace that saw the younger of the two dissolve into great ugly tears of overwhelming joy. Tw'eak waved a hand at the rest of the crew, and they took the hint, clearing out and leaving a shan-female who had never been a mother before, locked in an embrace with a stranger who had proven to be her only daughter. Outside, passing into the distance at speeds faster than their light could shine, the stars of the Alpha Quadrant streaked along and showed the path of Warspite's voyage to Earth.


	40. Part III, Chapter 5

Tw'eak and Spera emerged onto the bridge of the Warspite after a few minutes. For Tw'eak, it was as though she had found a brand new friend who knew her inside-out. As for Spera, Tw'eak figured she'd make an excellent officer, given her life of experience at such a young age.

Leo was standing near the door when they emerged from the conference room. "Hey," he said as they came out."

"Hi," Spera replied. "You're still here."

"Where else would I be? Can't exactly step out for a walk, now, can I?"

Spera laughed. "I remember that. You used to do that a lot. Before, I mean." Her head drooped. "I know it must be weird, me talking about you like you've been gone for so long, when you only just met me..."

"No, no, it's okay. I'm getting used to it."

"We're not going to adjust right away, necessarily," Tw'eak added. "Timeline changes aren't always the easiest thing to sort out. We'll make sense of it all together, I'm sure."

"Yeah," Spera replied.

Tw'eak left Spera standing with Leo and stepped over towards Octavia, who was sitting in her command chair. "You look comfortable," she said with a smile.

"I should hope so," Octavia replied. "I am attempting to project a sense of calm control."

"Intentionally?"

Octavia looked up at Tw'eak. "Was that not what you did?"

"Yeah, in combat. But we're warping towards Earth. It's not exactly the front line."

"I understand that. However, I don't think that telling jokes or wandering about would be appropriate."

"And why not?"

"I am in command. Is it not important to maintain a certain level of dignity?"

"Well, of course - but that doesn't mean you have to be distant, either. This is the best time to just go around, get to know your crew... help them settle in and feel like they know you."

Octavia furrowed the brow over her eye - the other, over her ocular implant, didn't really function. "I am confused. Do they not settle in on their own?"

"That's not what I mean." Tw'eak smiled at the expression as she watched Doc Ellington join Leo and Spera in conversation. "They have to get to know you, a little. You've got to lower your guard a bit. Most species of the Federation have strong affiliations with their parents. It's an ongoing part of their character, to appreciate those who are... wise, but kind about it. Not just a voice of experience, but a sort of friendly authority."

"I see. My only experience with such authority is that of the Collective."

"See, now that you do not want to provide. A single voice in command is a weak one, and sometimes asking them for suggestions or input, even ones you don't intend to take... that strengthens your position as leader. It's complicated."

Octavia nodded. "Of course. By soliciting their input, they are still bound to a hierarchy."

"That's not what I mean." Tw'eak took a quick look around. Other than Aewon chuckling to himself, it seemed that nobody else was participating in their two-person seminar on command.

The security detail had, in the meantime, crossed to the door of the turbolift on the far side of the bridge, having been dismissed by Octavia previously. They chatted amongst themselves as the whistling noise of an arriving turbolift could be heard through the bulkhead. The door to it opened, an officer in a sciences uniform burst through. "Excuse me!" she shouted. "Excuse me." She crossed through the various security personnel in a hurry, then nearly sprinted to the conference room door. The medical services kit she carried across her shoulders bounced about, as did a ponytail of long, black hair. "Are you Admiral Sh'abbas?" she asked Spera when she reached the conference room.

Octavia turned to say something, but Tw'eak tapped her arm. "Shh."

"Uh, no..." Spera replied. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Lieutenant Deandra Hillis, psych services. I was told she would be up here."

"A counselor?" Leo asked. "What's this about?"

"Well," Hillis continued, "I need to know where she is. If my services are required, I always follow through. Is she in the conference room?"

"I don't have any record of you being on our staff," Doc asked.

"I beamed over from the station. Now, is the admiral here, or not?"

Tw'eak gave Octavia a look, and Octavia turned her command chair slightly, to conceal the Admiral's presence. Tw'eak, too, found herself somewhat concerned. A pushy psychologist? Who beamed over from the station? Apparently at her request? "Trap," she whispered to Octavia, who nodded.

Tw'eak straightened up into full view. Realizing she had equipped no personal shield, and thus was completely vulnerable, she stepped carefully in a line keeping the unoccupied science console between herself and Hillis. Her antennae went into full ambush mode, expecting the worst. "Was I called for?" she inquired.

Hillis turned and moved towards her, one hand reaching back to her medical kit. "Admiral Sh'abbas?"

"That's the rumour."

Hillis' angular face took on an overly pleasant smile, her tone of voice saccharine to the extreme. "Hello. My services were called for, and here I am. And here you are. Wonderful." She took a few steps towards Tw'eak.

"Hold on..." Tw'eak raised a hand from the other side of the console. "By whom, exactly?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You were sent for. I'd like to know, on whose authority?"

"Yours, of course."

Tw'eak fought the urge to roll her eyes - this 'counselor' was the worst assassin she'd ever encountered - the idea of breaking eye contact was unthinkable. "Very well. Perhaps you could explain why, then."

Hillis' hand came out from her medical kit, holding a glowing green blade. "This is why!" she shouted, and started towards Tw'eak.

That, however, was as far as Hillis got. Somehow, she tumbled off-balance slightly. Tw'eak sensed some sort of psionic action at work, but couldn't pinpoint from where. Hillis turned in Leo and Spera's direction. While Leo made a move to shield Spera, the girl took no notice, making a running leap at Hillis, both boots meeting the supposed counselor in the midsection. As she doubled over, Spera landed flat on her backside, and both of her hands came up, arms extended almost as if to touch Hillis' face, despite being out of reach. As she did, Tw'eak once again sensed psionic power at work, as Hillis' neck made an ugly crunch, the blade falling away to the ground harmlessly.

Leo, Tw'eak, a console-vaulting Oulius, and even some of the security personnel rushed to Spera's side. Tw'eak was there first, helping Spera to her feet. "Nice blade," Spera noted.

"You want to keep it?" Tw'eak asked.

"Not really my thing."

Leo stepped forward. "It is mine, though.

A moment later, Octavia joined the scrum, and from seemingly out of nowhere, Pal appeared. "Are you injured?" he demanded of Tw'eak.

"No... thanks to Spera."

Pal extended a hand to Leo. "I'll be taking that."

"But-"

"I need to have it scanned to determine how it made its way aboard."

Reluctantly, Leo handed over the blade. "Damn. Could've used a new boot-blade." Pal then stepped between him - and Tw'eak - and Hillis, rifle at the ready.

Spera shrugged. "I'm sorry, I should've mentioned that."

"What, the blade?" Leo asked.

Doc came over to show Tw'eak her medical tricorder. "Guess I should've mentioned it, too. The process that I apparently use, in the future, to make Spera - er, perhaps 'conceive' might be a better term - involves a sort of tissue synthesis. Well, turns out that your tissues carry a little trace of that Undine that attacked you. Even though we did a comprehensive neural regeneration, because we didn't deal specifically with your other systems, the outcomes were based on what we had to work with from the tissues. Call it a sheer twist of fate. Spera's not quite perfectly half-Andorian, half-human. There's a little Undine, too. Including what just happened here."

"So that..." Leo gestured at Hillis' corpse. "That was you."

"I get a little overprotective." Spera looked up at Tw'eak with a surprisingly intent smile.

"I gathered that. Doc?"

Doc made a scan of the victim. "She's dead, Tw'eak."

Tw'eak placed a hand across Pal's polaron rifle, which was still aimed at Hillis. Pal took the hint and backed off reluctantly. "Broken neck, I take it."

"Yeah. Organs are definitely Orion, masked to pass as human - it'll fool a transporter operator, but not this." Doc held up her tricorder. "I'd be willing to bet she was a fairly high-level assassin in the Syndicate, to have gotten this far."

"She got nervous when she got in close. Guess we got lucky," Tw'eak said, looking at Spera appreciatively. "She only raised suspicion because we all know the routines."

"Also because of Spera," Leo added.

"Mostly because of Spera," Tw'eak acknowledged.

Oulius, who by now had returned to his station, spoke up. "That was incredible," he said to no one in particular.

Several members of the security detail came up to remove Hillis' body. "Take that to sickbay," Doc muttered. "There goes my quiet trip home. Now I've got an autopsy to conduct."

"I doubt it'll take you long."

"Seeing as I witnessed the cause of death? You're right."

Tw'eak became aware that Pal looked like he had an uncontrollable urge to say something. "It's okay, Pal."

"I should have been here."

"Not from where you were positioned," Spera noted. "But I understand why. You saw me as the threat."

Pal looked thunderstruck. "I... how did you know?"

"Your position. Close to the conference room. You waited until the doctor came out, then you joined us. And you stayed here, behind me, the entire time. Sorry- I can sense you even when your shroud is up."

For whatever reason, this worked to calm Pal's fury at himself, and he offered a slight bow. "I am impressed."

"Thanks. You were my babysitter, you know."

Pal's look became confused. "Babysitter?"

"Yeah. There were a few of us kids around - and you saw it as your most important duty to keep us safe. Of course, I was the only one who could find you when we'd play hide and seek. Used to drive the little Vulcan girl crazy."

"I see."

"You were a great teacher, though. I learned so much about ground combat from you. And Shreya, of course."

Tw'eak smiled. "I don't know what either of us could've taught you about telekinesis."

"Yeah, I remember - you used to tell stories about how I'd move stuff around, and you'd be looking for it later but not be able to find it, and it'd be way off across the room. Some days it'd look like our quarters'd had a hull breach." She laughed. "One time I even almost died because I accidentally pulled down a big plasmonic sculpture, nearly took my head off." Spera laughed. "Clipped my antenna, and it bled all over, made you even more worried about what I'd get up to while you were on duty. Almost killed the dog, then, too."

"Dog?" Leo asked.

"Well, not, like, an Earth dog or a jackal mastiff- an Alfa 117 canine. We saw one on a Bolian freighter and it'd just had puppies, so we took home a blue one. We called it Foofnar. Foofie, for short."

"Foofie. Seriously."

"This was after... you never met her." Spera shrugged. "I took such good care of that dog - well, if you don't count dropping that sculpture on her. She died old and fat a few years back. We never did find another like her." She realized the whole bridge was looking at her. "I'm sorry, I just realized you all have better things to do."

"Not particularly." Octavia, of all people, had spoken, and gave a nod. "Why?"

"I don't know, nobody wants to hear my boring old stories - especially not on the bridge. Right? I mean, that was always Shreya's rule - personal stuff stays in the quarters."

Tw'eak saw her opportunity. "I don't see her around anyplace, so don't worry about it."

* * *

The remainder of the trip to Earth had been quiet, with Spera filling much of the time in between talking about her life, the war with the Iconians, and the grim cost of survival. It sounded to Tw'eak like there would be a need in this future for sustainable living vessels, like great warp-capable habitats to allow for life to go on once the reliability of space stations and planetary support had faded. She was still thinking on this point, while sitting in one of the few extra seats available, as Warspite came into Earth Spacedock.

Spera stood against a console, straining to take in the view. "I've never seen it before. Not like this, anyway. Only in holo-vids and stuff like that."

"Helm, thrusters only on approach," Octavia ordered

"Thrusters, aye," Aewon replied.

The massive space doors rolled open to permit the Avenger-class starship a return to port. Spera stared intently at the approaching opening, her mouth agape as Warspite moved steadily closer, then inside. She let out a little cheer as the interior of spacedock became visible. "That was awesome!" she called out. Leo smiled and bowed his head slightly, while Octavia merely looked over with curiosity. "Sorry," Spera said to her.

After a long time away, Tw'eak was looking forward to seeing Earth again. Her memories of her last visit - at the beginning of the project which had led to the very starship she had returned aboard - led her to hope that this time around would yield equally happy returns. With the court-martial still unsettled, and the lingering possibility of another assassin lurking about, Tw'eak found herself rather more apprehensive to be away from her ship at all. As it was, her presence aboard Earth Spacedock would constitute a breach of protocol, so she would have to go directly from Warspite to Earth. With Leo as her guide, she had little reason to doubt she would enjoy the trip.

"Mooring beams engaged, we are docked at station nineteen. Docking arms and service walkways are extending, should attach in... six seconds."

"Very well," Octavia noted. "Advise Starfleet of our arrival."

"They- there's a messenger who's already beamed aboard."

Tw'eak looked at Octavia. "Not another one."

Octavia nodded. She pointed to Leo and Spera. "Go back to the positions you were in before." Her attempt to get Pal's attention left her pointing to an apparently open space.

"I will adjust my tactics this time."

"Good," Tw'eak said.

Octavia turned to Aewon. "Where is the envoy at present?"

"Transporter room one. -wait, they're already in the turbolift."

"I see." Octavia quickly returned to her chair. "Which turbolift?"

"Port side, aft."

Tw'eak positioned herself to Octavia's right, and forward of the command chair. Octavia turned and faced slightly towards Tw'eak, angling the back of her chair, just as before.

The door opened, revealing a Trill ensign, male and shorter than a typical Orion. Tw'eak was aware of his every move, as, it seemed, was every other officer on the bridge. She saw Oulius looking back over his shoulder, saw Aewon take a quick peek aft. Leo and Spera continued an awkward conversation about phaser rifle settings, and Doc tapped away at a science console which was clearly set to idle.

"Um," the ensign said nervously, "I'm looking for Admiral Sh'abbit?"

Tw'eak fought the urge to laugh. She hadn't heard her name mispronounced so badly in ages. Octavia gave her a look of utmost concern.

"Sorry," the ensign corrected, "Sh'abbas."

Tw'eak stood up and took a step backwards. "Yeah, that's me."

"I have a message here from Admiral Quinn regarding your court-martial. He asked me to deliver it to you personally." The ensign held out a padd to Tw'eak, and stepped forward.

Tw'eak raised a hand. "Just set it on the console there. I'll see it in a moment."

"I..." The ensign looked confused.

Octavia turned her chair around. "And I will vouch for the admiral's having reviewed its contents on my personal authority as captain of this ship."

"I just... this isn't how this is usually done, that's all."

"I understand that," Tw'eak observed. "You can let the Admiral know that I'm more than willing to explain my reasons for doing so, if he so requires."

"Uh, okay." The ensign placed the padd on the console, and saluted, then stepped back into the turbolift. Moments after, Pal's shroud came down, revealing him standing facing the turbolift doors.

"You had him this time," Leo said quickly.

"So I would have hoped," Pal noted.

Doc stepped over to the padd and gave it a scan with her medical tricorder. "Just once I think we were a little too paranoid about this one," she said. "Detecting traces of Trill DNA and maybe a little background radiation, but other than that, this is fine."

"Alright," Tw'eak said, moving towards the console.

"It's not emitting or showing signs of being rigged with anything," Octavia added.

Tw'eak picked up the padd. "It is, in fact, a note from the admiral. Just pointing out that regardless of the outcome, he has my support." Tw'eak looked over towards Leo. "One of his children was among those we saved."

Leo smiled and nodded, his eyes looking downwards, but didn't say anything.

"How does this all turn out in your timeline?" Doc asked Spera.

"I don't know," she replied. "That is to say, I don't really remember. There wasn't a Starfleet left to court-martial anyone in my memory. Not until now, anyway."

"That's too bad," Tw'eak said. "I would've liked some spoilers." She set down the padd. "Anyway, regardless of what Starfleet decides, I don't think we made the wrong decision, moving on Nimbus - whatever may have followed."

"Nope," Leo said approvingly. "Total agreement here."

"So, in that case..." Tw'eak stood up and walked towards the turbolift. "We have a date."

"A date for what?" Doc asked, then her hands came together. "Really."

"Not that kind of date. Just a date, together. Somewhere." Tw'eak tucked her arm under Leo's and escorted him towards the turbolift. "Come on, now."

"Alright, alright." Leo took a look back towards the bridge of the Warspite. "Don't wait up."

* * *

The shuttle ride to Earth was a careful approach, since the Hypatia's stealth systems and general lack of a flight plan might cause problems for other craft coming and going from the surface. But as the Hypatia settled into its final approach, the northern hemisphere becoming more and more expansive in the forward window, Tw'eak found herself lost in her thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?" Leo asked her.

"Hm?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just wondering if Pal followed us on board."

"He did. I'm sure of it."

Tw'eak turned to the shuttle's aft compartment. "Pal? Are you here?"

Pal briefly de-shrouded. "At the ready," he acknowledged, then vanished again.

"There you go," Leo noted.

"Too bad. I was hoping for a little... alone time."

"You really are Andorian, aren't you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Leo gave Tw'eak a wolfish smirk. "Up for it on the way down."

Tw'eak smacked Leo on the arm. "Not here, down there."

"Eh, I'm sure once he sees where we're going, we won't have to worry."

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"Edge of the world. Where I grew up, northern Manitoba."

Tw'eak was unimpressed by the statement. " 'Edge of the world' ?"

"Yeah, you'll like it. Winter's just starting here."

Tw'eak looked ahead, at the approaching surface in the window. It didn't look like winter as she would recognize it - the cold and the snow had not yet settled in completely across the region, making a barren surface of stones and thin soil visible. It reminded Tw'eak of parts of Andoria during the dry season that usually preceded winter, although there was far less visible plant life. Tw'eak looked over at Leo. "You'll have to come back with me at some point."

"Where, to Andoria?"

"It's only fair."

"But you hate Andoria."

"You told me you don't like it here much, either."

"That's not strictly true. Being out there, I love. Being in contact with anyone else? No thanks."

"You have family here?"

"Yeah. I don't miss them, if that's what you're getting at." Leo's face took on a sort of snarl.

"Okay. Just curious."

The shuttle came down to a cruising altitude, and made its way over the surface. The edge of a bay visible to the east gave Tw'eak a look at some ice floes, a rocky shoreline, and in the distance, a series of white bumps that grew in size as they approached. "What are those?"

"Polar bears," Leo observed as he tapped the navigation console. "Just like I'd hoped."

The shuttle slowed, then set down about a hundred metres away from the edge of the water. Leo bounded rapidly down the ramp as it descended, holding a view enhancer in his hands. Tw'eak stepped out behind him, her heart rate increasing as the temperature lowered. This was more like it, she thought. Her antennae could sense a small creature off in the distance - she recognized it as being a fox - chasing yet another - perhaps a hare or a vole of some kind. For now, though, Tw'eak's attention lay primarily on Leo, who observed the bears as he spoke. "They're beautiful, aren't they. I used to come out here a lot as a kid. Spent a lot of time watching these big bears do their thing when they'd come south - they usually live further north, where the sea ice is. Amazing predators. So big and powerful, yet they hunt by stealth." He held out the viewer to her "Take a look," he offered.

Tw'eak took a closer look through the view enhancer. "Impressive. Kind of cute, though."

"Biggest bear on the planet. You don't usually see more than one of them. I think the big one is mom. They're probably on their way north to the sea ice."

"Is this what you wanted to show me?"

"Yeah, actually," Leo said with a smile. "They're fascinating." He sat back on the ramp. "We can just sit here and watch the bears for a while if you'd like. I'll go replicate us some lunch."

Tw'eak watched the largest of the bears for a moment, then realized Leo was waiting for her response. "Yeah, that sounds great."

* * *

After a brief period spent eating, during which what most of the conversation concerned polar bears, Tw'eak felt the urge to change the topic. "So... at some point, we apparently decide to have a daughter."

Leo sat back from the view enhancer. He looked at Tw'eak for a moment. "Yeah," was all he could say.

"Did you - I mean, could you see us doing that?"

"No. Not really. That line of yours on DS-Nine, about us being husband and wife... that was way beyond my comfort level with this."

"It was?"

"Wasn't it for you?"

"I don't know." Tw'eak looked off towards the bears. "I've never married before. Or bonded, as we usually do. Was never something I was supposed to do."

Leo leaned back against the edge of the shuttlecraft's door. "Neither have I, if you're asking."

"No, not asking. I mean, I figured. You would've mentioned it by now."

"Had a few girls I would've been willing to, if the time had been right."

"And now?"

Leo took a deep breath. "Not sure the time's right here, either."

"So where does that leave us?"

"Right where we are, no? A few hundred metres from polar bears?"

Tw'eak fought the urge to sigh. "Are you doing this intentionally, or what?"

"Doing what?"

Tw'eak looked away from the bears, back at Leo. She moved closer, staring him straight in the eyes from about a metre away. "You're scared."

"I - what?"

"You're scared of this."

Leo looked in numerous directions, rapidly, giving the impression of squirming.

Tw'eak didn't let him off the hook. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"No, you're- you're not right. You're crazy."

"I'm crazy?"

"Y- I mean, yeah! I don't want to get married! I've got too much to do first!"

This completely confused Tw'eak. "Like what?"

"Like- I don't know- all sorts of things."

"Name three of them."

"I don't know- I don't know."

Tw'eak felt her temper flare. She stood up and walked away. "You're ridiculous," she muttered, then turned to face Leo. "How is it I'm so much more certain about this than you are?"

"I- hey, I am plenty certain about this!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Doesn't seem like it."

Leo reached for her hand. "I'm certain about you- I'm just not... not really certain I'd make a good husband, that's all."

"It's not about how good a job you'd do. It's about what it means."

"What it means?"

"To us. To everyone else around us. It's about our relationship. When people are bonded, back home, I mean... when they have that... everyone knows who they are."

"Is that what it is?" Leo got to his feet, slowly.

Tw'eak lost her train of thought. "What?"

"You need this to be official." Leo took a step closer to Tw'eak. "It doesn't count otherwise on the big Andorian scoreboard."

"It's not that." Tw'eak's eyes fluttered, and she raised a hand to her forehead. Her antennae slowly angled inwards. "You saw the way she looks at me."

"Who? Dashii?"

"Spera. But that's another thing." Tw'eak shook her head. "How DO you end up with my sister?"

"I don't know. She's not really my type. I don't usually go in for blue."

"Would you stop? I'm serious."

Leo dropped back down and put his hand on Tw'eak's shoulder. "Look, just... listen. That's not our timeline. You know how this works - I mean, you probably passed that class at the Academy on temporal mechanics that I always slept through, but you know she's not from our timeline."

"We're out fighting Klingons when the Iconians are about to cost us everything-"

"We don't know that!"

"But it's what Spera says will happen!"

"And we don't know that it'll go exactly as she says. Maybe we stop the planet-killers in our timeline. Maybe her being here changes all of that. I don't know. Neither do you."

"But you saw the way she looks at me," Tw'eak repeated.

"Yeah, so?"

"So what does that look mean to you?"

"I don't know. Lots of people look at me like that, on the flotilla. It's because I'm in charge."

"No. It was a lot more than that. I was a lot closer to my zhavey than I am with my shreya, but I recognize that look. I'm sure I had it on my face when she was around."

"That's just in your head!"

"I'm not so sure." Tw'eak pulled herself into an embrace, her arms drawing her closer to Leo. "I just don't know how to feel. I'm not supposed to be anyone's shreya."

"You're not, though. Look, whatever magic Doc does to make it happen is clearly not a natural process. The fact that she came back in time, fully-formed and combat-ready... also isn't a natural process."

"That doesn't mean-"

"Shh," Leo interrupted. "What it does mean is that, whatever decisions we made in that future, we were making them our way."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well, I'm just thinking, if it's up to us to make the call, we'll do it our own way. Especially if we're permanently on the verge of being obliterated. She seems to turn out okay, y'know."

"Yeah, I'd had that thought, too. We couldn't have done that badly a job. Even without- well, without you."

"Exactly. And to think, she turns out like that without the benefit of my vast worldly experience."

"Because you go back to save Dashii."

Leo nodded. "Which isn't to say that Dashii and I get involved in any way in this timeline - or maybe I do get her out in this timeline. Who knows. Hell, I barely knew you and I followed you into worse to get her out. I don't think I would've hesitated to go back for her again." He shrugged. "Besides, I'm not stupid. I can tell how much your sister means to you. Not my place to try to come between the two of you, for any reason."

Tw'eak let go of Leo and moved a short distance away. "That's the other thing - she's not my only living sister, apparently."

"Yeah."

Tw'eak took a few steps off by herself before turning back towards him. "Sassil - she's supposed to be dead."

"I remember. She went KDF-side."

"Yeah. I don't understand why, though."

"Who knows. Maybe she likes the food."

"That's a horrible thing to say!"

"I don't know," Leo quipped, throwing up his hands. "I've been to Andoria. There were horrible things to eat there, too."

Tw'eak fumed slightly, although she had to admit she hadn't eaten anything native to Andoria in a very long time. She gave Leo a sultry smile. "That's not what you said about the Andorian ale."

"Not the same thing. Look at the Saurians - they eat bugs, don't they?"

"Not the same thing!" Tw'eak repeated back to him. "I thought they only ate plants?"

"I don't know." Leo touched a hand to his chin. "Wonder what Gorn eat?"

"I'll ask Sassil next time I see her." Tw'eak replied cynically, then shook her head. "Uzaveh's name, what is she doing fighting against the Federation?"

"I don't know - maybe the same thing I'm doing. I mean, I'm not really against the Federation, exactly. But I'm not with it, either."

"But you heard Spera. She's an officer on a Gorn's ship in the Klingon Empire."

"A Gorn resistance ship, I thought she said."

Tw'eak ignored Leo's comment. "How am I supposed to get in contact with her? What if she doesn't even want to come home?"

"You don't." Leo took a step towards Tw'eak. "Maybe this is the one sister you don't have to save."

"That's not what I'm trying to do."

"Isn't it?" Leo raised a hand. "I remember - this was a while back, when I was still in the Corps. One of the guys in my platoon was useless for months because his sister ran off with someone. Or maybe it was his girlfriend. Doesn't matter - I told him, you've gotta follow the Prime Directive."

"The Prime Directive? What does that have to do with this?"

"Non-interference in less advanced cultures. The way I see it, you're the oldest, same as if you're in command, right? Well, once that command authority is set aside, you can't personally intervene in someone else's relationship, right? One of your ensigns, or whoever, let's say."

"I can if they're seeing a lieutenant."

"But assume they're not. All you can do is listen and ask them their intentions. They're going to do what they intend whether or not you let 'em or think it's a good idea."

"I suppose you're right, but she's on the wrong side of the war."

"For you, maybe." Leo pointed upwards. "Somewhere out there in KDF space, she's busy doing the same things you'd be doing on a starship right now. And that's her choice. Maybe she feels better being there than she ever felt in a Starfleet uniform. Maybe she's some sort of Gorn folk hero for her work with the resistance."

"Maybe. But it's not her place."

"It wasn't Dashii's place to be kept in a box by the Orions. But this is different. I don't know how you can even criticize her - You have a Gorn on your ship! You had an Orion dressed up as a Klingon! There's a Jem'Hadar right over... wherever he is!" Leo shook his head. "Don't you see?"

"That's not the same thing."

"And why not?"

"Because the Klingon Empire is an Empire. Like the Tal Shiar, or the Undine - it's the weak that they prey upon. That's not how it's supposed to be."

"Because it's supposed to be like the Federation."

Tw'eak nodded. "That's right. I didn't think I'd have to explain. We're not conquerors. We've never conquered anything."

"No, instead we have Section 31. They can be very persuasive, I've heard."

"You can't claim any sort of equivalence there-"

"Why not?"

"They're an organization - a shadowy one, sure, but Klingons don't have that limitation. They strike in force and take what they need."

"Out of desperation. We know they can't keep up with us. That's why they're fighting this war."

Tw'eak shook her head. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that Sassil's fighting - and fighting against the Federation."

"But you don't know that. There are all kinds of reasons for her to be over there!"

"There are all kinds of reasons for her to be in Starfleet, too."

"Nope. Just one - because Admiral Big Sister says so."

Tw'eak leaned back, resting her weight upon her outstretched arms. She took a deep breath, needing a break from their discussion. Looking for a way to change the topic, she asked, "Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"I was just thinking. Being here, like this, having... having the time to think... I never really got this when I was home." She looked up. "I used to love just going out, a lot like this, during the dry season, and just sitting outside, thinking. I used to... you know how Andoria orbits Andor, right?"

"Right."

"I used to just look up at Andor. It was like... I don't know how to explain it. Like I'd be talking, and the planet... well, it wasn't really listening, but I wanted to believe that someone was out there, and wanted to hear what I had to say."

"That how you feel right now?"

"Yeah. Well, that, and cold. I like it. It's comfortable. I haven't felt like this in a long time. Onboard a ship, yeah, you press a button, and it's cold - but this?" She looked around. "With a breeze and... and wildlife just a few hundred metres away? It's really nice."

"I like listening to you anyway. You're... I don't know, it sounds awful to call you 'interesting', but yeah."

Tw'eak smiled. "I'm not that interesting."

"To me, you are. I mean, you listen to yourself all the time - doesn't matter who you are, that'd get exhausting after a while. It's why I think we talk to other people - just so we don't have to keep things to ourselves. Can be dangerous, sure. Can be pretty interesting, too, though."

"I think that's what I've been trying to tell you."

"What?"

Tw'eak considered the words to say for a moment. "All that time I spent thinking I was talking to a planet... I was hoping there was someone out there."

"But Andor's a gas giant."

"Not on Andor. Past it. I knew whoever I'd find wouldn't be from Andoria - I'm always going to be out of place there. It's why I went to the freighter yard and stowed away on the first one I could find. I had to get away. But all that time... maybe I was just trying to get closer to someone that I could really care about."

Leo watched Tw'eak for a moment. "I get what you're saying. For me, this was that place, out here by myself. I guess I've just gotten so used to being on my own, but... you can really see us as being together? Like, forever together."

Tw'eak looked over at Leo, right into his eyes. "Yeah. Forever." She gave a shrug. "Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. I just... I guess the thing is, I don't know why you'd want to put up with me. Voluntarily."

"Oh, there's a lot to put up with, sure. But you've got it where it counts."

Leo laughed. "Alright - but let's do it the right way."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we get married. We plan everything. With rings and suits and the whole thing. If we're going to make it official, let's do it right." Leo raised a hand. "But that being said, I don't want to invite half the galaxy."

"We won't. Most of the people I'd want to have celebrate with us are onboard the Warspite right now anyway."

"Okay." Leo nodded. "One hell of a proposal."

"What are you proposing?"

"No- I mean- God, you're really not from around here, are you. The term 'proposal', on Earth, means... like a betrothal. I mean, it's not really something you have to do anymore, but there was a time where a man was expected to get on his knee and ask nicely, with a ring, that she'd wear afterwards."

"Is that part of doing it 'the right way'?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, but we can't now, exactly - I mean, right? We just decided to-"

"If that's something you want to do, then I can... what do I do?" Tw'eak held her arms out.

"Stand there, I guess? Then I ask, and you say 'yes', or 'I will'. If you want to."

Tw'eak nodded. "Yes, I will."

"No - damn it!" Leo stood up. "Get up."

Tw'eak stood, somewhat confused.

"Okay, now this time-" Leo took to one knee. "Listen. You make me happy. You want to be together, I do too. Just like we talked about."

"Yes, I will."

"No, not yet-"

"No?"

Leo straightened up. "Yeah, close enough." He put his arms around her and they kissed for a moment.

"Admiral-" The voice Tw'eak heard was Pal's, riven with tension.

"Pal?" She let go of Leo, and turned to see an unshrouded Pal, rifle at the ready.

"I am - we have a situation over here."

"Oh, no-" Tw'eak and Leo moved to the source of Pal's voice, seeing him facing off with a smaller polar bear. While Pal had his rifle drawn, the bear was licking the side of the shuttlecraft. "What's it doing?" she asked Leo.

Tw'eak held out a hand, observing. "He's... um, he's licking." She looked back at Leo and Pal. "How did he manage to sneak up on us?"

"Stealth predator, remember? He's just a little guy. Hey." Leo motioned for Pal to lower his rifle. "He's not going to hurt us."

Pal held his rifle to his shoulder, aiming downwards, yet clearly ready to kill at the slightest provocation. "Are you certain?" he demanded.

"Don't worry, Pal. He's just looking for something to eat."

Pal finally eased back a step. "I did not expect such a large creature to be... calm."

"He can be," Leo noted. "Sure is now. He'll grow to be almost as big as this shuttle when he's full-size."

"I get the sense he's relaxed," Tw'eak added. "He's used to humanoids of most types, it seems."

"Probably used to getting fed by us, too."

"We should really be getting back, Leo."

"I know." Leo took a step forward, extending a hand tentatively towards the bear, who did not move. He patted the bear quickly yet gently on the head once, then took a step backwards. "Just keep your nose out of our thrusters," he said to the bear.

Tw'eak turned to her Jem'Hadar escort. "Pal, see if you can replicate a distraction. Maybe a nice big fish."

"I would not know what kind of fish to replicate."

"Ask the computer. Big, northern Earth fish."

"Or some seal meat," Leo offered.

Pal looked from Leo to Tw'eak, disbelievingly. "This is not my typical duty assignment."

Leo pointed to the bear, which was now peeking inside the open shuttle door. "Hurry up or he'll get it himself."

"Very well," Pal said, and headed into the shuttle.

"Hey," Tw'eak said to Leo. Leo turned away from the bear for a moment, and Tw'eak kissed him. "You really want to marry me?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, we know it's supposed to happen."

"That doesn't make it have to happen."

"No," Leo replied. "But the thought of you, with me? That, now that has to happen."

Tw'eak liked the sound of that. They embraced again, as the polar bear turned and moved off in search of other salty parts of the shuttlecraft to enjoy.


	41. Part III, Chapter 6

A few days had passed. The news of the upcoming wedding gave the crew of USS Warspite something to buzz about. Some, like Aurora, had been left practically simpering with glee at the news, involving themselves in all the details, while others, such as Octavia, merely expressed congratulations and went back to their daily duties. For Dashii, though, her research into her role as 'maid of honour' gave her reason to panic. She called Tw'eak to her quarters, where she had been confined pending the results of her court-martial. Tw'eak arrived to find her sister with padd in hand, looking frazzled. "I don't think I can go through with this," she said to Tw'eak.

"Why not?"

"I'm already part of a bond group. I can't be part of two. Besides, we're sisters. You know as well as I do that it's not right to bond with your sister."

"You're not bonding with us."

"I'm not? But-"

"No. It's an honourary role. That's why you're the 'maid of honour'."

"But then why else do there need to be four of us?"

"I don't really get it either. Leo said they're basically there for backup."

Dashii looked confused. "Is there going to be an attack during the wedding? I thought that was a Klingon thing."

"I don't think so. Then again, it's our wedding, so who knows. We might have an Orion assassin strike at us on the dance floor."

"And this whole ceremony makes no sense. You stand together, commit to each other, in order to bond with each other?"

Tw'eak nodded. "Although usually they've already bonded beforehand."

"So what's the point? "

"They don't separate bonding and reproduction from more casual intimacy, like we do. In fact, we're just about the only species that does. And even then it helps to be careful."

"Yes, I know, _shreya_ , thank you."

Tw'eak gave Dashii a disapproving look."Could we not joke around with that term? I'm already plenty sensitive about it."

"Because of Spera?"

"Well, yeah. It's a bit hard for me to talk about."

"Hey, if you ever need to, I'm here, _shi_. Going over these arcane bonding details and trying to make sense of them... they're going to throw grains at you?"

"Rice. And no, we're leaving that part out."

Shaking her head, Dashii muttered, "Waste of food. I don't get it."

"Don't worry about it. Any of it. The important thing is that you're there that day, and supportive." Tw'eak caught herself after a moment. "And in some kind of special dress. Or something."

Dashii stood up and came over to embrace her sister. She leaned back and looked her sister in the eyes. "Honestly? I don't care about any of it - as long as you're happy, I am so happy for you. He seems to have the right kind of heart."

"Yeah."

"And he's super cute."

"Dashichal..."

"Sorry. He's all yours, I promise."

"Good. After what Spera said, that means a lot."

"Yeah, that kind of put me in my place. Besides, I've got this lieutenant from security who I'm working on anyway."

"Lieutenant Planf?"

"Twaiheak! He's a Tellarite!"

"I know. And Lieutenant Snall is Vulcan. So what?"

"So not him either, then. You know I have standards, right?" A pensive look for a moment, then she said, "Maybe he's not a lieutenant. Was too busy picturing him out of uniform to notice his rank. Either way, I'm not telling you - Admiral." Dashii looked up and down at her sister, who was in uniform. "Wait a minute, why are you in uniform?"

"Court-martial starts on ESD in a couple hours."

"Ooh, good. Makes me all kinds of anxious knowing that's unresolved - I'll be happier when it's over with."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "I think whether I'm happier when it's over with will depend upon the results..."

"Oh, really. You've got to be more confident! They'll probably promote you for what you did."

"Not so sure - I do have a case to answer. After all, I did abandon my post, technically in wartime. They could force me out of Starfleet for this."

"Twaiheak - honestly."

"What?"

"Would you even care, at this point? You could take a group of freighter captains and turn them into a force that could challenge the Borg."

"By the sounds of what Spera has to say, we may have to before long."

"Never mind that - what I mean is, you're better than Starfleet. I'd be far happier knowing you were happy, with Leo, off in that flotilla of theirs, together, than be bound by conventions and duties written by Tellarites to argue over with each other - that's their idea of casual conversation, you know."

"You really don't like Tellarites, do you?"

"Why, you're not planning on bonding with one of them, are you?"

Tw'eak rolled her eyes. "I should go."

"But we didn't even settle on what colour dress I'm going to wear! I was thinking light blue. Translucent. Very in style right now."

"You'll wear whatever we settle upon."

"Oh, great. Dress uniforms for everyone, then."

"I didn't say dress uniforms. We'll see - probably for me, though. It's only proper."

Dashii let out a huff. "Uzaveh forbid you do something less than proper."

"I came to rescue _you_ , didn't I?"

"When did I ever say that I'd needed rescuing?"

* * *

A few hours later, Tw'eak arrived in transporter room two aboard the Warspite. Lieutenant Sandoval was on duty. "Hello, ma'am," he said.

"How've you been, Lieutenant?"

"Very well, ma'am."

Tw'eak looked over to see Spera, Leo and Pal. To her surprise, Leo was in a tactical uniform. Spera, however, wore her usual outfit, and Pal's rifle was visible over his shoulder. "We're all here, then." She turned to look at Spera. "I didn't expect you to come."

"I'm not - I'm going to the Temporal Investigations office."

"They have an office?" Leo asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, you just have to know where to go."

Tw'eak turned to Sandoval. "Do you have contact with Chief Ch'Thras?"

"Yes, ma'am. He's clearing the main transporter room now. Once it's secure, he'll send me a signal and you'll be escorted to the courtroom by a security detail." He looked up at Pal. "An additional security detail, I mean."

"Good."

"And I've got an appointment to keep with Admiral Quinn," Leo announced.

"You do?"

"Yeah. Going to see if I can get his approval for Starfleet auxiliary status for the flotilla."

"Good idea."

"It'd mean regular supply runs, maybe even a chance to have access to starbase facilities for our ships... quite a few of them need a little time in a shipyard."

"I don't doubt it. I hope it works."

"Yeah, me too. I talked to Selkirk earlier. He wants to come."

"He's more than welcome."

"I'd imagine Zed will want to come, too."

Tw'eak smiled. "He sits on my side of the chapel."

"If you want."

Sandoval looked up. "We're getting the all-clear signal, ma'am."

"Alright." Tw'eak and the others took their place on the transporter pad. "Energize."

After a few moments, Tw'eak saw the familiar face of Chief Ch'Thras, an Andorian like herself and an old family friend. Ch'Thras had been the duty officer responsible for transporter operations aboard Earth Spacedock for at least five years. "Hello, Ch'Thras," she said.

"Well, if it isn't Rear Admiral Sh'abbas." Ch'thras looked past her, to Leo. "And de Salaberry with her. Well. I haven't seen you since her charan was your sergeant-major."

"Uh, maybe we can not tell her about that?"

"No, let's," Tw'eak insisted.

"Let's just say..." Ch'thras smiled broadly. "I may have helped the sergeant out once or twice over the years."

"And let's leave it-"

"By emergency beam-out."

"-at that."

Ch'thras grinned. "More than once or twice."

Leo gave Ch'Thras an unamused look.

"I should also introduce Esperanza," Tw'eak said. "She's... well, she's here with us."

"Is she part Aenar?" Ch'Thras asked, in reference to her lighter blue skin tone.

"Half-human, actually."

Ch'thras looked from Tw'eak to Leo, back to Spera. "I... see."

"I'm not from this timeline," Spera noted. "At least, not yet."

"Well..." Ch'thras looked for the right thing to say. "You have a lovely family."

Pal stepped off the transporter pad and engaged his shroud.

"A very... lovely family," Ch'thras repeated.

On the other side of the door, a security detail stepped into formation ahead and behind of Tw'eak, and they went around the corner, to a turbolift, which took them up a floor from the main concourse. These were the meeting rooms and offices of the judge advocate general. As she arrived, Tw'eak saw a Trill lieutenant commander in tactical colours get up and approach.

"Admiral? I'm Commander Rael Digan, Judge Advocate General. I've been assigned as your counsel."

"Hello." Tw'eak did not stop moving, forcing the commander to keep pace with her.

"I wish we'd had time to meet earlier. There are so many aspects of this case I would've liked to have time to completely understand-"

"That won't be necessary. I've got a good idea of how this works."

"I know. Your shen-mother is a legend in the office. We all have the utmost respect for her work as -"

"I appreciate that." Tw'eak looked around without breaking her stride. "She's not here, is she?"

"No. I've never had a chance to meet her, since I started with the Corps after she retired."

"Good." Tw'eak hoped to keep it that way, for her own sake. "So we're about to get started?"

"Yes, ma'am. Admiral T'sles will be overseeing the case."

"T'sles..." Tw'eak considered. "Good."

"I don't understand," Digan inquired. "Why is that good?"

"Better to get a Vulcan judge. They didn't tell you that? Never mind. Don't worry about it right now."

"Gotcha. I hope you don't mind me saying so, but I feel like I'm going to be following your lead on this."

"Well, you have been so far." One of the security officers held the door open for Tw'eak. "Hope you can keep up."

Tw'eak proceeded into the court room and sat at the table designated for the officer being court-martialled. She had seen so many of these in progress via holo-transcript, mostly at her shreya's insistence, a particular objection or turn of phrase she had felt like sharing with the whole of the family. Tw'eak had often found that distasteful, the idea of bringing home one's work to show off to the family, but she could see herself having those sorts of conversations about maneuvers or diplomatic negotiations, with Leo or even Spera. While she had, on rare occasions, told Dashii something she'd been up to, most of her conversation with her sister had been restricted by their difference in rank. This had made her talks with her sister more superficial, but that was to Dashii's preference anyway - she became easily bored with too much detail. Tw'eak hoped she wouldn't have to be as restricted in talking to Leo, not least because of his responsibilities lying elsewhere. She wasn't quite sure how any aspect of her life would work once the marriage ceremony was completed. And she realized she was dreading that at least as much as the court-martial.

Digan sat down next to Tw'eak and immediately took to adjusting her ponytail. "Sorry, I know you said not to worry about it, but I'm a little apprehensive about all of this."

"Is this your first case?"

"No, no - first case involving anyone above the rank of captain, though."

"Don't let that bother you. Procedures, regulations, duties - those are the sorts of things they'll throw at you."

"I know. I just... do you know Captain Henry at all?"

"No, should I?"

"He's one of our best, ma'am. They call him 'King' Henry around the office. He's kind of intimidating."

"Well, that's part of the job."

Digan finished with her ponytail. "This might sound silly, but do I look okay?"

Tw'eak noticed a few loose strands of hair that the commander had missed. They would bother Tw'eak, were they hers to worry about, but Digan seemed untroubled. "Yeah. Clean. Good."

"I just don't want to mess this up. It'd be really great to have this case go well."

"For you, or for me?"

Digan suddenly realized what she was saying. "For you, of course. Only for you. Sorry."

"Can I ask you a question, Commander?"

"Um... sure."

"Am I making you nervous?"

"Well, a little. So's he." Digan inclined her head back over her shoulder, where the opposing counsel, a tall dark-skinned human captain in a tactical uniform, had entered. A Tellarite ensign followed close behind, carrying a padd. Captain Henry, Tw'eak presumed, and he nodded at her as he passed.

Tw'eak returned the nod, and looked back towards Digan, forcing a smile. She thought back to her experience on the Meitner, and the youthful, inexperienced eyes that had followed her every move while on the bridge of that vessel. "Don't put so much pressure on yourself. You have a tactical background?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, think of this like a hand phaser qualification course. Situational awareness - be alert, not jumpy. If you see a chance, take it. Most of all, don't worry about what they're going to do to us - worry about what we're going to do to their case."

"Right."

Admiral T'sles entered, and all assembled rose at the summons of a Pakled bailiff. "Please be seated," the Vulcan admiral said in clear tones. "Would the accused please remain standing." Tw'eak did as she was asked. "Rear Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas, you stand accused of two counts of dereliction of duty in the face of the enemy, one count of failing to exercise the vital powers of command, and one count of second-degree destruction of Starfleet property. How do you plead?"

"The rear admiral pleads not guilty on all counts," Digan confirmed. Tw'eak nodded her assent. So far, so good.

"Very well. I would like to briefly remind all assembled here that this court-martial, and all aspects pertaining to testimony and other decisions of the court, are to remain confidential per order of Starfleet Security. Holo-transcripts and other evidence will remain sealed for a period not restricted to but at minimum seven years in duration. Once the verdict is determined, a report will be made public of the court's finding. All present here are hereby sworn to secrecy on any aspects of this court-martial which are not discussed in the final report." T'sles took a sharp look around at all present. "This is by order of Starfleet Command." She then turned to the prosecutor for his opening address. "Captain Henry?"

Henry stood up, crossed to in front of the bench, then proceeded to pace back and forth, reciting his opening address with a well-rehearsed series of mannerisms and tone. "Your Honour, the case against admiral is simple. The facts are not even in contest. Admiral Sh'abbas deliberately abandoned her post in order to pursue an independent commando action against the Orion Syndicate. Her decision to do so may have been motivated by her desire to rescue her sister, Lieutenant Dashichal Zh'abbas, who is awaiting her own court-martial for abandoning her post. Her decision may also be seen as being legitimate simply due to her action's unforeseen results. Undoubtedly, the liberation of countless children from confinement by the Orion Syndicate is to be celebrated. However, her mission, such as it is, does not extend to this sort of action. Her decision was taken in the face of her responsibilities, and her absence from her command took place during a crucial point in time for the starship Meitner, whose near-destruction at the hands of the True Way is subject of a further board of inquiry.

"In short, Your Honour, it is the belief of the prosecution that the need for command officers to remain cognizant of their responsibilities should be reinforced by delivering a verdict of guilty on all counts. Further to this point, the chain of command must be respected by all, even those of admiralty rank. Despite the results, despite the rescue, this action was unauthorized and Admiral Sh'abbas abdicated her responsibilities to her task force, and to her crew. This is not the sort of decision-making process that Starfleet can afford to be seen to be endorsing by delivering a verdict other than guilty. This is not the sort of decision-making process which we should take to be acceptable among our admirals. The prerogative of command in the field is an important one, and it must be maintained and upheld as a guiding principle for all Starfleet officers - to be respected, and to be held in respect as well. Thank you."

Henry sat down, and Digan cleared her throat. She sat for a moment, apparently composing her thoughts. Then she rose, stepped before the bench, and began.

"Good afternoon, Your Honour. It would be remiss of me to refute the points as entered in fact and alluded to by Captain Henry. It is not the intention of the defense to refute that Admiral Sh'abbas willfully left her post. There's little point in doing so. She sort of did. However, Admiral Sh'abbas made a carefully, thoroughly considered decision, with support from her capable staff. This decision did not involve any resources beyond a shuttlecraft, a few ground weapons and associated kit, and a few volunteers. Admiral Sh'abbas knew that there would be risks, which is why she undertook her mission the way she did. Had she merely abandoned her duty, as alleged, she would have gone it alone - and failed. Those consequences, however, remain unknown. The result of her action was a resounding success, but in a way, the entire thing should never have happened."

"Please don't misunderstand - I'm not talking about some sort of temporal predestination paradox, or anything like that. It is the position of the defense that Admiral Sh'abbas conducted herself in a fashion that followed the only available outlet which she had available to her. That her sister's disappearance was unacceptable should be self-evident. However, Starfleet showed neither interest nor inclination towards launching a rescue mission. This is true of far too many missing officers and Federation civilians who find themselves beyond the range of help, adrift or enslaved as a consequence of enemy action. Yet this was most especially, most distressingly true for the young ones whom Admiral Sh'abbas singlehandedly saved from a life unlived while frozen in an Orion stasis pod, waiting to be had for ransom - or perhaps sold to the highest bidder. Starfleet also would not permit the Admiral to detach any craft under her command in order to pursue either an investigation or a rescue, given that her orders were for the far side of the quadrant. Unknowingly to the admiral, this gave her an element of surprise which contributed to the event, but what of that surprise?

"Again - the position of the defense is that what lies in question in this court-martial is not whether Admiral Sh'abbas was derelict in her duty. The defense intends to prove that, through its lack of adequate support for missions intended to put a stop to Orion piracy, it is Starfleet which is derelict in its duty. Twice in the past year, Admiral Sh'abbas and her officers have proven there to be Orion influence over Starfleet operations - first in the form of an infiltration unit which had agents in many sensitive positions across the Federation, and then, once that unit was neutralized, through the use of hostages - the very same children she rescued - in order to once again undermine Starfleet's best interests and intentions. I submit to the Court that what Admiral Sh'abbas did was not, as the prosecution would have you believe, simply justified by her results. This is not a simple case of ends justifying means, Your Honour. Rather, the highest principles of service - the spirit of our regulations - had in this case been undermined by the precise letter of those regulations. This left Admiral Sh'abbas with no choice but to violate those regulations in order to do the right thing. That she did so should be clear, and if we seek to punish her for her actions, if we impose a verdict that reprimands her for doing the wrong thing, then we send the wrong message about what Starfleet means to its officers across the galaxy about what it means to be on the side of the angels. To make an example of Admiral Sh'abbas would be wrong - but to follow her example, and honour that example? There lies the wiser choice. Thank you."

"Thank you, Commander." Admiral T'sles replied. "We will begin with the prosecution's case."

"Thank you, your honour. We have already submitted Prosecution Exhibits A through L into evidence."

T'sles looked to her bailiff, who nodded. "These exhibits have been entered into evidence."

Tw'eak leaned over to Digan. "What's in those?"

"Mostly official reports from the responding starships - matters of fact, not really much to refute. I've filed my intention to challenge Exhibit G - a log entry from a junior officer on the Meitner, but we'll get our turn."

"What's in Exhibit G?"

"Basically, the ensign says something like 'if only command knew what was going on', or words to that effect."

"Commander?" Admiral T'sles called to Digan. "Do you have any exhibits to enter into evidence?"

"I already have, your honour - Defense Exhibits A through F are on file."

"Very well."

Tw'eak leaned in again. "What are those?"

"Oh - commendations or reports that mention your action in positive ways. Captain Dazz, for instance. She wrote a really brilliant report on everything. So did the Romulan captain."

"Konsab?"

"Yeah."

Tw'eak straightened back up. So for them, the facts, and for her side, the approval of others. She wondered if Admiral Quinn's name featured on her side of the ledger, but Admiral T'sles continued with the trial, curtailing her chance to ask. "Captain Henry, have you any witnesses to call?"

"No, ma'am. It is the belief of the prosecution that the evidence speaks for itself."

"Would the defense like to call any witnesses?"

"Just one, ma'am. Admiral Sh'abbas."

Tw'eak looked up at Digan. "Oh." She stood up and strode to the front, taking the seat next to the judge.

A security officer stepped up to her side. "Do you swear that your testimony will be truthful, under penalty of imprisonment if found otherwise?"

"I do." Tw'eak was briefly reminded of her conversation with Leo earlier in the week, and suppressed the urge to smile. She knew that T'sles was watching her intently, possibly telepathically - being a Vulcan - and she rigidly controlled her bearing and movement, especially those of her antennae.

"Admiral Sh'abbas," Digan opened. "We have, thanks to the prosecution's exhibits, a clear record of what you undertook on stardate 99507.3 - I suppose the real question I want you to answer is, why?"

"Why?" Tw'eak repeated, seeking clarification.

"Why did you opt to leave your second-in-command in charge of the entire task force, despite being of insufficient rank to do so?"

"Commander Eight of Twelve - now Captain Eight of Twelve - is a very efficient, capable officer. However, I should note that we maintained continuous contact throughout the mission, and I twice consulted with her in real-time while we were conducting the mission. If anything, she was acting on my authority, in much the same way as if I had retired for the night. Being a liberated Borg drone, Octavia can go for lengthy periods without sleep. This means she could cover four, even five shifts without needing to regenerate. Still, we restrict her to double-shifts, as per Starfleet medical regulations."

"But why conform to that Starfleet regulation, and not the one that required you to remain aboard your flagship?"

"The mission to Nimbus meant Orion pirates, and they can be very dangerous. I wasn't going to delegate such an important rescue to anyone else. I've tangled with the Orions before. A less experienced officer might have brought themselves to harm. They can be very resourceful."

"So the fact that your sister was the subject of that rescue didn't play into that decision?"

"There was that as well, although I noted that my emotional investment may become a liability if things went wrong. I want to also mention that we had no intelligence pertaining to the nature of the Orion facility on Nimbus, which had been re-purposed from the Tal Shiar. To be honest... If I'd known those kids were there, in Orion custody, in stasis, as they were... I probably would've brought the whole task force."

"Despite the fact that other Starfleet officers would hold jurisdiction in the area?"

"Objection," Captain Henry rose and declared. "Speculative."

"Sustained," T'sles noted.

Tw'eak adjusted her position in her chair. "I feel I should note that I did seek the involvement of Starfleet - their permission was denied."

"Permission for you to conduct the rescue, you mean?" Digan clarified.

"That's right - the limited rescue, just for my sister. I was told that the starship Majestic had reported her disappearance and directed the follow up through the usual channels. Her next of kin had been notified. Any retrieval would have been on their prerogative, and they were on the front lines at the time. Waiting for the Majestic would've taken too long - the Orions could've, and actually did torture her in the meantime. After all, we know now that they set an ambush, luring her away from the Majestic with promises of a long-lost love of hers, only to use her to get to me."

"Indeed - Defense Exhibit E states as much, derived from the Orions' own records, Your Honour." Digan turned back to Tw'eak. "You were aware of the implications of your capture?"

"Absolutely. Every step of the way. Which was why we sought to incorporate the support of Selkirk Rex and his flotilla."

"Could you explain their role, for the court, please?"

Tw'eak nodded. "Selkirk Rex is a Federation citizen, a Caitian, a former Starfleet officer, who has been slowly building a flotilla of anti-piracy vessels crewed by those from among those he liberates who volunteer to join him instead of returning to Starfleet service. I can't remember the exact number-"

"If I may, Admiral, and may it please the Court - Defense Exhibit B is a report from Starfleet Intelligence on the Selkirk Rex flotilla, detailing that their rescue efforts have assisted... excuse me..." Here Digan brought forth a padd. "Eight thousand, three hundred and forty-seven citizens of the Federation, along with a number of Romulan Republic and Klingon Empire citizens speculated at being around twenty-three thousand in total."

"Thank you," T'sles acknowledged.

Digan seemed to hesitate for a moment, perhaps expecting an objection, but none came. Tw'eak watched her as she took a few steps to her left, then her right, then asked, "So this was personal, then."

"Objection!" There it was. Henry stood. "There's no way the Admiral can know that.'

"I'll re-phrase. So you believe that the Orions' choice of victims was intentional?"

"My ship's counselor, who currently is assigned to Starfleet Intelligence, was responsible for an interrogation of an Orion female, loyal to Melani D'ian, which yielded the names of surgically-modified infiltrators from the Syndicate who had taken on positions of various ranks and titles across the Federation, and who were manipulating Starfleet and Federation operations alike."

"Referencing Defense Exhibit A, Captain T'uni's report on the subject. You believe that your sister's abduction was intended as retaliatory?"

"Objection." Henry again. "Speculation."

T'sles frowned. "I'll allow it this time. But please keep future inquiries factual in nature." She arched an eyebrow at Digan.

"Was this retaliation... Orions definitely do vendettas - they do them better than anyone. If they do have one against me, then yes, definitely, Dashii's abduction was intentional. Saraja C'lin was the name of the Orion matron whose clients oversaw the Nimbus stasis pod operation. It was part of her overall base of operations. When she was killed in the fighting on Nimbus that day, we seized that operation and gained a lot of valuable intelligence, all of which we duly passed along to Starfleet. My officers and I believe that Saraja C'lin planned to lure me to Nimbus, either to exact revenge or to destroy my reputation by capturing me. Dashii - my sister was simply the bait."

"In the course of this, you discovered an Orion agent aboard your ship?"

"Yes, a very well disguised one, masked as a Klingon defector who had served as an engineering specialist. We had known him as K'Vor, but who he really was remains unknown. My ground medic detected that, for a Klingon, K'Vor had a weak heart. A further examination proved that he had been rather skilfully manipulated in order to pass as a Klingon, even to scans and transporters."

"And there was further trouble from the Syndicate for you just recently, was there not."

Tw'eak chuckled. "They tried to kill me last week on Deep Space Nine, sent the whole station into security lockdown - nearly got me, too. They're the reason for my security detail today. I'm half-expecting anyone in here to prove to be an Orion hell-bent on finishing the job. They take their business very seriously. So when you ask if they have a vendetta against me, I'd say all signs point to 'yes'."

"So, if I may, to come back to the question of 'why'... this time, your reasons why."

"Well, on the face of it, my reasons were personal. I've already lost one sister" - here Tw'eak was careful to not give the impression of letting on what she had learned from Spera, that the reports of Sassil's apparent demise were exaggerated - "two brothers and two parents in this war. I had the chance to act, on fairly good intelligence, in order to bring Dashii home. I considered all the options... and I took that chance. But I never once acted alone, and I took every precaution I could think to take - limiting the number of people who knew, restricting the volunteers to a precious few, making absolutely certain we were careful about everything." Tw'eak looked around the room, smiling confidently. "And we had the support of some good friends. The acts of Selkirk Rex and his flotilla have my wholehearted support. Their involvement made all the difference - this is, after all, what they're out there doing every day. The Orion Syndicate, and the Nausicaan clans, may not be the most obvious enemies of Federation interests, allied as they are with our enemy in war. The Borg may be more formidable, the Tal Shiar and Elachi may be more intimidating, the Undine may be more insidious... but any place where slavers are permitted to operate, there I believe the Federation and Starfleet have an absolute, unquestionable obligation to intervene and liberate the taken. Whether they be enemy nationals, allied nationals, or our very own... slavery is antithetical to the principles of the Federation, and we must never yield."

"Objection." Henry rose. "Your Honour, as much as I love a good speech from a flag officer, none of this is relevant."

"On the contrary," Digan intervened. "It goes to the heart of our case."

T'sles considered, then looked at Tw'eak. "The witness' words resonate with the same points made by defense counsel in opening arguments. Objection overruled."

"Thank you, Admiral." Digan turned to a frowning Henry. "Your witness."


	42. Part III, Chapter 7

From his place at the prosecutor's table, Captain Henry rose slowly, tapping a padd a couple times in search of something. He handed the padd to his Tellarite assistant after a moment, then took a few paces about the narrow space separating his place from that of the defense, and finally turned to face Tw'eak. For her part, Tw'eak was not sure what to expect, but then, that was usually the time she made the best of things.

"Admiral Sh'abbas... Rear Admiral Sh'abbas. You've been a member of the admiralty for... how long?"

"A few months."

"Quite an honour being promoted to admiral's rank, isn't it."

"Oh, I don't know. Seems like just about anyone can do it these days." Henry laughed softly.

"Right. It just - you'll forgive me if I don't remember the dates of these events precisely, but... your promotion to Rear Admiral followed closely on the destruction of your last command, did it not?"

"That's not technically accurate. Until Octavia was promoted to Captain, I was the commanding officer of USS Warspite."

"But USS Bonaventure... now there was a ship you put into harm's way on many an occasion."

Tw'eak's eyes narrowed. "Only insofar as duty required."

"I want to go back to before the Bonaventure was destroyed. You had just finished pursuing... Hirogen hunters, was it not? Cost yourself the services of your first officer in the process."

"Objection," Digan rose and declared. "Admiral Sh'abbas was not responsible for the injuries to her first officer."

"Sustained."

"Let me rephrase," Henry said, hands out before him. "Commander Sharpe and... quite a few other officers were injured in that attack."

"We had Starfleet's full approval to conduct that action. I don't see what this has to do with my sister's rescue."

"Nor do I, Captain," Admiral T'sles added from the bench.

Henry's facial expression was unyielding. "Goes to character, ma'am. But let's move on. I'm curious as whether Bonaventure was cleared for action against the Borg prior to its destruction."

"We'd been in the shipyard for a couple weeks. We were ready enough." Tw'eak angled her head to look Henry square in the eye. "Or do you need me to remind you of the existential threat the Borg represent?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Had they succeeded, the Borg would have established a subspace foothold in the Sirius Sector Block - something that would have resulted in the systemic assimilation of the entire Alpha Quadrant. Given what happened recently at the Vega colony, I felt we were justified in going. As did Starfleet. When they ask for 'every available ship', they mean it."

"Alright - in that case, perhaps a bit further back. While you were first officer aboard the Repulse, you led a group of officers that challenged your captain for command of the starship, did you not?"

Tw'eak's face took on a bemused tone. "No."

"No? But according to records-"

"If your records are correct, Captain, you'll note that Captain Corlett had been replaced by an Undine."

"But you had no way of knowing that for certain."

"I had months of anecdotal evidence, along with passive scans with ship's sensors and even a few surreptitious medical tricorder scans. We pieced it together slowly. That confrontation cost too many of my friends their lives."

Henry nodded, and took a few steps. "You... bear the scars of a kut'luch, the blade of an assassin, on the side of your neck."

"That's correct."

"And your ...right arm, I believe to be bio-synthetic?"

"Objection." Digan rose again. "Relevance."

"I'm getting to it."

T'sles arched an eyebrow. "Time is of the essence, Captain Henry."

"There is a common pattern to all these actions, is there not, Admiral?"

Tw'eak smiled and nodded. "Is there now."

"If a subordinate of yours were to... plunge into the firing line of a fully-loaded plasma arc wave, without personal shields, when other tactical options were available, what would be your response to that officer?"

"Depends on the circumstances. And the term is 'pulsewave', Captain."

"My mistake. And if a subordinate of yours took their ship out of spacedock a full month ahead of schedule, with a skeleton crew, to face down the Borg... would that also depend on the circumstances?"

"Under the circumstances," Tw'eak dryly noted, "I might nominate that officer for the Pike Medal for Valour." Tw'eak tilted her head back, looking down the angle of her nose at Henry. "If you catch my meaning."

Henry took a few steps back to his Tellarite assistant. Tw'eak looked over at Digan to see her suppressing a laugh. "You've made quite a career out of taking unnecessary risks, is what I'm trying to prove."

"I disagree."

"You do."

"Oh, yes. I'm reminded of another admiral who once said, 'risk IS our business' in Starfleet." Tw'eak looked around the room. "Seem to recall that he spent a bit of time operating outside the strict confines of Starfleet regulations as well."

"I'm sorry, are you attempting to compare your career path and choices with that of James T. Kirk?"

"Don't we all? Kirk is held up as one of the paragons of the concept of 'command prerogative' - histories of his career are always on Academy reading lists. The same with Admiral Janeway, whose risky style of command is sometimes held up as single-handedly being responsible for allowing USS Voyager to return home, depending on which historian you ask. Benjamin Sisko, Jean-Luc Picard... there are other examples I could raise, if you'd like."

"Is that your intention? To forge a new example, to stand alongside those others?"

"Not in the slightest. But those are the examples I try to live up to every time I'm in the command chair."

"Yet you freely admit you left that all-important command chair to conduct a rescue operation."

"Objection." Digan stood again, this time rather indignant. "Your Honour, last I checked, Captain Henry did not have permission to treat the witness as hostile."

"You will accord the admiral the respect due to her rank and service record, Captain." T'sles paused for a moment as Henry nodded, then added, "or I shall have you held in contempt of court."

This caught Henry's attention, and he stopped in mid-step to look back at the Admiral. "Understood." He took a few paces, then continued. "Could you kindly review for the court your motivation in going to Nimbus III?"

"I believe I've already covered that."

"Because Nimbus III, last I checked, is in the territory of the Romulan Republic."

"The Federation is still granted certain rights there. Even then, we had the Republic's support." This was true, in a roundabout fashion, as she had called in a few favours, as had Octavia. Tw'eak fought the urge to smile when Henry didn't question her directly on the point. It would've been hard to explain.

"Right. Yet during the lead-up to your rescue mission, you contacted Starfleet to solicit permission."

"That's correct."

"Did you contact anyone at Starfleet Command directly?"

"No."

"And why not?"

Tw'eak adjusted her uniform. "The captain of the Majestic would need to make that request."

"And why is that?"

"As her commanding officer, my sister's captain is responsible for her whereabouts."

"In fact, you weren't even notified of her disappearance, is that correct?"

"That's right. I'm not her next of kin. Her bond mates are."

"Were any of them contacted, to your knowledge?"

"I presume so."

"You don't know. You'd planned for everything else, why not contact them?"

Digan didn't even bother standing. "Objection!"

"Withdrawn - but again, why not contact her bond mates?"

"Dashii isn't that close with them. Besides which, two of them serve in Starfleet. Their response would've been the same as mine - to contact the Majestic's captain and seek assistance. In my family, only my shreya and I hold any rank of prerogative in Starfleet, and my shreya's currently on assignment." Tw'eak then clarified, "Among the living, I should say. My thavan was a sergeant-major in the Starfleet Marines."

"Let's go back to the support you had from the Romulan Republic."

Tw'eak nodded. She knew she'd gotten off too easily on that point. "Octavia reached out to one of her contacts in the Republic to assure that we would have no problems - either in terms of our being there, or in the event things went badly."

"But none of this was officially endorsed?"

"Given that Starfleet had not endorsed the mission, we didn't want to make our Republic support official either, and so risk creating a diplomatic incident."

"Yet you willingly undertook the mission anyway - despite the understanding that it could escalate into such an incident?"

Tw'eak's eye twinkled for a moment. "Somehow I don't think the Orions were going to agree to an extradition request."

"But with regards to-"

"Besides which, I think I've seen the Orion idea of diplomacy back on Deep Space Nine."

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, seeing as how hard they tried to kill me, I have to come to that conclusion-"

T'sles interrupted Tw'eak's line of thought. "Admiral, please confine your remarks to respond to the question."

"I apologize." Tw'eak saw Digan make a quick shake of her head, half-smiling. "Continue."

"So you went to Nimbus, in the company of known Starfleet deserters, with the intention of-"

"Excuse me. 'Deserters'?"

"According to Starfleet Intelligence, Selkirk Rex himself is still commissioned in Starfleet. So too are some sixty-seven percent of his personnel."

"That's no reason to call them 'deserters'. I'm offended by your use of the term."

"Nevertheless, their status as absent without leave is unquestioned." Henry seemed to sense an opening. "They are in contempt of the chain of command."

"For a good cause," Tw'eak acknowledged.

"Does that justify their actions, in your mind? Are Starfleet officers free to ignore the chain of command if they find it violates their idea of what should be done?"

"Within reason, yes. All Starfleet officers are expected to disobey unlawful or morally questionable decisions - that way we can't offer a defense based upon the concept of 'just following orders'."

"Granted. Yet in this case, you knew, under regulations, that you should not proceed with this rescue."

"You said yourself that I was never specifically ordered not to."

"Was that an intentional oversight on your part, then?"

"I wouldn't jump to any conclusions in that regard."

"You knew that making such a rescue was a violation of diplomatic convention, of Starfleet regulations, and of your responsibilities as an admiral commanding a task force?"

Tw'eak leaned forwards. "I guess that's the risk I was taking. Yeah."

"And what made you think it was appropriate, to endanger the ships under your command, and their crews, by leaving?"

"You make it sound like I abandoned them in Borg space and went to Risa on holiday."

"Nevertheless, you left the command of them to an unqualified officer-"

"Oh, please."

"-in order to pursue a personal vendetta against the Orion Syndicate-"

"Objection!"

"Sustained. Captain Henry, this is most irregular."

Tw'eak's eyes narrowed. She wondered if the pressure, or perhaps Orion pressure, had gotten to Henry. As T'sles continued her verbal reprimand, she watched his face almost break into a smile. No, this seemed to be nothing more than tactical on his part, all part of the game he wanted to win.

"-I will not issue another warning from this bench." T'sles sounded angry for a Vulcan. "Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Continue with your questioning - and again, be advised, I will not tolerate any further contempt of the witness."

"Are you comfortable, Captain?" Tw'eak asked Henry.

Digan made an alarmed face, giving her head several quick shakes to either side, trying to warn Tw'eak off.

"I'm sorry?"

"Are you comfortable? I picture you as having a big office in the JAG quarters, a reputation around this station as ambitious, capable... wise? Not sure about wise."

T'sles intervened. "Admiral, please keep your-"

"Just a moment, judge. He's had his chance to make his points, let me make mine." Tw'eak pointed at his belly. "Uniform's a little tight. Do you have children?"

Henry looked from Tw'eak to T'sles, who nodded her assent for him to respond. "Yes. Two of them."

"It's awful nice having a family, I bet. I've... had to forego having a family, for various reasons... a thirty-year-long career among them. But I'm not typical. Many officers, many admirals, have families. To many of those officers, family means everything - it's the reason they do their jobs, why they defend the Federation. I've never been one of them." She smiled to herself. "My thavan was. The day I joined Starfleet, he was so proud - his first child to do so, the first of six of his seven children who have worn this uniform. But he told me once, he was such a good Marine - and he was that - because he treated every combat drop like he was defending our hometown on Andoria. There's a lot of people in Starfleet like that... a lot of people would do anything for their families." Tw'eak pointed out the adjacent window. "There are thousands of them, out there, who are only just getting their families back. And what they couldn't do, for whatever reason, I was lucky enough to be able to do for them. Those families didn't ask for their children to be taken from their homes and used as bargaining chips by the Orion Syndicate - just like my sister didn't ask to be abducted and tortured by them on Nimbus." She smashed her fist into her leg. "You said a minute ago, that this is a 'personal vendetta' - well, you couldn't be more wrong. It's nothing personal at all. They tried to make it personal. They tried very, very hard to provoke me into the sorts of reckless actions you're trying to persuade the court I undertook."

Henry took advantage of a pause in Tw'eak's voice to ask, "It wasn't reckless?"

"I took every precaution I could. I'm not my thavan - I treated that mission quite the opposite, with a clear and logical plan, with contingencies for all events, and with a definite objective. In the event, I hadn't planned on the mission being such a massive undertaking... such a good thing for so many. But the fact is, in planning that mission, even if I had known what was about to unfold, I would not have put anyone else in the position where they might have failed, or been captured, or where my sister or, perhaps, all of them may not have survived. That, Captain... that would have been reckless. Volunteers? Yes, I asked for those. But I hold my crew to the highest expectation. And they know what to expect of me."

Tw'eak saw Henry open his mouth to ask another question. "And, the starship Meitner?"

"As I said, I accept full responsibility for what happened onboard." Tw'eak gritted her teeth for a brief moment. "That... was inexperience on my part, to expect the best from the crew of another starship as I did, without making my expectations perfectly clear. I trusted the command staff of the Meitner to conduct themselves to the standards I thought everyone in Starfleet held highest. In so doing, I trusted them to do so without verifying that they did. That mistake cost a lot of people their lives. It's not one I'll make again - just like I won't stand in the path of any plasma weapons" - here Tw'eak tapped her bio-synthetic arm, then the scar on her neck - "or fight hand-to-hand with a blade-wielding assassin anytime soon, to come back to your other points. I take all the precautions I feel are reasonable, and that within my experience are useful to take. And then I take the risks I have to in order to get the job done."

"It is not logical for you to monopolize the risk." This statement came not from Captain Henry, but Admiral T'sles.

"On the contrary, ma'am. If I learned anything during my time as a reckless" - here Tw'eak looked directly at Henry - "young out-worlder on your homeworld, aside from how to create plasmonic sculptures, it was that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one." Tw'eak looked back to T'sles. "I realized a long time ago that if all the responsibilities for the failures are mine, then it is my personal responsibility to safeguard against failure. The only logical course I can take, to look after the many, is to do all that is required of me, without counting the cost. That's why I took the risks I did, in bringing home Dashii." She looked back to Henry. "Yeah, she was my sister. But that makes her my responsibility. It could've been the lowliest ensign from among my task force in that Orion prison cell, and we would've gone the same route. It's not even a question in my mind as to whether or not I would do it all again. You'd better believe I would. Any punishment this court could levy against me, and it'd pale in comparison to how I'd feel for not having acted as I did. To sacrifice her to inaction is not a choice I would willingly make."

"But," Henry interjected, "to come back to the Meitner-"

"Yes, the Meitner. A board of inquiry will investigate that further. I did what I could for them, and again, just like on Nimbus, there are a lot of kids who get to go home because I was able to intervene. Only these kids are ensigns, some of them fresh out of the Academy, who didn't ask to be endangered by the reckless actions of command rank officers who frankly should have known better. There are also too many other kids who won't get to go home because I left my intervention too late. Again, this will all come out at the board of inquiry, but I take full responsibility for not having made my expectations clear. I suppose I never expected to have to clarify a lot of what I would've had to for the command staff of the Meitner." Tw'eak shook her head. "I doubt most admirals would have expected a situation like the one that developed aboard that ship. But again, it was a ship in my task force, my responsibility." Tw'eak looked over towards T'sles. "Is that what the charge of 'destruction of property' relates to?"

"Indeed."

"I see."

T'sles looked over towards Henry. "I should hope you are prepared to conclude."

"Yeah, I'm done." Henry sat down, his mood not defeated so much as contemplative.

"Would you like to offer any re-direct questions?" T'sles asked Digan.

Digan still looked to be in a state of shock. "No, ma'am. Defense rests."

Tw'eak stood up and returned to her seat at Digan's side. She watched T'sles for a moment as she spoke, but looking for an indication of any sort from a Vulcan was a fruitless exercise. She leaned back in the chair, satisfied that she had, once again, done all that she could.

"Very well. We shall adjourn for a period of time and return to order at... fifteen-hundred hours." T'sles raised and lowered her gavel, then all rose to watch her depart.

After she left, Tw'eak turned to Digan. "How'd we do?"

"You... you were amazing." Digan practically swooned. "I mean, wow. Do you always act like that, or was that just a courtroom thing?"

"I don't know how to answer that."

Tw'eak noticed that Captain Henry had come to the edge of the table, and she looked up at him. "Captain."

"Admiral." He extended his hand. "I... apologize for my tone earlier."

Tw'eak stood up and shook his hand. "All part of the game, right?"

"Right. I wanted you to know that it was a tactic. I was... trying to play to your Andorian side, get you to loosen up, say the wrong thing."

"I know how it goes. Have you met my shreya?"

"Yes, actually. I can see I picked on the wrong Andorian."

Tw'eak smiled. "Well, I should probably apologize, too, then."

Henry looked at Tw'eak, puzzled. "I don't see why. That crack about my belly?"

"No - well, yes, that, but mostly... for demolishing your case like I did."

"I should've seen that coming." Henry began laughing, as did Digan, and before long, Tw'eak joined in. Henry's Tellarite assistant, an unwilling witness to such a display, snorted and left the courtroom as fast as his short legs would carry him.

* * *

Fifteen-oh-five came and went, by which time Tw'eak was just returning to the courtroom. A quick lunch in a secured replimat had brought her back to the courtroom to find Digan, who had returned to her office in the interim to take care of business related to other cases, already seated. Henry and his Tellarite companion had returned as well, and Henry gave Tw'eak a smiling nod as she returned to her seat. Various security personnel remained in force, and the two red-shirted personnel who had escorted her throughout the day took up positions at the back of the room.

"Thought I'd be late," Tw'eak opened.

"It's not like Admiral T'sles to run behind," Digan replied. "Very unusual."

"Yeah. Vulcans are usually always on time."

After a few further minutes of sitting in silence, the doors opened, and one of the security personnel called for all to rise. As they did, Admiral T'sles returned to her bench. "May I see opposing counsel briefly, please." She returned the way she came, and both Henry and Digan followed. This left Tw'eak sitting by herself, taking in the small room, the security personnel - one Saurian, two human or at least humanoid, one Bajoran, and at the back, her escorts, one Bolian and the other Rigelian. Tw'eak looked over at the Tellarite assistant, who did not look back, his stocky fingers engaging the padd in his grasp with vigour. No doubt he was responding to some argument or detail, or perhaps reporting on some legal arcana or technicality in writing. Either way, it wasn't long before Digan and Henry returned, followed shortly thereafter by T'sles, who resumed her seat.

"What's up?" Tw'eak asked Digan.

"Good news. But wait."

Tw'eak liked the sound of good news, but before she could press, T'sles opened. "I have notified counsel that the situation regarding this court-martial has changed thanks to a communique from Starfleet Command clarifying the situation of the Selkirk Rex flotilla. Command has seen fit to extend auxiliary marine status to the flotilla, and task them with an anti-piracy mandate. This gives the flotilla equal standing in the Federation as they hold in the Romulan Republic."

Tw'eak felt thrilled. Leo had succeeded in persuading Admiral Quinn of the flotilla's need for official status. She was overjoyed for him - but wondered how this would affect the verdict.

"In light of this," T'sles continued, almost as if to answer Tw'eak's wonderings directly, "I have seen fit to recognize Admiral Sh'abbas' rescue mission as having been undertaken with the direct support of a Starfleet auxiliary service. This is an important mitigating circumstance, as while Starfleet has not recognized their mission retroactively, nor will they be providing any meaningful guidance or support for that mandate being fulfilled, it indicates that command recognizes that the admiral's action, despite not being planned as such, has proven the need for committed efforts to reduce slaving, piracy and other such criminal actions against Federation citizens."

Tw'eak was becoming anxious. While it was clear that Starfleet endorsed the idea of what she had done, the effect this would have on the verdict was far from obvious.

"While the prosecution's case against Admiral Sh'abbas centered around her abandonment of her post in pursuing a purportedly reckless course of action, I see no reason to hold with the prosecution's assertion that she wilfully abdicated her duties in the process. With limited resources at her disposal, the admiral set about conducting the mission she had organized for herself, however unofficial it may have been, with as much respect to the regulations and needs of her task force as she was capable. While the court condemns the fact that this mission was undertaken without crystal-clear authorization and the support of Starfleet Command, it cannot avoid recognizing that Admiral Sh'abbas was neither reckless nor flippant about the consequences of having done so. As such, on the first of two counts against Admiral Sh'abbas of dereliction of duty in the face of the enemy, as regards her having yielded her position to venture to Nimbus III, and the sole count of failing to exercise the vital powers of command, I find the defendant not guilty."

Tw'eak fought the urge to burst into laughter. The greatest charge against her, failure to exercise, would have meant instant demotion to a non-command position. But only one of the two charges of dereliction met with acquittal.

"With regards to the second-degree count of destruction of Starfleet property, by her own recognizance, Admiral Sh'abbas has admitted she was not fully aware of the situation which persisted under her command and which was a signal contributory factor in the near-destruction of the Nebula-class USS Meitner. However, given that the Meitner's overall role, as a science ship, would entail independent operations, it is not unreasonable for Admiral Sh'abbas to expect the vessel's command staff to be capable of conducting themselves according to regulations in the face of the enemy. While the damage to the Meitner was sustained during combat with the True Way, the scope of the destruction is not entirely Admiral Sh'abbas' to account for, which is why a separate board of inquiry on the subject is to follow. Without wanting to prejudice that board's findings, this court finds, on the count of second-degree destruction of Starfleet property, Admiral Sh'abbas is hereby found guilty. Admiral Sh'abbas had a duty to intervene to prevent the Meitner's command crew from acting as they did, a duty which she neglected by her own admission. However, on the second count of dereliction of duty in the face of the enemy, pertaining to the action against the True Way, this court finds Admiral Sh'abbas not guilty. The standards of 'dereliction' are simply not met in this case, as Admiral Sh'abbas was not wilful in her negligence of duty."

Tw'eak nodded. She looked up at Digan, who was smiling.

"With regards to sentencing, this court is willing to take Admiral Sh'abbas at her own word, insofar as her remarks to this court have indicated an admission of wrongdoing on her part in not more thoroughly acting to resolve issues in the command structure of USS Meitner. Again, it is not for this court to determine the culpability as a whole in the case of USS Meitner, however, Admiral Sh'abbas' actions in first taking command of the Meitner, then engaging successfully the True Way force with support from the very task force she recently stood accused of having abandoned, demonstrate her considerable force of personality and sense of duty. Indeed, she has impressed all here assembled as a worthy role model and exemplar of the best of the service, both in her own defense and prior to today. It is therefore the decision of this court to order Admiral Sh'abbas to be released on her own recognizance, without further prejudice, and to immediately return to duty with neither reprimand nor demotion." T'sles looked to Tw'eak. "It is the court's hope that the admiral will learn from the experience of the Meitner, however." Tw'eak nodded solemnly, and T'sles continued addressing the room generally. "The court further thanks the members of the Judge Advocate General Corps, and the personnel of Starfleet Security, for their attention and conduct throughout this court-martial, which is now adjourned."

The gavel fell, and Tw'eak stood, as all did, while Admiral T'sles made her way out. She looked upwards, relieved. Digan held out a hand, which Tw'eak shook. After a moment, Henry came over to shake her hand as well. Tw'eak didn't know quite what to say. "Well," she managed after a moment.

"Congratulations, Admiral!" Digan offered in reply.

"Thank you," she said, then turned to Henry. "And thank you, as well."

"Hey, if it was up to me..."

"No, no, you had a job to do. Like she said, 'without further prejudice'."

Henry smiled. "That's all right, then."

Tw'eak turned to Digan. "So what does that all mean then? Just so I'm clear."

"Well, for one thing, it means drinks at Club 47 - and Henry's buying!"

"First let me get home for supper." Henry turned to Tw'eak. "That comfortable lifestyle of mine has certain expectations. I'll meet you there once the boys are asleep. Just run a tab at the bar, I'll settle up once I'm there."

"Alright." Tw'eak looked out the window. "I'm not entirely sure what this means, beyond the learning experience."

Henry smiled. "I think it means the Admiral recognizes that you're too important an asset to leave cooling in a penal colony while there's a war on."

"Surely you're not suggesting that's the only reason," Digan objected.

"Trial's over, Rael," Henry said with a smile. "We can be friends again."

Yet Tw'eak's gaze was still held by a point out the window. " 'Learn from my experience aboard the Meitner', she said. Way ahead of her on that one." Tw'eak bit the inside of her lip for a moment, then regained herself and turned to Henry and Digan. "I've got some people of my own to contact before we have that drink." She turned to Digan. "And you've probably got more things to check on at the office."

"Oh, something's always developing. But when a celebration's in order, it can wait."

"No doubt. We'll say eighteen-hundred, then. I just need to be careful. Those Orions will still be after me."

"On Spacedock, though?" Henry seemed surprised. "This is the safest place in the galaxy."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Tw'eak smiled, looking to her security escort. "Otherwise those guys should transfer to stellar cartography. Anyway, thanks to both of you - always a pleasure to meet the sorts of JAG officers my shreya always held in such high regard."

"Pleasure meeting you as well," Henry said.

"Yes, it was really great meeting you!" Digan added. "Wish we could've done this earlier to review everything, but it turned out okay, didn't it."

Tw'eak held up an instructive finger. "Court-martials and crash landings, Commander. Any ones you walk away from are good ones."

"Absolutely," Digan said with a laugh as Tw'eak turned and left.


	43. Part III, Chapter 8

The evening over, the day having been a long one, Tw'eak was in the turbolift, on her way to her guest quarters on Earth Spacedock. She knew it was late, and she suspected the next day would be an easier one than most. Nothing on the schedule except to await further orders... more time to spend with Leo and Spera... Tw'eak breathed a sigh of relief. The anxious days were over. While she hadn't escaped with a completely unblemished record, she considered herself extremely fortunate. And she was glad to be home.

The turbolift opened, and Tw'eak made a quick passage past a few ensigns and enlisted personnel on their ways to various places, then acknowledged the security personnel outside the door as she entered. The main room of the guest quarters was a seating area that extended towards a small semi-enclosed dining room with replicator, a half-wall separating it from the couches and chairs of the entryway. To both left and right were bedrooms, the associated furnishings of a living quarters all present in relatively sumptuous decor by comparison to what Tw'eak was accustomed to, even aboard Warspite. Either of those bedrooms by themselves were the same size as her quarters aboard ship had been.

Spera was seated at the table, reading a padd. She looked up as Tw'eak came in. "Hey, Shreya," she said, then shook her head. "Sorry, I'm still calling you Shreya."

"It's alright," Tw'eak replied. "I'm going to get used to it eventually."

Spera stood up and came around the table, to stand near a chair. "So, good news, then." She held up the padd. "Was just reading the Federation News Service bulletin."

"They posted a bulletin about me?"

"Yeah. Of course they did. Wasn't much detail - a quote from your advocate, from the judge... brief rundown of what happened, a mention of the court of inquiry."

Tw'eak shook her head, smirking. "I wasn't expecting to become a household name."

"Not really - they do tens of thousands of these a day. I had to search around to find it. This interface is really annoying - like everything's in one box or another. I don't like it."

"Yeah." Tw'eak sank into the nearest chair and found it almost annoying in its comfortable contours - it felt like the chair was trying too hard to let her be at ease. She invited Spera to sit down, and she took a place on the couch, placing her padd on the adjacent coffee table. "How did things go for you?"

"Okay, I guess. They won't be mentioning my meeting in a bulletin, though. I have to go back tomorrow. A commander from Starfleet Tactical joined us, I'd say right after lunchtime or so? That was interesting. He had lots of questions about the Iconians."

"Oh, no doubt. The more you can tell us about them, the more hope we have."

"I transferred them the package, just like you - sorry, just like Shreya wanted me to do."

Tw'eak blinked. "What package?"

"Oh. I didn't- of course I didn't tell you, it was your plan. In the-"

"Yeah, in the future." Tw'eak was already getting tired of her future self interfering in the conversation. "I get it."

Spera sighed. "This is all so weird for me. I feel like I'm just back from a mission, only our quarters are way nicer and nobody's tried to kill me in a whole week."

"Aww, I'm sorry, it's been a long day. Too tired for that."

"I wouldn't - you always taught me not to give anyone that tries to kill me a second chance."

Tw'eak chuckled. "I taught you that, huh."

"I did it again, I'm sorry-"

"No, no, don't. It's an important lesson, to be sure." Tw'eak smiled at Spera, making sure to have her eye contact. "I never really planned on ever being a mother, as you probably know. Seems we had to go to some lengths in order to have you with us at all."

"Yeah. There were... on the shuttle, there were a couple of recordings you made, some for me, a couple just for yourself - I mean..." Spera took a quick moment to clarify her thinking, then said, "they're for you, from my Shreya."

"Really."

"Yeah. I left them alone, never watched it, but I remember, on one of the recordings you made for me, you said it took something like seventeen tries in order for Doc's conception process to actually work."

"Seventeen, huh. Wow."

"Yeah - it was really complicated. You said it was incredibly hard on you and Dad, wanting something you couldn't have, and then having me to raise as your own once the world had ended."

"I can see how that would complicate things," Tw'eak observed, adding, "it's hard enough for officers of mine that are also parents, without the end of the world to deal with."

"It wasn't just a threat - we had a completely different way of life. That was the hard part, when I was in the meeting earlier... trying to explain to them just how much of this I've never seen. There's no Federation, no Starfleet, no Earth, Vulcan, Andoria... in any of my memories. It was all gone before I was, I don't know, four or five?" She pointed downwards. "I've never been to this station before. It wasn't here. It was nearly destroyed by the Undine, about three months from now, and then actually was destroyed by the Iconians in the final battle about a year later. In the meantime, the Undine had overwhelmed everyone's defenses, so many major planets were destroyed.."

"They don't destroy Earth?"

"No. When their planet killer appears over Earth we're able to stop it in time. But they have others, one of which strikes Qo'noS at the same time. That leaves the Klingons in disarray, and of course, they stop fighting us and ask for help. That's how the war ends - it just escalates into a fight against the Undine, and they start to follow a strategy of picking off other systems - the Sierra system, the Sherman system, Bajor, on and on - isolating Earth in the process. Since they come out of fluidic space, they can emerge anywhere - and that's just what they do. Even with the remnants of the Klingon Empire, and the Republic, there's just not enough to go around. Between relief efforts to the Klingons, honouring our commitments to New Romulus, and defending ourselves, Starfleet gets overextended completely." Spera sighed again. "That's when the Iconians show up."

"And by then it's too late."

"Far too late," Spera confirmed. "Oddly enough, the Undine stop being such a threat once the heralds of the Iconian forces arrive. They're also incredibly powerful, they can also pop up anywhere, in force, without warning, and based on what you told me, they almost revel in the destruction they cause - sort of like the Jem'Hadar would've done for the Founders. But either way, it's a long, hopeless fight. Once the Undine start coming, the Iconians won't be far behind. And then... well."

"Uzaveh's name... How long do we have?"

Spera considered for a moment. "A year, maybe two. You always said that saving Qo'nos would buy time for everything after, though."

Tw'eak shook her head. A year, maybe two. All the time in the world came down to a year, maybe two. Suddenly the happy life she was hoping to have with Leo became sharply curtailed in duration. She felt the frustration building, her antennae flaring angrily. "There's nothing else we can do to stop them?"

"Like what, negotiate?"

"I don't know... slow them down somehow."

"The one piece of good news I can say is that the gateways aren't active yet."

"Gateways?"

"There are gateways that link systems to each other, across the universe. They're dormant right now. They're just off in a subspace void or something, waiting to be activated again. Once they become activated, I don't know if that's what triggers them or what, but the Undine begin their attacks within a month or two of that."

"Wait, you said - you said across the universe. Not the galaxy."

"Yeah. This extends beyond our galaxy. Way beyond. The Iconians are just that powerful."

Tw'eak felt herself flush with an impotent rage. "So there's nothing we can do to stop them, is there."

Spera reached out, placing a hand on Tw'eak's shoulder, surprising Tw'eak. "That's never stopped you from trying."

Tw'eak looked up at Spera, appreciative. She placed a hand on Spera's and smiled. "Thanks."

"I... I mean, I know you're not my shreya, but I want you to know... it doesn't matter to me. I've always had such an appreciation for having you to follow. I mean, I told you all this to me - the future you, I mean-"

"Let's just agree it's all the same timeline," Tw'eak interrupted. "It's me. You're my daughter. Simplify."

"Is... are you okay with that?"

"No." Tw'eak gave a nervous chuckle. "Not yet. But if it keeps you from having to interrupt yourself to apologize in every second sentence, okay."

Spera laughed, and her hand fell to her side. "Before you died, I told you I'd be our best chance to give us our second chance. You wouldn't let yourself just go back - you felt you were too old, and you figured you'd never be willing to listen to yourself."

"I'd be too hard on myself, but I might be willing to listen to you," Tw'eak continued. "Yeah. Sounds like what I'd say."

"Now that I'm here, though, I feel even more proud to be your daughter. Both for what you're going to do, what I think you've done, and what I know you'll do about it now that you know."

"Well, you've made a difference. With any luck, you'll make THE difference - and the timeline we know going forward will be completely different from the one you grew up in."

"I really hope so. You wanted me to do this years ago. In my time, I mean." Spera smiled and closed her eyes. "Sorry."

"Go on."

"I wouldn't let myself go, until you'd let go. After you passed, there was nothing left for me. I'd wanted to save you, wanted to bring you back with me, but you always told me, your place was with our people."

"I'm surprised I didn't send Pal back with you."

"We lost him a while ago. Jem'Hadar aren't supposed to live very long, but he did. He even broke his dependence on ketracel-white before the end - died completely free of the addiction. I don't know if that shortened his life or not, but I'd imagine it did. You always told me he was the best of the Jem'Hadar. It's so weird to think of him dying happily in bed, but he did. He was always so strong, but so quiet. It was his faith in the Prophets, he said, that made it all possible. He never stopped believing. As it turned out, it was the Prophets who made it possible to send me back."

"Is that what you believe in?"

"No. I wanted to - I tried, mostly to please Pal. After Dad died, he was like a father to me. But he told me he was simply his pride in me came from my strength of spirit. I really tried, though, but, I mean, I knew that they were non-corporeal beings. It makes it hard to accept them as gods. It'd be like worshipping Q or something."

"Yeah, don't do that. He'd love it if you did." Tw'eak considered for a moment. "But that's Pal. What happens to the rest of them?"

"A lot of them go down with the Warspite. She's destroyed relatively early in the fighting. I don't even think the Iconians were here yet. I don't remember, I'm sorry. Meeting Octavia, Aurora, Doc, Bianca, and the others... that was a surprise. I'd known their names, even their faces from holo-memorials, but to meet them... They were my heroes."

"So I'm not aboard the Warspite at the time it's destroyed?"

"No, you were with the flotilla, making arrangements for their defense... and you never really let it go. It's the reason you name the big freighter that we converted into a civilian dormitory the Warspite - you said you'd never want to lose the Warspite twice."

Tw'eak chuckled. "I see."

"And you didn't. A lot of my school friends lived aboard Warspite. Some of them were qualifying as officers, others as specialists... it was pretty amazing what we could accomplish with so little."

"Were you doing that?"

"Yeah. Tactical specialist, space warfare. Pal taught me to be the best. Just like shreya."

Tw'eak smiled. "Right."

Spera looked up, suddenly remembering. "I remember this one time, we were onboard this derelict freighter - it was this huge, dead ship. You were there, and so was Zed-"

"Zed survives?"

"Yeah. The whole flotilla does. Well, mostly. Selkirk Rex doesn't - he saves the flotilla by staying behind. None of those ships made it. Obviously Dad bought it later. We lost a few ships, here and there, some to the Iconians, others just because we can't repair them without a shipyard, so we abandon them as hulks and move on. Eventually we find Sassil escorting - or maybe it was attacking - some freighters, and they all come along with us to the Delta Quadrant."

"Who else do you remember?"

"There was an Andorian shan, like you. Her name was Lini."

"I remember her - she's a cadet at the Academy right now."

Spera looked so excited that Tw'eak remembered her. "She was, like, the older sister I never had. I hung out with her all the time, even though she was so much older. She was the flag captain on our ship, and I was always around, so she knew me like no one else. I learned a lot from her." Spera blushed a little. "A few things about boys, too."

Tw'eak laughed. "Really."

"Yeah. She used to say, 'there are some things that happen aboard this ship, even Tw'eak doesn't have to know'. I thought the whole flotilla would find out the first time I kissed Bailen Thral."

"Bailen Thral, eh?"

"Yeah, he was fun. Andorian, like us. Well-"

"No, don't."

"I don't know, I always felt more Andorian than other people treated me as being. Maybe it was because you, Lini, shasta Sassil... all my family and friends were Andorian. Except for Pal."

"Of course. But you were part human, too."

"Nuh-uh." Spera pointed to her antennae. "Not with these."

"They were prejudiced against you?"

"Not directly. I mean, not obviously. But everyone knew I was different. The humans thought I was Andorian and, well, the Andorians... they saw me as one of them, but they also didn't really see me as being bond girl material, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean... a little too well. Sh'landas syndrome certainly limited my prospects. Lini's, too, now that I think of it. I'm... surprised that she turns up again."

"You shouldn't be. There were so many people in our fleet who would come up to me and tell me things like, 'I remember your shreya from this or that' or 'you know, your shreya helped me out with this problem one time back in the day...' and it was always, always from before I was born."

Tw'eak smiled and sat back. "I had been questioning that, you know. I do question that. Frequently."

"What?"

"Whether or not I do any good in the universe. I don't know, I've felt like I've been in a Tholian's web of regulations and restrictions ever since I lost the Bonaventure. It's led me to wonder if I've been much good in the big-picture sense."

"I could probably list, like, a hundred people right now that you'd barely remember in one way or another - the tactical officer from the Meitner, the helmsman you had on the Bonaventure, at least three people you served with on the Nelson... and those are just the ones who you told me about once you'd had a chance to catch up with them, or the ones who came right out and told me, 'I knew her way back when'. Yeah, I'd say you've done lots of good things. It'll count for a lot in the long run. People trust you, in my time, because of who you were before the end."

"That's another thing it's good to hear. I always tried to make the right sort of impression, act the right way-"

"Because you'll never know when being on good terms with someone will make the difference," Spera finished. "Yeah, I know. Remember?"

Tw'eak smiled. "It's weird, you know - it's like you know me as well as I know myself."

"Well, I had twenty years to learn, right?"

* * *

Leo returned that evening, having spent most of the afternoon in the Marine quarters section of Earth Spacedock, and as Tw'eak lay next to him, she found herself unable to sleep. He had been in an excited mood, but had dropped off to sleep fairly soon after he had retired for the night. Tw'eak, however, found herself thinking the whole night through, about the future, about the Iconians, about a thousand other questions, and she felt restless. It hadn't helped that she was unaccustomed to sharing a bed with someone, or that Leo's state of mind, recalling old times and singing old songs, had given her little opportunity to speak to him about the day's events - although, to his credit, he too had read over the Federation News Service bulletin and had been very happy for Tw'eak. However, most of the conversation with him had been dominated by his unsuccessful quest for a Marine contingent to join the flotilla, now that it held auxiliary service, and his trip down memory lane which had accompanied it once he had reached the Marine quarters... and the Marine bar.

Tw'eak slid out of bed as quietly as she could, taking a few barefoot steps down along the edge of the wall and into the sitting area beyond. She took a long look at the couch, then past it at Spera's room. The urge to go in and check on her came over Tw'eak, but she resisted. This daughter of hers was no little girl, after all, but a full-grown telekinetic warrior woman with stories of her own to tell - and a tendency towards heroine-worship which Tw'eak found worrying. It wasn't the first time that Tw'eak had known someone whom she knew to hold her in unreasonably high esteem - here Tw'eak's thoughts turned almost involuntarily to Aurora duBois - but she had never felt comfortable around those who thought highly of her. She had internalized the idea that complacency was the first step towards defeat and failure, and as such, she was always more sensitive about the presence of those whose instincts might be to say what she wanted to hear, not report truthfully as expected. But that was her service instincts' opinion of the subject. Her attitude towards Spera would have to be rooted in a different set of instincts. After all, the young woman from the future seemed particularly sensitive towards Tw'eak's behaviour towards her (again, not a new experience for Tw'eak), and had clearly enjoyed years of a relationship vastly unlike that which Tw'eak had shared with her own shreya. She was accustomed to having a mother who loved her, who looked after her, and who trusted her implicitly. This was not a pattern Tw'eak sought to break.

Subtly, at first, Tw'eak became aware of a noise in the dark. She turned, sensing the presence of someone in the room. Perhaps it was just Spera - perhaps, an Orion assassin. Undressed save for a negligee, unshielded and unarmed, Tw'eak expected the worst. She knew not to trigger the lights, but quietly moved to approach the sound of movement. After a moment, however, she heard the noise of the replicator. Its light filled the room, revealing a figure in the darkness.

"Corbin!" she called out in a whispered yell.

"Lights, half," Corbin called out to the computer. "Bring them up slowly." The level of ambient light in the room increased, showing Corbin holding a saucer with a glass perched upon it. "Warm milk," he said to Tw'eak. "Might help you sleep."

"What in the hell are you doing here? You're lucky I didn't call security!"

"Given your... talents, I didn't think you'd need security even if a thousand Undine were in here."

"That's not true."

"Well, maybe not at the moment." Corbin looked Tw'eak up and down. "Then again, you've done worse to people wearing less."

Tw'eak reached over and pulled a pillow from the edge of the couch, holding it before her. "Uzaveh's name-"

"Spera's been telling you stories, I take it. Of what comes next."

"And you're here to tell me otherwise. Isn't that how this goes?"

"Tsk, tsk. My spitfire's lost a little something of that edge she used to have. Too long on suspension, I think."

"What?"

"We've verified everything she said. Oh, we've got people of our own in both Tactical and Temporal, but you knew that. Section 31 has friends wherever we need them. That won't change in the future."

"So it's certain to happen, then. Just like that."

"No, not exactly. Nothing ever really is. But we're looking at an extremely high probability of likelihood, yes."

Tw'eak shook her head. "So all those years you spent allegedly protecting the Federation's interests-"

" 'Allegedly'? Harsh. I expect better from a Starfleet officer. I *can* call you that again, by the way."

"Allegedly protecting the Federation's interests," Tw'eak repeated defiantly. "None of that will count for anything once the Undine and the Iconians attack, will it?"

"Now let's not go saying things we can't take back." Corbin set down the saucer of milk. "You're sure you don't want any? You're really missing out."

"No, thanks."

"I didn't even drug it, or dose it with thalaron radiation, or anything. Honest."

"You go ahead."

"Alright." Corbin took a long drink, then gargled slightly. "Wow, that's... okay, replicators. I'll ask the boys to look into how we can make that milk better. It's... well, it's trying to be milk. Something missing from it, though. Maybe it's the cow."

"Your point, Corbin. It's very late."

"And you need your sleep. Yes. I know. There's an assignment coming up... you're going to be contacted by Command sometime in the next few days."

"An assignment. For me."

"Yes."

"What about it?"

"Turn it down."

"Turn it down?"

"Echo." Corbin picked up the saucer and put it and the glass back in the replicator, where it hummed into disintegration. "And yes. I know, your Andorian pride will never let you turn down an assignment. But you have to."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you."

Tw'eak scoffed. "You can't tell me."

"Do you like doing that, or-"

"How will I know if it's the right assignment?"

"It's the only assignment."

"How can you be sure?" Tw'eak shifted her weight onto one leg. "There might be more than one."

"There won't be."

"How can you control the flow of duty assignments like that?"

"You don't understand." Corbin smiled. "But it's all right."

"Look, I may not understand, but I have a right to know what I'm missing."

"Listen, if it were up to me, I'd tell you."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "So it's not up to you."

"Actually, it is. Or not. I don't know anymore - all this apocalypse chit-chat makes me forgetful."

"Corbin - damn it."

"Just turn down the assignment."

"But why? I don't get it. Is there someone else you want to take the assignment instead?"

"We're eighteen months from the end of our civilization. You think it matters who's doing what when that happens?"

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "What do you know?"

"Nothing you don't, regarding the future. I just have the kind of information that lets me speculate effectively."

"Like what?"

"We're thinking that you need to be available for an upcoming event. If you take this assignment, you'll be busy for three or four months."

"And by then it'll be too late."

"Exactly. You'll do that whole 'temporal Prime Directive' thing you do, and not want to tell anyone what you know, even while the whole time you're fighting to prevent this future from coming to pass. It'll get complicated, and you'll find yourself in some awkward places. It's just easier if that happens while you're not on assignment."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'm going to pretend that made any sense."

"Well, when you put it like that... let's try again, shall we?"

Tw'eak heard the faint swoosh of a door opening, and Spera became visible in the half-light of the room. "Shreya? What's going on?"

"Go back to bed, it's okay," Tw'eak said, mimcking her zhavey's soft tone as she remembered it.

"This... I recognize this man." Spera gave Corbin a suspicious look, confirming for Tw'eak that this wasn't a happy reunion.

Corbin nodded. "Nice to see you again, too. Wasn't expecting to wake you."

"Can't help it." Spera tapped her antennae.

"You know Corbin?"

"Oh, yeah. He's a useless bastard."

"Since when?"

Spera reached out an arm towards Corbin, knocking him backwards telekinetically. She then raised her arm, throwing him up into the ceiling, where he clattered loose a cloud of dust before tumbling to the ground. She took a few more steps towards him, clearly intent on using further telekinetic force.

"Wait!" Corbin cried out. "Wait. I can help you."

Spera kicked Corbin across the face where he was, on his knees, sending him reeling backwards. This was no telekinetic kick - Spera's bare foot made an ugly noise as it cracked across his jaw.

"Spera!" Tw'eak shouted, surprised.

Spera, for her part, merely lowered her leg onto Corbin's neck as he rolled over onto his back, hurt. "Tell me again, about helping. Tell me again how you helped, when you arranged for six of our ships to be ambushed by the Undine while they thought they were waiting for you to arrive with medical supplies. C'mon, tell me - how you and your group are the best defense of the Federation. Tell me again how you help when you and your organization didn't keep ANY of this from happening. Tell me again about helping, Corbin. Tell me again."

While Corbin attempted to respond, what came out was a sort of garbled series of syllables, at least partly caused by the blue knee crushing his throat. "I- want- wanted to-"

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare lie to me or even think for a moment that I would make the mistake of trusting you."

"Wait, Spera..." Tw'eak had, by now, stepped over to beside her, careful not to give Corbin a look up her negligee inadvertently. She placed one hand over her hemline and the other on Spera's shoulder. "Six ships?"

"Yes. Almost right away - he shows up a couple times, and it's funny, he wound up dead on at least two of those occasions. But we arranged for a trade - and the Undine got there before he did, conveniently enough."

"That wasn't necessarily his fault."

"But it was, shreya! He told us! He said he'd traded your life to the Undine in exchange for them calling off the planet-killers."

Corbin gargled out a few words."She- wasn't- only-"

"Spera, let him go." Spera refused to relent. "Please, Spera. I want to hear this." Still, Spera's knee remained. Tw'eak squeezed her shoulder. "C'mon, let him talk. You can kill him after if you want."

Spera finally withdrew her leg, but not before intentionally slamming her foot back down in an angry kick to his midsection, causing him to double-up like a jackknife and tumble into a fetal position.

"Tell me again," Tw'eak said, kneeling beside Corbin.

"She's insane - you're both insane!" Corbin sputtered and coughed as he came to his feet.

"To listen to you?" Tw'eak replied with a half-snort. "Maybe. Start talking."

"And remember," Spera added, "I can still kill you from here."

"You've done enough," Corbin muttered as he straightened up, hands on a chair. "The Undine had a list. We got it through a Betazoid agent of ours... he contacted them telepathically, to negotiate. They felt threatened, they... they had been manipulated by the Iconians too. So we asked them, what threats? Tell us what threatens you. We'll call off our ships and leave you in isolation. It was intended... God, that really hurts."

Tw'eak turned to Spera. "Are you going to kill him with your mind, or your bare hands?"

"You'd let her, too, wouldn't you. Look, they had a list of assets they felt were diametrically opposed to them... unwilling to negotiate unless we provided... in good faith, you know how it is... we give up something, they give up something..."

"He told us there would be a delivery of medical supplies. He expected you'd be there." Spera took a few paces in a tight loop around. "Instead, they ambushed us. We lost four hundred people and six ships that day."

"Come on, Corbin. Even you must've thought that a bad deal."

"The deal never happened. The Undine pulled out when you weren't there. Ruined everything. Cost us more systems. We... didn't have the capacity to defend ourselves."

"You seriously think they would've just... what, gone back to sleep if we'd sacrificed a few of our own?"

Corbin continued straightening back to his full height. "Not gone back to sleep, but... maybe listened. I don't know. It was a desperate measure for desperate times."

While Tw'eak and Corbin had been talking, Spera had been leaning against a chair, seething with anger. Now she came forward again, her hand closing around his neck. "Don't you talk to me about desperate times - you made them desperate!" She hoisted Corbin up towards the ceiling. "Where the hell were you people when we really needed you?"

"I'm sorry," Corbin choked in reply.

"Spera, I don't think that's going to make any difference. Why don't you go back to your room and let me sort this out, okay?"

Spera looked over at Tw'eak, amused. "Fine, I'll let him go." Letting go of Corbin's neck, Spera let him fall to the floor, striking his head against the chair he had been standing against on the way down. Spera took a few hasty steps away, then turned back. "I want some answers, though."

"So do I," Corbin replied over his shoulder. He turned hastily. "Now don't go doing that thing where you shove me into the counter with your mind or anything."

"You're lucky I don't beat you to death with your own limbs."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "Spera..."

"What? I don't have that kind of control, couldn't if I wanted to. Would love to have a chance to practice, though."

Tw'eak made a shooing gesture in her direction.

"Fine." She cleared out.

"Takes after her mother," Corbin said after watching her door close.

"You mean in the 'kill with her bare hands' department? That means a lot."

"Let's get one thing straight. You may have quite a few pieces of information in that dossier, but you do not know what I know. Kill me, and I can't help you. A lot of my information lends itself to prediction, analysis... we could help each other. Section 31 doesn't just visit every new kid with a starship who's out here, you know."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Not interested. Just tell me what this assignment is that I'm not supposed to take."

"Alright, fine - but only if it means no more telekinetic beat-downs. It involves a starship called the Leibniz. She's trapped in subspace. Or time. Starfleet's not sure what is going on, actually."

"And they'll ask me to investigate."

"That's right."

"Why am I not going?"

"We want them to ask someone else. In fact, we have a particular someone else in mind."

"Do I know them?"

Corbin smiled broadly. "Oh, I'll never tell."

"And what is going on with the Leibniz, then?"

"What makes you think I'd know?"

Tw'eak gave Corbin a look of disbelief. "Seriously."

"No, really. I'm curious. Because of course I do."

"So what is it?"

"I can't tell you."

"You just told me that you know, now you're saying you can't tell me?"

"Yeah. I mean, if you turn down the mission and say, 'I'm not going because Section 31 told me all the answers,' then what would be the point of Starfleet? You'd undermine the very institution you hold most dear - I mean, is that what you really want?"

"I admit, I don't have your ease of attitude towards undermining the institutions I cherish-"

Corbin arched an eyebrow. "Clever."

"-but it seems to me that if this institution of ours has less than a year to live before the Undine and then the Iconians reduce it to a mere shadow of its former self, then maybe it's time those institutions learned the hard truth and made the necessary changes. We've had all this lead time, and we've squandered it fighting former allies over ...what?"

"But we've learned so much - don't you see? The war has given us valuable time to develop new technologies, new tactics, new starships... they'll all be simply invaluable."

"And the destruction of Romulus?"

"Wasn't my idea, if that's what you're getting at. Come on, you found all that evidence for Starfleet..."

"You knew the Tal Shiar was up to something and didn't stop it then, either?"

"Wouldn't be in keeping with the Prime Directive, now, would it."

Tw'eak fought the urge to gag. "You of all people, to invoke the Prime Directive..."

"Who, me? You'll never find a firmer believer in the value of the Prime Directive than me." Corbin grinned again. "It keeps do-gooders like yourself out of the important business."

"So if I'm not going to investigate this ship of yours, what is the plan?"

"I'm serious, I don't know. The Leibniz is caught in a section of space that's out of alignment with the subspace of the surrounding universe. It's a sort of multiple universe overlap zone... you know, this really doesn't affect you."

"So why are you telling me?" "You wanted to know - just a minute ago you were dying to know!"

"I might be dying to know why you haven't done more to stop the Iconians."

"We have, actually. We've done plenty. While you eventually go off with your ragtag fleet in search of a new home, Section 31 will be right here, doing its utmost."

"Striking from the shadows isn't much of an 'utmost'."

Corbin shrugged. "Well, some of us are more comfortable with guerrilla tactics than others. That's Starfleet's institutional think coming out in you, that's all. We'll fight the Iconians - and win, too."

"Not much of a victory. Qo'Nos, Andoria, Earth, all lost..."

"Casualties of war."

"Nice." Tw'eak let out a huff.

"Well, it's true. Like it or not, when the Iconians do arrive, the universe will consist of their slaves, and their victims. The Federation is so very attached presently to concepts like 'installations', and 'planets' - permanent facilities of any kind are so... strategically unsound."

"Is that why Section 31 doesn't have any hard assets?"

"See? You ARE getting it. I knew you could do it, spitfire." Corbin made a squawk of sorts. "Oh, I am so proud."

Tw'eak rolled her eyes. "I swear by Uzaveh's grace that if the only thing left of the Federation a year from now is Section 31-"

"You won't be surprised at all. Will you?"

There was more Tw'eak had intended to say, but the words died in her throat. She shook her head, stepped away from Corbin, hands raised in surrender, and went back to her bedroom for a few minutes. Sitting in silence, now fully aware of the consequences of what was unfolding both against her will and beyond her ability to stop, she felt herself begin to tear up in frustration. Careful not to make any further noise - although it seemed even a photon grenade would hardly wake Leo at this point - she sat quietly, sobbing, curled up in a chair. Cold all over suddenly, she tucked in tighter, then charged out the door to confront Corbin. Much as she had expected, he was gone again. "Damn it!" she shouted.

This brought Spera from the next room. "Shreya? What is it?"

"No, he- he's gone. Back into... wherever."

"Yeah." She looked up at Tw'eak. "So what'd he have to tell you?"

"Let's- come sit. I'll tell you."

"Alright." Spera and Tw'eak took positions sitting on one of the larger couches, facing each other.

"Sorry if that was... if I expected too much there."

"What do you mean?" "Shreya used to do this sort of thing with me all the time."

"I know. I can tell she trusted you."

"Yeah, I was lucky. I sure trusted her. She was the only person I really could trust. Everyone else I knew would go away, in the end."

"Well, I want you to know that I trust you. I don't- I'm sure, if you know me as well as you seem to, that you know I don't trust anyone easily."

"That was your first rule for me. 'Don't trust anyone, any more than you have to.'" Spera beamed as she recited it, as though it was the Prime Directive.

"Yeah. Now that I have my rank reinstated, though, if there's anything I can do in order to support or bolster our defenses against the Iconians - or the Undine, for that matter - I want you to let me know."

"I'm sorry, I don't know. But the shuttlecraft might have information."

"The shuttlecraft."

"Yeah, the Hypatia? My Hypatia, I mean, the one I brought with me. It had recordings onboard that you'd made. We should start there."

"Right. Good idea."

"If there's any way out of this, that might be a good place to start."

"Exactly." Tw'eak did not move.

Spera became confused, jumping up, then slowly sitting back down. "Should we... I mean, we could go do that now."

"I don't know how to feel. I mean, I'm tired... glad to not be on trial anymore. But we're about to endure a trial that's far, far greater. I want to be ready for it."

"You always said that you can't fight the enemy while you're fighting yourself. If you're tired, you should really rest. At least until galactic-standard morning."

"Now who's the shreya?" Tw'eak joked.

"I'm not a shan, remember? Technically I'm female."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah. That was a terrible joke. I'm tired. Sorry."

"No, it's all right. You go back to bed. I'll... see you soon enough."

Spera got up and returned to her room with a little wave on her way. Tw'eak went to the replicator, asked for a blanket, and returned to the couch. While cozy and warm, it provided Tw'eak little comfort. While her body was at rest, her mind raced with the consequences of incidents and incursions yet to come. Eventually, despite her anxiety, or perhaps in spite of it, she drifted off to sleep.


	44. Part III, Chapter 9

The interior of Earth Spacedock, beneath its massive dome, always impressed Tw'eak to see with her own eyes. A blue hemisphere stretched in seemingly all directions above her, and the astonishing sight of starships simply hovering in place or clamped and tractor-beamed into docking points was unlike anything else. What was more, Tw'eak could stand in an observation lounge and watch the whole proceeding, work bees and shuttles flying by in all directions, technicians and other Starfleet personnel floating about, lights blinking on their suits, on the small craft, on the larger craft, all over - some too weak to stand out against the general lighting of the background, others dominating the eye if looked at too closely, sufficiently to obscure the silhouettes of whole starships - and a general buzz of activity taking place soundlessly in the vacuum of the interior.

"This is impressive." Spera stepped into the observation lounge of Shuttlebay 38 alongside Tw'eak, her eyes following many of the same contours that Tw'eak's had. "It never looked THIS big in the holodeck. I mean, you get a sense of it, just by scale, but... wow."

"I never get tired of this," Tw'eak said, a comfortable joy in her voice.

"I can see why. I've been missing out."

From out of the clamour in the distance, a single shuttlecraft became distinct and moved into the foreground, growing in size as it did. "There's our ride," Tw'eak said to Spera. "Come on."

The two of them walked down a small staircase into a shielded landing zone, where the shuttlecraft was flaring out into touchdown. The whirr of the thrusters ceased, the shuttle's belly and nacelles came to touch the deck, and after a moment, the rear hatch opened. "Hypatia, reporting." Tw'eak recognized the voice of Lieutenant Aewon, her helmsman from the Warspite.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Good to see you again."

"Ma'am," Aewon said with a nod, first to Tw'eak, then also to Spera.

"We'll only need a few minutes."

"That's okay," the Deltan replied. "I haven't had lunch, was going to go do that."

"Sure. We'll be here." Tw'eak and Spera went up to the front of the shuttlecraft and sat at the main console. "So where do you keep these recordings?"

"Right here." Spera called them up on the viewer for Tw'eak. "There are six of them. Two are for you. One's for me. The other three are informational - they're longer, much more detailed presentations on the Iconians, their Heralds, their tactics, strengths, weaknesses, plus a warning about the Undine planet-killers."

"You've already turned those in, I take it?"

"I've transferred copies to Command, to Intel, and through Temporal Investigations."

"I can follow those up later." Tw'eak looked at the two recordings. "Why two for me?"

"I watched the one - it's more of the same stuff, specific tactics you developed, that sort of thing."

"Right. And the other?"

"I don't know. You told me it... well, that it was personal."

"From me, to me, huh."

"Yeah." Spera got up from her chair. "I should leave you to it."

"If you insist."

"You did insist, remember." Spera pointed her way out of the shuttle. "I'll just go sit and watch on the observation deck. Come wave me back over when you're done."

"Wait, shouldn't I watch the other one? About the Iconians, I mean. I'd, uh... like to know what I come up with."

"If you want." Spera stepped out of view, and after a second, Tw'eak saw her walk past on her way up the stairs to the observation deck.

"Okay..." Tw'eak took a deep breath, nervous. She considered for a moment not watching the recording, perhaps just telling Spera that she had. There were also questions about whether she'd be comfortable with violating the Temporal Prime Directive like this. However, it was undeniable that her future self would only make such information available if it mattered - no doubt that future self would take the workings of the timeline just as seriously. Something had gone terribly wrong, after all, between now and then. If there was some way to prevent that... would Starfleet's best intentions and principles really matter in the absence of a Starfleet to embody those principles?

Tw'eak went back and forth for a moment before she came to a decision: she would have a harder time living in a future where she had decided against watching the recording. "Maybe that's it, then," she said to herself, meaning the turning point Spera was meant to be. She pressed the button.

The viewer showed the interior of the shuttlecraft, although mostly in shadow. Into the frame created by a light stepped an Andorian shan, her face care-worn, yet familiar, wearing a drab-and-black outfit that seemed modeled after a Starfleet uniform without necessarily replicating every line, no commbadge visible. Her right arm hung limp, dangling bent at the elbow, her wrist sleeve pinned across her midsection. "Hello," Tw'eak said to the image, as though communicating with it.

The future self sat in place for a few moments, as in contemplation. After a while, Tw'eak heard her voice - although strangely unlike her own voice, for while she knew each voice sounded a bit different to outside observers, this voice sounded like hers with a mouth full of gravel. "If you're watching this at all, I'll be surprised," she said. "I seem to recall being intimidated by something called the Temporal Prime Directive as though it were Uzaveh the Infinite made real. I was... I put up with- well, you put up with a lot, then... didn't we." The older Tw'eak chuckled. "We're quite the pair.

She searched around for a moment. "Orders, that stupid period of time we spent in Zeta-Drom, the court-martial... not much of it will ever matter to anyone else but us." She shifted around in her chair. "Always put yourself last, don't we. Wouldn't know how to have a moment's peace without specific instructions. I know. It's probably what's kept this whole effort of mine going the past few years. But I've lost hope so many times that I can't remember. I know you have, from time to time, as well. That's part of the reason I wanted you to have this - I know we might not be able to prevent what's coming, but at least this way some of my regrets will be a little less constant in my mind."

Tw'eak found herself smiling. The idea of sending a note back in time to her own past - perhaps at the Academy - crossed her mind, and it occurred to her that her reasoning, to dispel some of her own regrets, would probably be exactly the same. She watched her future self consult a padd, then look off into the distance, going from memory.

"I don't have your ability to remember everything, so I made notes. Here we go." She cleared her throat. "First off... none of this is your fault. People -hell, whole planets are going to die. No point asking for specifics. There's a lot of them. And because of that, there'll be moments where you'll have bad things happen that you'll learn from. I think that every thing I know about the Iconians, every fact, every detail, came at the cost of someone I cared about."

Tw'eak felt herself grimace.

"Remember. That's not your fault. In order for us to win this fight, you can't be sentimental about anything. Remember them - but don't let it hurt. Once it starts, you've got to leave hurt behind. Like the Jem'Hadar used to say - go into battle to reclaim your life, even if those lives are never the same again afterwards.

"Second... don't leave anything left unsaid or undone. When we lost Qo'Nos, I was about to become a mother - and you can see how that turned out." The future-Tw'eak laughed. "I hated my own shreya, hadn't been to Andoria since Sassil's funeral... and would never get the chance to see it again. Go home again. See all the people you knew, all the places you've been. Do it one more time before... well, before the end. I'm not going to lie to you, it'll be the very end. Do it all and don't leave anything left undone because it'll follow you. And it'll play on you. Do whatever you can to be ready - and I don't mean stock up on pulsewaves and warp coils, either. Nothing we have is going to be enough to stop them... not that I know of, anyway. But if you're prepared for that, you'll react faster. The best preparation you can do is within yourself. You're already experienced, a very capable leader, and you know we make the best of any situation. That doesn't change between us. So change what you can... for yourself.

"One last thing... maybe I'm just bitter because of what happened in our timeline, but... of all the regrets I have, family and friends and anything else, there's one I honestly don't know how else to say, and... you're not gonna like it." Here, Tw'eak's future self paused for a moment, no longer looking to one side but staring, it seemed, uncomfortably right at her. "You've found something that makes you happy. We both know that. But it's not the right move, because... it won't for long."

Tw'eak sat back, shocked.

"Don't think I mean Spera - I don't regret having Spera, not at all... well, okay, maybe a bit. She's always been a very important part of my life, but she's always been a lot to deal with... still, I wouldn't want Doc to think I wasn't grateful for everything she did for me..." Here the future Tw'eak again looked away from the camera. "It's really more about ...him. I wanted all of that to be something different than it was. I don't know how to explain it - I don't think we ever knew how to explain it. He became more stressful, more difficult to deal with, and wanting someone like him around... after a while, just wasn't worth it. I never really understood how bonded pairs of people do it with four, but I feel like maybe that's better - you can spend more time with the third or fourth person than you do with the second. I don't know, maybe it's Andorian prejudice or something, but I don't think it works. And it didn't work."

Tw'eak paused the recording. She played back a few seconds of the dialogue. "-I don't think it works. And it didn't work." She paused it again, looking into the recorded female's eyes. There was a real sadness, a complete sincerity on display. The antennae matched the facial expression. Tw'eak found herself alarmed by her future self's despair. Infinite loss, untold numbers of dead friends and comrades, and yet, Tw'eak could see, her older self's greatest regret was that she couldn't make her marriage work. Any doubts she might have had about the veracity of the recording vanished. There she was, having been through her every single last worst nightmare. It was more than Tw'eak could handle. She pressed play again.

"I mean, Spera made it so I couldn't just turn things off and be more... I don't know, Vulcan about everything. But we'd have disagreements about stupid things - tactical dispositions, where to strike next, a thousand other little things... I wasn't used to having someone challenge my decisions. And he did, time and again. I didn't really appreciate it... but he'd been outside a chain of command for so long he was used to being able to speak his mind on things, sometimes right out in front of the whole crew. I..." Tw'eak's future self pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "I never told anyone this, not even Spera, but... when he was gone, I grieved for him, but... I wasn't really sad he was gone."

Tw'eak wiped tears from her eyes. It was the sad cadence of the recording's voice, the despair of a failed mission coupled with a broken heart. It overwhelmed Tw'eak, to imagine her happy present becoming this unspeakable future.

"I hope you can understand - it's not that I didn't love him. I did. I really did." The recorded figure shook her head. "But it wasn't enough. It wasn't the right time, and it wasn't the right thing to do - not really." She laughed, tipping her head backwards slightly as she did so. "Uzaveh's name, that man loved... I mean, loved his alcohol. Synthehol was like some kind of insult to his Marine pride... and he would get to fighting when he was drunk." The head-shake, again. "Among other things. There were other women... not just one or two of them, either. Somehow he and Dashii... well, I never really believed those stories, but I had to leave the two of them behind, questions unanswered and no hope of saving them." The future Tw'eak paused for a moment, then adjusted her shirt's angle of tuck slightly. "I didn't really need to ask why he would - after all, Dashii was hardly the first, and I'd overlooked it when it was someone else. My own sister, though... I used to tell myself that it was his fault, or it was her fault... like it mattered." She gave a sad chuckle. "It wasn't until after they were gone that I realized I couldn't take the risk of trusting anyone else but me. I've deleted a lot of log entries over the years, gotten really good at playing the role. No room for feelings - not on the bridge, not anywhere there's crew, not even in private with crew, except for with Spera. Even then, some days..."

Tw'eak paused the playback yet again. She sat there, stunned, trying to make sense of the recording she had just seen. This was an extraordinary confession, one that Tw'eak knew she would never otherwise have made in reality. She wasn't one to sit down and talk like this - no wonder she hadn't wanted Spera to see it. The younger girl's level of veneration for her shreya would have been completely demolished by seeing this.

For a moment, Tw'eak considered doing exactly that - perhaps then she would see the whole character of her shreya in a new light, undermine that pedestal. But she thought better of it. Instead, she wrestled with the very real guilt and grief which her future self had experienced because of Leo. She wondered how she was supposed to work with this information as part of their relationship. Perhaps it hadn't been coincidental that Spera had turned up at the exact moment she and Leo had come back into contact with each other.

She considered that further - even if Spera hadn't decided precisely when to come back, surely the aliens in the wormhole, otherwise known as the Prophets of Bajor, might have made things happen that way. She felt herself come to wonder about the idea of regret. She regretted absolutely everything. The lives that had been lost under her command, the fact that she had ever taken command, the responsibilities that weighed upon her even now when she had no assignment, no command, no specific duty to perform... the decisions she had made, the people she had needed to save, the fact that they had required saving... it was all starting to become a bit much for her, if she was honest.

She found herself breathing rather heavily, overwhelmed by it all, exasperated by her feeling of a loss she hadn't yet experienced, but would, inevitably. There was too much to do, she felt, to prevent it - far too much for one person to accomplish in order to stop the Iconians or even just slow their advance. There were ways to turn this event, if she could think of them. But she was not free to do so, not in the slightest. Another assignment would find her soon enough (one which she would apparently have to decline, according to her Section 31 associate) while another would follow, and another, or perhaps a task force to command again... maybe just a starship... either way, she would be placed in a situation where she would once again be bound to a course of action and unable to escape its fury.

She had felt like this before. She looked down at her right hand, the bio-synthetic replacement for the one she'd known for most of her life until her arm had been destroyed. The recovery and reconstruction process had been difficult, but she had gotten through it. She had experienced so much over the past year - three separate recovery periods from three very different major injuries. She had to trust, had to believe, that there was a plan which the Infinite held for the universe - that much like her friend Pal's faith in the Prophets, she had to keep her faith that there was someone overseeing the affairs of this galaxy from outside the system, ready to intervene or nurse it back to a balanced medium. To allow the Iconians to return to their prominent place as lords of the galaxy seemed very much against the best intentions such a powerful being might hold. There had to be hope.

Tw'eak resumed the playback. "...some days she would frustrate me to the point of madness. But I never forgot. The one most precious thing that Leo gave us was her name. Esperanza." Tw'eak's future counterpart leaned forward. "It was his idea - we didn't have much luck, so we started calling them different versions of the word hope. It's fortunate that it's a fairly common name for girls - and no matter what, we were going to have a girl, according to Doc, since that was pre-determined as part of the process. We were worried we'd run out of languages before we'd have a baby girl. But then... along she came, my little miracle, everything I had hoped for..."

Tw'eak's future self clutched her hands to her chest, as if holding Spera for the first time. "That first moment with her, I'd never realized before how much it meant to want something, to really want something and not regret you'd had it." She looked up. "I don't regret that part of it. And I do realize that you'll never get to experience it with Spera the way I did. That's part of the reason I told her to go back. It might be better for you that way, I don't know. I know it's ridiculous to put that much pressure on her, but I believe in her - far more than I believe in myself." Tw'eak's future self considered for a moment. "I know that sounds horrible for me to say of you, but you were always too hard on yourself anyway, so I'm just doing it for you." The figure in the playback looked intently into the camera. "Spera... is the only hope I have left. Take care of her for me."

Tw'eak paused the playback, looking at the screen with a sort of gratitude. Silently, intently, she nodded her assent to her future self.

* * *

Moments later, she stepped out of the shuttlecraft and waved to Spera. She stood up from where she was seated and came down the stairs. As she did, Tw'eak stepped towards her in turn, and then suddenly gave her a huge embrace. Spera, confused by the gesture, slowly enfolded her arms around Tw'eak. "What's this for, Shreya?" she asked.

Tw'eak took a step back from the girl and looked her right in the eye. "For being my daughter, I guess," she replied, and smiled. She gestured towards the shuttle. "You want to come back with me and go over those Iconian presentations?"

"Yeah, I... really? You really mean it?"

Tw'eak took Spera's hand in hers. "That was what the recording was about. You. This... to me, to my future self, this is way more important than anything else. I could see how that will become true twenty years from now, but I can see how much I'm going to need you over the months and years ahead. Which is why I want us to review the other recording - the tactical disposition one - together."

"Alright," Spera said, reluctantly at first, then growing in confidence. "You're sure? ...of course you are. Come on."

The two of them went back inside the shuttle and called up the recordings on the coming Iconian threat. While the information they reviewed would certainly prove crucial in the time ahead, Tw'eak had finally come to understand that, if she had needed proof of the order she sought in the universe, then Spera's very existence, here, in this moment, was all that her faith required.


	45. Part III, Chapter 10

The day which followed had been quiet, so Tw'eak had decided that she and Spera should take a tour Earth Spacedock as part of a group. While most of them had been tourists from various Federation worlds, several had been very impressed to see Tw'eak, and were surprised to see her there, until she explained - this was more for Spera's benefit than for her own. Still, she had learned a few things about the environmental systems and spacedock control system just by listening in to the guide's remarks. It was the discussion of redundant damage control mechanisms which had made her start thinking to herself about the future from which Spera had come. All of this would be slagged duranium floating in the void of space, clashing against the asteroidal remains of planet Earth, formerly the heart of the Federation and centre of Starfleet operations. Tw'eak found herself wondering what would come next. Without a Starfleet left to belong to, she and whoever else survived along with her would make their way to... where? Spera had suggested the Delta Quadrant, but Tw'eak found that unlikely. How was she supposed to get there - would the Caretaker array suddenly come back online and whisk them off to the far side of the galaxy, as had happened to USS Voyager? And what would Tw'eak and her crew do without a home to return to, besides survive?

Something Corbin had said resonated with her as well - the idea of planets as liabilities. Despite being massive rocky spheres of resources, the cradle of nearly every spaceborne civilization, a planet was, to a group like the Iconians, little more than a target moving in a predictable flight path around a star. The Undine planet-killers would appear soon enough to consume them - living doomsday-machines bearing down on every world of any import within the Federation and beyond - starting with Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld. Throughout the tour, Tw'eak found herself wondering how much of the bleak, hopeless timeline Spera had described would become hers as well - and how much, if any of it, she could hope to change.

There was also the question of her relationship with Leo. She had been so certain that she had wanted to be with him... right up until Spera showed up. Perhaps it was him - perhaps it was the way her future self had described him - or perhaps it was the foreknowledge of being aware of the impending end of the universe as she knew it, but Tw'eak found herself worried that perhaps what she had truly wanted wasn't so much to be with Leo, as to just be with someone - and that the someone she had been with had simply been available rather than compatible. But again, she found her emotions impossible to trust, and she realized after a moment that Spera was calling to her.

"Shreya," she said softly.

Tw'eak looked up. "Yes. Sorry."

"The tour's moving on."

"Right."

"That's the second time you've done that. Is something wrong?"

"No," Tw'eak replied, adding, "not yet, anyway."

"You're worried about the war."

"Is it that obvious?"

Spera smiled. She pointed to Tw'eak's antennae. "I know what those are saying."

Tw'eak realized that her antennae were pointed forward, angled towards each other, a sure expression of anxiety. "Usually I keep a closer eye on them."

"How, with a mirror?"

"It's just an expression."

Spera raised a hand. "I know, I know."

Tw'eak looked back over her shoulder. "Pal?"

"Yes, Admiral?" At her side appeared the familiar form of her Jem'Hadar bodyguard.

"I'd have thought you would've gone back to the ship by now."

"No. I have accompanied you since this morning. If I may ask you to avoid such open spaces again - I would not have been able to insure your safety had you been ambushed at the shuttle."

"But we were fine. Never mind that - Where were you last night when we had Section 31 for company?"

"Outside your door. It was a tactical error on my part. However, I was shrouded. Several Starfleet Security personnel attempted to interfere with my duty, but fortunately for them, I was able to prove my identity to them."

"Fortunately for them, you mean?" Tw'eak said with a hint of a smile.

"Yes," Pal answered proudly. "I felt that your privacy was of greater value to you than your security. It is... not my way to accord privacy to others, but I also felt it may have been inappropriate for me to stand guard too closely."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'd probably sleep better without having you right in the same room. But I appreciate your being there - and your honesty. Please don't think I'm blaming you - if Corbin wants to contact me, I'm sure he'll find a way, with or without you in the room."

Pal nodded, then looked up sharply. "Someone is approaching." He resumed his shroud, and Tw'eak turned with Spera at her side to see a diminutive Vulcan approaching.

"Greetings, Admiral," came a familiar, female voice.

"Hello, T'uni. It's been a while."

T'uni approached Tw'eak and Spera, bowed slightly, and placed her hands behind her back. Tw'eak could clearly see the rank of captain on her uniform tunic. "It is agreeable to see you as well. I have heard much of your exploits since my transfer to Starfleet Intelligence. I regret that I was unavailable to be of further support to you."

"Oh, it's okay - I've got lots of friends looking after me." Tw'eak turned to Spera. "This is... well, I'm sure you've read the dossier on Spera by now and don't need me to explain it."

"Indeed." T'uni nodded slightly to Spera. "Welcome to Earth Spacedock."

"Thanks. It's good to see you again."

T'uni raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes. Fascinating. Apparently I survive the coming onslaught."

Spera smiled at T'uni. "Yes, you certainly do. You run the education program. You're the superintendent of the school ships."

"Indeed."

"Shreya always told me to stay out of your office." Spera looked from T'uni to Tw'eak. "I did, of course."

"Were you looking for me?" Tw'eak asked T'uni.

"In a manner of speaking. I had hoped to discuss a matter with you of some importance."

Tw'eak thought of Corbin. "The starship Leibniz, I take it."

For a brief moment, T'uni looked genuinely surprised. "The- Curious. That starship is a classified matter which is entirely separate from my intention. I am curious as to how you learned of it."

"My regular visitor from Section 31 dropped by the other night, told me not to take any assignments associated with it."

"That is all the more peculiar, as the matter is being dealt with by Starfleet Intelligence presently. I am curious as to Section 31's interest."

"I would be too, in your position. I wish I could tell you more - it's not like Section 31 to show up and tell you what not to do for them."

"Indeed. I am concerned by their continued interference with our operations. They have anticipated our intentions once too often. Nevertheless, I have sought you out on a separate area of concern."

"That being?"

"As I mentioned earlier, I have reviewed all available information and materials related to the Undine, as well as the impending arrival of the Iconians."

"That couldn't have taken long."

"My clearance level permits me a greater sphere of access to information than you presently enjoy - even at your current rank of Rear Admiral."

"I see."

"It is for this reason that I would like to offer a proposal."

"What kind of proposal?"

"The kind that is not to be discussed here."

"I see," Tw'eak repeated. "Where, then?"

"I have been informed that you are in possession of a shuttle. Is this correct?"

Tw'eak shot a look over her shoulder, to where Pal had been, before looking back to T'uni. "Yes, but getting there constitutes a security risk."

T'uni inclined her head slightly, then followed where Tw'eak's eyes had gone. "Your Jem'Hadar crew member?"

"How did you know?"

"He is standing over there." T'uni looked to Tw'eak's other side.

"Really?"

"Yep," Spera confirmed. She tapped the temple of her forehead. "Can't fool us."

"It's all right, Pal - come on out."

Pal stepped from out of the shroud, miffed. "Area is secure, Admiral."

Tw'eak turned to T'uni. "He's very good at this."

"Indeed."

"Are we just having a conversation aboard the shuttle, then?"

"No. I would require flight control."

"Oh. That may be a problem. If you think this guy's bad, you should meet my pilot. Where are we going?"

T'uni arched an eyebrow and looked off into the distance of the corridor.

"One of those flights. Right." Tw'eak turned to Spera. "Well, can we have an hour or so to finish up our tour?"

"Very well. I will meet you at the shuttlebay at... seventeen-hundred hours."

"Hmm, better make it seventeen-thirty. We haven't had lunch yet."

"Very well. Please be prompt." T'uni gave a brief salute, then left.

Tw'eak turned to Spera. "Maybe we'd best catch another tour."

"Oh." Spera looked slightly disappointed.

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's all right... duty calls. I know how it is."

Tw'eak looked at Spera, then down the corridor. "Come on."

"Where?"

"We'd better catch up with them."

"No, like you said - another tour."

"Spera, if I've learned anything from you being around, it's that there may never be another chance to do these things. T'uni can wait." Tw'eak looked back. "C'mon, Pal." She broke into a run, and called out, "Computer, indicate direction to tour group."

The Jem'Hadar stepped back into invisibility, following the two of them as they raced along a lighted path on the floor, on their way to catch their tour group.

* * *

The tour completed, Tw'eak and Spera returned to their guest quarters for a quick lunch. The time was seventeen-ten, and Tw'eak could hear Spera's stomach making noises. "You must be hungry," she noted.

"I didn't want to say anything, but I could've really used a quick drink or something."

"Why not?"

"The time."

Tw'eak stopped at the door of the quarters. "Look at me." Spera came up to Tw'eak and looked into her eyes. Tw'eak put her hands around Spera's shoulders. "I know where you - when you come from, there's some other version of me that's all urgent business, all the time. That's not me - at least, not yet. If it is, well... it's only because it has to be, for the moment, crisis, whatever. There will always be time in my life for you."

"I know." Spera closed her eyes and lowered her head slightly, her antennae inclining forward slowly. "Shreya used to tell me that, too. Even though there usually wasn't time, she'd say it anyway. We used to argue about it a lot. She had her priorities, and we all depended on her. But I depended on her for me."

"I understand that. It's strange, you know... knowing that when you arrive, I become so much like my own shreya, caught up in my work instead of where I'm needed. I guess I'd always hoped I'd do a better job than she did."

"Yeah. Sorry, it's just..." Spera looked up at Tw'eak. "I've heard this all before."

Tw'eak felt a pang of sympathy for this young girl, this daughter of hers. "I don't know what to say. I've already messed this up in the future, I guess."

"No, no. Today was a lot of fun. It was kind of nice to be in a place like this without worrying about stripping wall conduits for parts, or being ambushed at any moment, or anything like I'm used to. I was trying to seem as calm as I could, but a lot of those places really freaked me out."

"I can understand. You've got a better situational awareness than most people your age. I guess you've had to develop that, haven't you?"

"Yeah. It's kept me alive." Spera glanced over at Tw'eak. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"For not leaving the tour. When T'uni showed up, I mean."

"Oh. No big deal."

"Maybe not to you." Spera gave Tw'eak a hug.

As they went inside, the quarters lights were down. Tw'eak sensed the interior of the room to be empty, save for a sleeping form on the couch. "Computer, lights, half." Leo was there, his breath softly rising and falling. Tw'eak looked back to Spera, who silently giggled. They both stepped back out the door.

"How is he still asleep?" Spera asked once the door had closed.

"Must have had a rough night."

"But we got way less sleep than he did, and-"

Tw'eak raised a hand. "I know. Just go with it." She was reminded of her future self's remarks about Leo's problems with alcohol, and she sighed quietly to herself as she took Spera down the corridor. "Come on, there's a replimat on the way to the shuttlebay. We can get something quick."

When Tw'eak and Spera reached the shuttlebay, they found T'uni patiently arguing with a very agitated Lieutenant Aewon.

"But this shuttle is my responsibility-"

"I have already cleared access with the Admiral-"

"I'm going to need to speak to - Admiral, you're here. This is a Captain T'uni from Starfleet Intelligence, and-"

"It's all right, Lieutenant." Tw'eak nodded. "She's an old friend."

"But I'm already overdue to return to the Warspite."

"I'll contact Octavia on our way out. We can arrange transport for you along the way if you'd like."

"But it's just-" Aewon took a deep breath. "All right, you're the admiral."

"How was lunch?"

"Good, it's just - may I speak freely, Admiral?"

"Sure."

"I'm overdue for my injection. If I'm not careful I'll start emitting pheromones." The Deltan looked around nervously. "You know what kind of effect that can have."

"I understand completely. You're relieved, on my authority. We'll take good care of the shuttle. You beam back to the Warspite and take care of yourself. Priority one, Lieutenant."

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am." Aewon made his way up the ramp down which Tw'eak and Spera had just come.

"He is formidably loyal," T'uni said.

"Speaking of which - I won't have such an easy time relieving a Jem'Hadar of duty."

"So I imagined, which was why I took the liberty of granting him clearance. He may come with us."

"Can you tell me where we're going yet?"

"No. I must say, it is fortunate that this shuttle has a cloaking device."

Tw'eak looked back to Spera. "That was your idea for upgrades," came the reply from the younger of the two. "Wouldn't have gotten to the wormhole without it."

* * *

Aboard the shuttle, Tw'eak settled in as T'uni took the controls. Within moments, they had taken off, and were well on their way out of spacedock before Tw'eak noted the speed control reading. "You're at full impulse."

"Indeed."

"But regulations-"

"We will never make it through that door otherwise."

Tw'eak looked up to see the massive spacedock doors closing fast, a Vesta-class starship having just cleared its pathway heading out. "T'uni-!"

"One moment, please." T'uni tapped the flight controls and set the shuttle to align its horizontal direction with the edge of the door, tilting up onto its side. Angled thus, the cloaking device engaged, the shuttle burst through the closing doors just moments before they would have closed shut. Sensing the danger of something passing between them, the doors then broadcast an alarm and commenced opening again. "We are clear of Earth Spacedock."

"You know, we could've gone out through a shuttle port like normal people."

"Indeed," T'uni said, looking back with a shadow of a smile across her face.

* * *

In orbit of Mars, the constellation of shipyards, space stations and supply depots known collectively as Utopia Planitia stretched out far above the red planet's surface. From just beyond its confines, the shuttlecraft Hypatia approached, still at full impulse.

"Mars traffic control, this is shuttlecraft Hypatia, clearance code Omega nine-five-alpha."

"Shuttle Hypatia, you are cleared for approach to Station Phoenix," the orbital traffic control said over the communicator.

"Hypatia responding, approach vector set." T'uni tapped in a few course corrections, and the shuttle's nose obediently pointed off into space. "Thank you, control."

The shuttle continued along for a few moments. Tw'eak looked forward in the cabin. "Uh, T'uni? Where are we going?"

"I believe you will see momentarily."

"No, I mean - there's... there's nothing out there. Except, I don't know, asteroids? Jupiter Station, maybe?"

T'uni looked back. "One moment, please."

After a few seconds, a crackling noise could be heard over the hull. Tw'eak and Spera were both on their feet within an instant, expecting the worst. The forward window coruscated with a blue energy field, but T'uni seemed unfazed.

"Something's wrong," Spera said softly.

"Nothing is wrong," T'uni corrected. "We are passing through a directed holo-field."

"Look!" Tw'eak pointed to where the energy field had cleared enough to reveal the shape of a spacedock with three bays, each of different sizes. Two ships were vaguely familiar shapes - one had the look of a science vessel while the other bore the sleek lines of an escort. The third, at the centre, was unknown to her - it looked Tholian at first glance, then took on contours of a Federation vessel at closer examination - the lifepods, the windows, the hull registries were unmistakably Starfleet. All the ships shared a common design - faceted hull sections, angular contours mixed with curvy ones, lengthy edges and details both similar to and distinct from present-day designs. "What is this?"

"Intelligence has appropriated a concealed shipyard in order to finalize prototype designs of a stealthier sort. The shapes of these vessels are intended to reduce their energy signature and overall sensor return, using methods originally developed by the Hirogen. This allows them to avoid detection while maintaining their overall purpose and mission." T'uni indicated the science vessel. "The Scryer class, the Eclipse class, and this one here... which I believe will be of greatest interest to you, Admiral..."

The shuttle turned directly towards the escort, and as it passed overhead, Tw'eak was reminded of the ushaan blade. She looked over at Spera, who was craning her neck in an attempt to look over the shuttle's nose at the vessel below, her antennae mere millimetres from scraping the forward ceiling.

"This is the USS Silhouette, a Phantom-class intelligence escort." T'uni tapped in a few commands and the shuttle seemed to settle over an octagonal section at the very back of the vessel, turning to align its forward heading with that of the ship. "It is one of several ships who will be tasked with intelligence gathering and other duties intended to forestall the Iconian invasion. It will also serve as your new flagship."

"My new-?"

"Indeed." T'uni got up and looked Tw'eak directly in the eye. "I have orders here from Admiral Quinn." She produced a padd, seemingly out of nowhere. "They authorize you to be seconded to Starfleet Intelligence after your promotion has been finalized."

"Promotion-?"

"Your mission will be to co-ordinate all intelligence and advise Starfleet on best practices against the Iconians. In this regard, given Spera's presence, Starfleet could find no one better suited to the task. I should observe that Starfleet has created a similar task force, known as the Undine Counter-Command, whose duties extend into fluidic space and dealing with the threat posed by Species 8472. Co-ordination with that task force will be essential in order to avoid duplication of effort."

Tw'eak watched the astral horizon disappear as the shuttle sank into a bay nestled dorsally aft. "A lot's happening all at once here... I'm speechless."

"Congratulations, Shreya!" From behind, Spera ran her hands around Tw'eak.

"And to you as well," T'uni said to Spera. "Your participation will be essential to the vice-admiral's new mission. With that in mind, Starfleet Intelligence has requested that you be designated a permanent consultant to the vice admiral, at the provisional rank of Commander."

Tw'eak ran a hand along the edge of her jawline, and watched as Spera turned towards her, her face lit up like it was Christmas morning. "So much for that trip to Andoria," she said to Spera after a moment. "We have work to do."


	46. Part III, Chapter 11

"I still don't understand," Tw'eak said to T'uni as the door of the shuttle opened, having come to a landing aboard USS Silhouette. "Why me?"

T'uni looked up at her friend from where she stood beside her. "All in time, Vice Admiral."

"Right."

As the ramp lowered, Tw'eak could hear the bosun's whistle. She looked out to see the assembled ship's company standing in lines on either side of the shuttle. Tw'eak looked out over the assembly and felt a thrill run through her. An escort - like being on the Repulse all over again. Having spent most of her career aboard Sovereign-class starships, she had come to see anything bigger than a patrol escort as being... comfortable. The idea of finding herself in the close quarters of a warp-capable gunship like Silhouette promised to be was exhilarating. And while she wasn't the captain of this ship, it was a completely different experience - she outranked the captain this time. At least using the maneuverability to its full extent in training wouldn't require anyone else's authorization. To her surprise, she realized just who that captain would be as T'uni escorted her to the first officer in line.

"May I present Captain Kit McQueen, commanding officer of the Silhouette."

"Hello, Admiral," Kit said. "Good to see you again."

"Yeah, likewise - how've you been?"

"Well, busy. They brought me over from the Mosquito about six months ago. I can't believe this program. Wait until you see what this ship can do."

"Better than the Defiant class?"

Kit nodded, smiling proudly. "Leaps and bounds, ma'am. I loved the Skeeter, but this ship puts her to shame."

"Well, I'm glad to hear it - and glad to have a flag captain that's already a friend, believe me."

Kit leaned towards Tw'eak. "I'm glad to have an admiral that isn't a stuffed shirt, believe me."

T'uni cleared her throat, and Kit resumed her place in line. T'uni then directed Tw'eak towards the tall Vulcan standing next to her. "Allow me to introduce also your staff. The Silhouette, and all ships of this class, will only have a small science and medical suite, even by an escort's standards. Most available space has been devoted to intelligence analysis. These will be co-ordinated under the authority of Commander Varek."

"Welcome, Admiral," Varek said.

"Thank you."

Next to Varek stood a Bajoran male in a tactical uniform, and a diminutive female human wearing an engineering uniform and a very tight bun out of her dark brown hair. T'uni directed a hand towards them. "May I also present the ship's first officer, Lieutenant Commander Porla Tirel, and assistant intelligence analyst Commander Iphigenia Wren."

"Ma'am," Porla said with a salute.

"Hello," Wren said, also saluting.

"A pleasure to meet you both." Tw'eak turned to the assembled group. "It's very good to see you all. I look forward to serving with all of you, and to making the best of the opportunity this ship and its crew will undoubtedly give us to make a difference in the time to come." Tw'eak looked down for a moment, then took in the faces around her for a moment. "I am confident - supremely, unquestionably confident - that we will. Thank you all."

There was a murmur of thanks, followed by Kit stepping forward. "Dismissed. Thank you." She stepped over to Tw'eak's side. "I'm so glad it's you."

Tw'eak looked over at Kit. "Me?"

"Yeah, as admiral. Wait'll you see the war room."

"We have a war room?"

"Admiral!" Tw'eak heard a familiar voice from the crowd. "Admiral!" She looked over to see the face connected to the voice. From out of the crowd stepped Denver O'Leary, wearing the rank of lieutenant commander.

"O'Leary! How have you been?" Tw'eak asked, her face breaking into a huge smile. She turned to Kit. "This is - Lieutenant Commander now, well."

"Vice Admiral now, well," O'Leary repeated with a smile.

"Lieutenant Commander Denver O'Leary, he was my helmsman back on the Bonaventure." Tw'eak turned back to O'Leary. "So this is the program that they assigned you to after all that."

"Yep! The very same. I've given every bit of input I can in order to make this ship the best we've got. It's been the best six months of my life!"

"So you know my tactical officer," Kit noted dryly.

"Sure do!" O'Leary held out a corrective finger. "The actual best six months of my life? Now that I think of it, that was under your command, Admiral." O'Leary caught sight of Kit giving him a dirty look. "Before this, I mean. Like, that was great, but this... this has been something else, ma'am. Like, it's all been so good. I can't believe this is my career."

"So how are things? How's your wife?"

O'Leary smiled. "How'd you guess?"

"I had a pretty good feeling."

"How much of a good feeling? 'Cause I have news!"

Kit whispered into Tw'eak's ear. "She's pregnant."

"Yeah!" O'Leary beamed. "I'm gonna be a dad."

"Speaking of-" Tw'eak looked around. She finally found Spera in the thinning crowd, talking to T'uni. "Spera?"

Spera stepped over to Tw'eak's side. "Hello."

"This... this is my daughter, Spera."

Both O'Leary and Kit looked struck by the statement. "You said your - you adopted her, I guess?" O'Leary scratched his head.

"Sort of, if you can adopt from alternate timelines."

"Oh. So she's... you have a... I mean, you didn't - timelines? Timelines. Damn." O'Leary put an end to his stumbling phrases and just stuck his hand out to Spera. "Nice to meet you."

"It's really complicated," Spera said with a smile, shaking O'Leary's, then McQueen's hands. "I came back to help."

O'Leary was grateful not to have to endure a lengthy temporal-theory discussion. "Oh... well, good. We're gonna need it."

"Indeed," said T'uni, who had taken a position next to Tw'eak.

"Hey... Counsellor. Uh, nice to see you."

"And you as well, Lieutenant Commander."

"Are you, uh... gonna be on board the entire time?"

By this point, Commander Porla had approached Captain McQueen's side. "Ma'am, we're all set here. Should we get underway?"

"That's at the Admiral's discretion."

Tw'eak took a look around the shuttlebay. "Well, if this is the whole ship, then I suppose we can." She looked up at Kit. "I'd like to see what she's made of before we go anywhere, if that's all right."

Kit nodded. "We can show you around."

T'uni gave Tw'eak a raised eyebrow. "You will also presumably wish to review the intel reports and meet with the captains of the task force."

"Yeah." Tw'eak remembered having not done so prior to clearing port aboard the Warspite, and the cost of doing so for at least one of the ships under her command. "Please arrange that meeting as soon as you can. All senior officers, not just command rank."

"Very well."

Tw'eak turned to McQueen. "Alright, Captain. Let's meet your baby."

* * *

After a comprehensive tour of the ship's facilities, including Tw'eak's quarters, the bridge and ready room, the engine room, deflector control, the cloaking device operations centre, the crew lounge, and what felt like nearly every metre of corridor across the ship, they came to a rather large door. "And this," Kit said, "is the crowning touch." She waved her hand over an access panel next to the door. "Access is DNA encoded so you'll have to be scanned each time. It's linked to the computer so your commbadge and vitals are also checked - if you're unconscious they can't drag you over, that kind of thing."

The computer made an exclamatory noise, and the door opened, revealing what seemed to be a catwalk. Tw'eak stepped inside to see that the catwalk was actually adjoining to a section of deck on either side of a sunken display being serviced by several ensigns and lieutenants a deck below. Above, across the walkway heading left from the door, was a rather large conference table. To Tw'eak's right, past a staircase leading to the deck below, lay what appear to be an area half auxiliary control, half office space. All three walls in this area had multi-function displays showing lists of intelligence information and, on the largest, a superimposed map of the galaxy. Tw'eak also recognized a holo-emitter unit in the centre of the area, presumably for communications or presentation-style displays.

"This is impressive," she noted.

From the staircase, Tw'eak heard the sound of a soprano female voice. "This is the nerve centre of our entire intelligence operation against the Iconians," the voice told her. Tw'eak glanced down the staircase to see Commander Wren making her way up the stairs, to greet her admiral and captain. "We have access to everything right here - there's a secure subspace relay built into our communications array, allowing us near-instant access to whatever new details are reported to Starfleet. We're getting updates on all kinds of Iconian technology being salvaged and used, or other intelligence, from across Federation space and throughout the quadrant."

Tw'eak nodded at Wren. "Do we have anything indicating a clear direction yet?"

"Not as such, no. So far we've only got theories, possible patterns... nothing definitive."

T'uni spoke up. "We also have counterparts in the Klingon Empire and Romulan Republic whom we should consult. They, too, have continued to provide collaborative efforts throughout the various phases of our start-up."

"Even with the war on?"

"Indeed. Despite the hostilities, the Romulan Republic has proven diplomatically invaluable in permitting us to remain in contact with those forces within the KDF which have a vested interest in working together, such as elements of Task Force Omega and the Nukara strike force, among others."

"So we're off to a good start."

"It is merely a starting point at present, yes," T'uni affirmed. "However, the direction of our efforts will largely depend on the officer in charge."

"Right," Tw'eak replied, nodding. "Do you have that intelligence report for me?" she asked Commander Wren.

"Just a moment," Wren said, heading to the desk to Tw'eak's right. After a moment at the terminal, she waved Tw'eak over.

"Well, let's go see what they know," Tw'eak said to Spera.

* * *

The conference table in the war room seated six. As it was, between Tw'eak, Spera, Kit, Wren, Varek and T'uni, the table was nearly full. Varek and Wren had been taking turns describing the Iconian situation to Tw'eak.

"Another of our scenarios involves the exact route of their return - Project Watchtower has been surreptitiously placing holo-concealed sensor buoys at one parsec intervals across space. These buoys are passive, and can trace the passage of large warp signatures in real-time. We had originally designed these for the space between here and the Delta Quadrant, but the advent of Borg transwarp and chronometric travel made them obsolete."

"I'd imagine the Iconians won't come back at warp speed - they'll use some sort of... larger gateway than the one we saw on Brea III."

"Agreed," Varek said. "Their use of a torus-shaped asteroid as an archway was as unexpected as it was ingenious."

"I'd expect more of the same - at least as much as you can expect the unexpected, that is." Tw'eak leaned forward. "I know we've reviewed some of the advanced weaponry and upgraded systems, but what do our projections look like if they do return?"

Wren made a sour face. "Prior to Spera's arrival, we had run projections indicating a few difficult years of struggle before we would be able to adapt - in those projections, we had assumed about a sixth of Federation space would fall to the Iconians. Revisions to those projections have been tabulated using the more accurate information provided by Commander Spera. All indications are that our initial projections were wildly optimistic."

Varek took over. "Projections now indicate a total loss of about seventy-four percent of Federation space within the first six months. This projection would assume their arrival in force through a series of gateways, as per Commander Spera's information. The loss of strategic points within the Iota Pavonis and Tau Dewa sector blocks will leave us extremely vulnerable to Iconian Herald assault forces."

Tw'eak raised a hand. "I get it. That's the reason for the secrecy, then."

"Indeed. Since our overall knowledge of how extensively the Iconians have infiltrated our defense networks is presently unknown, we cannot hypothesize with any precision with regards to what our response will look like. Thus, this facility."

Wren spoke up. "We don't know the time, or the place - nor do we know how different it's going to look from what Spera's information suggests. Counter-Command agrees with us: our priority now has to be to increase fleet readiness and to come up with some way to contact the Undine, diplomatically, in order to prevent hostilities."

There was a page. Someone's commbadge buzzed to life. "Captain McQueen?"

Kit tapped her chest. "McQueen here."

"Ma'am, the newly-assigned personnel have arrived. Could you please meet them in the transporter room?"

"On my way." Kit got up hastily. "I'll be back in a bit. Don't wait for me."

Tw'eak watched Kit go, then remembered a mission she had undertaken. "Admiral Tuvok led a mission some time ago, back when I was commanding the Bonaventure. O'Leary would remember this one, he hadn't been aboard long, his first flight into fluidic space. His first time flying attack patterns against the Borg - weren't expecting to find them there. But we learned that the Iconians are provoking the Undine - there was clear evidence of it, incursions of Klingon, Romulan, Federation vessels poring through into their space. Those ships, though, weren't ours - not really. They looked the part, well enough to fool the Undine, it seems. But between that and the Borg, the Undine are angry."

"We know. We think that's one of the reasons we've gotten no response to our efforts. We've tried to work out some way to contact them, again, in the hopes that we can negotiate or even just explain ourselves. So far, though, they aren't talking - even telepathically, they attack at first sign of contact."

Tw'eak looked over at Spera. "Maybe they might listen to one of their own."

There was a beat as Wren looked to Varek and Spera looked to Tw'eak. "I'm sorry - is Spera an Undine?"

"No. Well, partially - it's in her file. The short version is that she has telekinetic abilities, limited telepathy, because the reproduction process included part of me that had been altered when an Undine tried and failed to replace me in the lead-up to Warspite's launch."

"I'm not volunteering for that," Spera added quickly.

"I see. Really." Wren gave Spera an intrigued look.

Spera shrugged. "Yeah. But I'm no telepath. They'd ruin me - even if I had help."

"I would concur," Varek noted, his brow furrowed. "The Undine's aggressive form of telepathy can overwhelm even the most advanced and disciplined of Vulcan minds when at its fullest extent. I do not see any reason to suggest that such contact will be beneficial, or even possible."

"Thank you." Spera smiled at the Vulcan.

Varek continued. "Given the outcome of our last incursion into fluidic space, I would expect that the Undine would be far more rapid, and more forceful, in repelling our incursions. This would certainly endanger the mind, if not the life, of Commander Spera."

Tw'eak gave up. "You're probably right. It was an idea. But I like her as she is."

"That's okay. We like ideas." Wren smiled from Spera to Tw'eak. "One last thing I should mention, Admiral - our review of the information provided suggests that the Iconians may number relatively few overall. In other words, we can develop attrition tactics, force them to fight - guerrilla warfare, essentially. This is an area in which we've learned a great deal from the Klingons and the Romulans. We don't usually rely on those sorts of methods. They're not Starfleet's way. But asking the Klingons for pointers on how to run an ambush seems unlikely to yield any results."

"I don't think that's right," Spera replied. "We rarely ever saw the actual Iconians anyway - they have others, like the Heralds, working for them."

"So we'll need numbers and help with tactics," Tw'eak concluded. She turned back to Wren. "What's your idea?"

"If we could reach out to the Dominion, in the Gamma Quadrant, in one shape or another - let them know the stakes, talk the Founders into helping us-"

Tw'eak shook her head. "You'd have an easier time convincing the Undine. They don't want anything to do with us."

"I understand, but-"

"I think that's a last-chance desperation option. Besides which, it'd require re-negotiating the Treaty of Bajor, among a hundred other things. And history shows us that when you ask one conquering power to liberate you from another, yesterday's liberators become tomorrow's oppressor."

Varek arched an eyebrow. "I concur with the admiral. Involving the Dominion introduces an unpredictable element to a potentially catastrophic situation. To negotiate from them from a position of weakness would logically best be avoided."

"Understood." Wren tapped on her padd. "Just thought I'd put it out there."

"That's all right," Tw'eak replied, looking directly at Wren, intentionally mimicking her tone and words. "We like ideas." Wren smiled back at Tw'eak, who turned to T'uni. "How long until all this becomes official and we can get underway?"

"As of Stardate 99551."

Tw'eak did the math. "Good, then I still have a couple days." She looked at Spera. "Maybe we will have time for that trip to Andoria after all."

Spera smiled. "Oh, good." She looked around at the other faces in the room. "I've never been."

Tw'eak looked to T'uni, returning to the question she had first asked on the shuttle. "You're not going to tell me why, are you?"

"Why?"

"Don't be coy."

"I am not coy. I am a Vulcan."

"So you should tell me the truth. Isn't that how that goes?"

"Perhaps." T'uni seemed to be enjoying herself.

"So? Why me?"

T'uni considered for a moment. "I do not have a particular reason why I cannot tell you, such as an order against doing it."

"So you're just leaving me wondering why."

"On the contrary - I have a reason."

"Which is?"

T'uni looked down her nose at Tw'eak. "Entirely my own."

"Not logical." Tw'eak smacked the table. "See? I'm better at this Vulcan thing than you are."

"I see no reason to insult me, Admiral."

"Just tell me."

"I cannot."

Wren started to giggle. "Are you two always like this?"

"Only when there's something she won't tell me."

"I disagree, Admiral. You are always like this."

"Is that right?"

"I merely find myself unable to escape from your illogical mannerisms."

"My illogical-? You're the one who won't tell me!"

"Indeed. And so it shall remain."

Now it was Spera's turn to giggle. "This is crazy."

It was Varek's turn to speak. "I can assure you, Admiral, that your selection for the purposes of this assignment were within the parameters laid out by Starfleet."

"Finally, a Vulcan talking logically."

"It was a key requirement of Starfleet Intelligence's parameters to have an experienced flag officer who was of proficient and exemplary capability in ground combat and space-based operations. Given that the task force included multiple ships, this necessitated selection of a tactical officer of sufficient experience and acclaim. The command-related responsibilities further necessitated a rank higher than Captain."

"So that's the reason for the secrecy - we're not so much an escort as a covert-operations vessel."

"Indeed. Such a role is not typical for a Starfleet starship, and official approval for neither the establishment of Station Phoenix nor the construction of Task Force Silhouette was granted. In fact, it was not sought - intentionally. Starfleet Intelligence deemed such an extraordinary breach of protocol and regulations essential in order to both facilitate operations against the Iconians in the long-term and to gain valuable intelligence without arousing suspicion."

"From our enemies, or our allies?"

Varek leaned forward, quickly glancing at T'uni before responding. "Both, Admiral."

Tw'eak leaned back, satisfied. "All very interesting."

"I'm confused," Spera said after a moment. "We're building stealth vessels - I mean, relatively stealthy, you can't really hide anything in space, not even under cloak. And they're not even really Starfleet ships at all."

"On the contrary. The names and Starfleet registries of these ships are, in fact, legitimate. However, the records associated with those ships are in need of some correction. This vessel, for example, is listed as being an Oberth-class starship."

"And it's anything but," Tw'eak continued. "But we're building these vessels with the intention of conducting covert operations... anywhere?"

"As deemed necessary by the highest echelons of command at Starfleet Intelligence. Our efforts against both the Undine and Iconians may require us to operate in spaces where neither enemy nor ally can hinder our efforts. I was present when Admiral Chakotay issued the orders, and he used the Earth phrase, 'desperate times call for desperate measures'. Such a phrase is apt - the Federation's very survival may depend upon what this task force learns, and utilizes in order to strengthen our defenses. As a result, this ship has been designed, built, tested and readied for operations entirely under top-secret clearance. Once operational, its official mission will remain under top-secret clearance, as will whatever intelligence and analysis we are able to successfully complete."

"Which is why we don't go asking for permission, I get it. But we're collaborating with the Romulans, even the KDF - why not let them know we're here to co-operate with them?"

"Such co-operation assumes a rational response rather than one manipulated by the Undine, or the Iconians."

"Or the Orions, for that matter," Tw'eak added.

"Precisely. There are a series of irrational actors ranging from the self-interested and profit-minded to infiltrators and spies. We must be on our guard."

Wren adjusted herself in her chair. "Our way of putting it, in Intelligence, is that it's better to do what it takes to find out, and apologize for doing it, than to ask nicely... and never find out."

Spera looked right at Tw'eak. "But that's not - I mean-"

"Not how Starfleet usually operates," Tw'eak said, completing Spera's sentence. "Yeah."

"That's another reason we brought in the Admiral," Wren continued. "She fit the profile - a defender of the Federation's principles, someone who upholds the ideals upon which Starfleet is based... and yet isn't afraid to do what it takes to get the job done. We've uncovered two Syndicate conspiracies because of your efforts, Admiral - and you've thwarted the Undine at least twice that we know of. You'd be a natural fit in Intelligence if we had any need of a flag officer who can get things done. In this case, it just so happens we do."

"So that's why," Tw'eak said, turning to T'uni. The Vulcan said nothing. "You needed someone who would take the job instead of refuse on principle to serve your little Obsidian Order. But you also needed someone who wasn't going to turn out to be Garth of Izar or Khan Singh reborn."

T'uni remained silent, her hands crossed in her lap, looking off towards the galaxy map.

"That's it, isn't it."

Still T'uni remained placidly detached from the conversation.

"The only thing keeping us from becoming the new Tal Shiar and seeking the Iconians instead of fighting them... is me." Tw'eak upped the ante. "Tell me. Does the registry of this vessel have the number thirty-one in it at all?"

T'uni's eyebrow took on a familiar arch.

It was Varek who spoke. "I do not understand, Admiral. What relevance does the registry of this vessel have?"

"You know. Thirty-one. Prime number. An old... acquaintance of mine always loved that number."

Wren was no longer giggling.

"I don't suppose his ...section enters into this at all." Tw'eak was now leaning well forwards towards T'uni, her heart racing. For her part, Spera was leaning backwards, seated between the two as she was.

After a moment longer, T'uni spoke. "So predictable."

"Oh?"

"I felt your overall sense of self-satisfaction would be greatly augmented by the sense of having guessed it for yourself."

"So that's what it was. You were making it a game for me."

"Hardly."

"So tell me."

T'uni slowly turned her chair towards Tw'eak. "According to our simulations, given your known disillusionment with Starfleet rules and regulations-"

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "Harsh."

"-yet accurate. Starfleet Intelligence envisioned a greater than fifty percent chance that you would either resign your commission or seek to work more closely with Section 31 as a consequence of your court-martial's verdict, regardless of its outcome."

"I see."

"The arrival of Commander Spera complicated our calculations considerably."

"Sorry," Spera said meekly. "That happened in my timeline, too."

"I argued that requesting your secondment to Starfleet Intelligence was the most logical means of maintaining your commitment to Starfleet whilst simultaneously circumventing your future involvement in Section 31's operations."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "I have to admit, I'd thought about it. Not Section 31, I mean resigning. I have friends in the pirate flotilla. I'd often thought about leaving it all behind and joining them."

"Such an action would have proven cataclysmic - both for yourself, and for Starfleet."

"What makes you so sure?"

T'uni leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. "That was a leap of faith, rather than a certainty."

"Really. You. A leap of faith."

One of T'uni's eyelids half-opened, peering at Tw'eak. "You were not aware that Vulcans are spiritual people?"

"But why here? Why now?"

T'uni closed her eyes again. "It is our hope that your involvement will make the difference. More than that, it was my hope to spare you any further intervention from Section 31."

"Aside from the obvious, why's that?"

"Because, according to Starfleet Intelligence's most recent projections, there is an eighty-three percent probability that Section 31 has been infiltrated by agents of the Iconians."

Tw'eak looked from T'uni to Wren, whose face went ashen.

Varek spoke up. "That is not a certainty. However, it has informed our careful procurement processes with regards to crew complements. All personnel who have been selected for and assigned to Station Phoenix have been exhaustively vetted for any possible connections to foreign influence, whether Orion, Romulan, Undine, Iconian or otherwise. This includes the both of you."

"Which is more than we can say for Section 31," Wren added, looking meaningfully at Tw'eak. "This task force is the only organization in all of Starfleet that we can be one hundred percent sure about."

Tw'eak's face fell. She looked over to Spera, whose expression registered understanding, even sympathy. "You knew about this?"

"No, not at all - but it makes a lot of sense. You always taught me not to trust anyone - that there would always be an infiltrator or a saboteur or ...or something. So if I don't seem surprised, it's only because it makes me feel a lot better."

"Better?" Tw'eak snapped. "How can that possibly make you feel better?"

"It's what I'm used to, I guess? Besides, let's say they're right, that the Iconians do have people everywhere working for them. If there was some sort of... I don't know, corruption in the ranks of Starfleet and the Republic and everywhere else, then honestly? I feel better knowing it's their fault that this all happened. Those infiltrators, I mean. We never stood a chance, in my timeline, because they had already set the inevitable in motion. Now, this time? Maybe it's not inevitable anymore."

"But why not take the fight to them?"

"Again, it's a question of time," Wren responded. "And resources. We don't have enough of either. Even if we started now, even if we tear open every branch of Starfleet and seek to control every last response - the only thing we'll be doing is field-stripping our phaser rifle while the enemy has us in their sights."

"But if that rifle doesn't work... no, never mind, I see your point." Tw'eak let her mouth hang open for a moment, aghast. "So we are presuming that the devastation, the losses... those are certainties, not variables?"

"There's still plenty of time." Wren stopped for a moment, then added, "We have all the time we need, in fact."

Varek nodded. "That is true, in a metaphorical sense."

"You're talking time travel?"

"Indeed. This ship carries the capacity for the deployment of temporal shielding, as with most Federation starships. However, the possibility of doing so is, one might say, an hour's worth of work rather than a week's worth."

"Hours instead of weeks..." Tw'eak pondered. "So this is also an insurance policy in the time-travelling sense of the word?"

"Exactly." Wren looked to Spera. "We know from the documentation that was provided that Iconians have some sort of chroniton-related sensitivity - we're not sure on a scientific level what that means, but we do know that they succumb to a sort of madness if they shift in time. We've seen evidence that time travel can adversely affect Starfleet personnel, such as in temporal narcosis, as an example. But that's temporary. With the Iconians, it seems the imbalance is perfect."

"Does that mean they would be more susceptible to chroniton weapons, then?"

Wren looked to Varek. "I think you're missing my point. We're not looking at fighting them in the future. We can use ships like this to time travel into the past, stop the Iconians' agents, and alter the fight that comes in the future." She adjusted her short brown hair slightly. "It's a last-ditch measure, to be sure, but it's one that's available to us."

"Like a 'reset button'."

"Not exactly. We're not sure it'll be that precise. After all, changing one thing in time might introduce all sorts of uncertain outcomes which would be sure to follow. We just don't know. Starfleet Intelligence usually works within the confines of the present. We don't go back and mess around with the past to build a better future. At least, not usually."

Spera squirmed in her seat uncomfortably.

"But we may not have a choice," Wren continued. "Suppose by going back six months, even a year, and while under stealth, we can act against Iconian agents which we've discovered now to have been actively undermining the Federation all that time. We alter the future and improve our odds - and, most importantly, we know the Iconians can't alter that timeline to undo what we've done."

"Not on their own," Spera replied, "but they never act on their own. They could have temporal protection of another kind, realizing their weakness. Or they could send back their own agents."

"That may be the case," Varek acknowledged. "There are far too many variables in operation to be able to provide a certain opinion."

"That's true about just about every aspect of time-traveling, isn't it?" Tw'eak joked.

"Indeed."

Tw'eak nodded, ran a finger through her hair, and cleared her throat. "Alright - I think that'll be sufficient for today. Thank you for bringing all of this to my attention. If you don't mind, we should get in touch with Warspite, have my personal effects brought on board."

"That has already been arranged," T'uni noted.

"In that case, I'd like a few hours on Earth Spacedock to settle my outstanding affairs."

"You understand that discussing this mission - indeed, the very existence of this vessel, would endanger its mission?"

"Our lips are sealed," Tw'eak said, patting Spera on the arm.

"This would also be in effect for your Jem'Hadar escort."

"Pal doesn't talk to anyone but me as it is."

"Nevertheless, any encounters with enemy agents with telepathic abilities-"

"We can wear psionic inhibitors if you like."

"That will not be necessary - or, for that matter, particularly effective."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "Look, all I need to do is go back to Earth so I can tell my boyfriend that the wedding's off, okay?"

"Off?" Spera looked quite hurt.

"Yeah, for now. I'm sorry - I meant to tell you. I don't think it's a good time. I've been starting to think that it's not really the right time. It's just not a distraction I can afford right now. There's too much else that's demanding my full attention." She gestured to the many displays. "I mean, look at all of it."

"But - Shreya, what about me?"

"What about you?"

"You're not going to give me a chance to exist in this timeline if you don't marry Dad."

Wren's eyes went wide. "If this is meant to put me off that time-travel idea, mission accomplished."

Tw'eak looked up at Spera, suddenly embarrassed. "I hadn't thought of it that way. I was only thinking operationally. I'm sorry."

Spera's head lowered, her antennae angled sharply towards her lap. "No, it's okay - I understand. I shouldn't have said anything."

Tw'eak looked up at Wren. "Look, why don't we re-convene in... thirty-six hours, let's say?"

"Alright. I need to get home anyway. My daughter will be home from school by now."

Tw'eak's eyes sparkled. "You have a daughter?"

"Yes. She's six. Would you like to meet her?"

"Um... she's here?"

"Yeah. All of our families are."

Tw'eak gave a startled blink. The thought of families onboard a ship of this size suddenly made her stomach flop.

Wren explained. "It was the only way to be sure of their safety. My husband also works in our Intelligence section - he's one of our analysts."

"As is mine," T'uni added. "However, Commander Wren and I are the exceptions. Most of our families are aboard the intelligence cruiser Turing, the largest of the vessels you saw as we approached. The security of families was deemed necessary for the preservation of our efforts, and for security purposes, given your operation on Nimbus. Admittedly, it is... agreeable to have regular mealtimes and conversations with him in person. "

"I'm so glad my daughter never saw the inside of an Orion stasis pod," Wren continued. She smiled at Tw'eak. "For all of us, that's our worst nightmare - our children coming to harm because of us. Having them settled safely aboard the Turing settles a lot of us, like you wouldn't believe."

"But they'll be in harm's way - they'll be time-travelling, or fighting Iconians, or whatever."

Wren laughed. "We knew the risks. Besides, I can't leave her on Earth, knowing what might happen while we're away. And she's so happy... the chance to be here, sharing quarters with me, for the first time, means a lot to her. We'll not be having another chance like this anytime soon. I realize it's unusual, and probably against a thousand Starfleet regulations, but... Admiral?"

Tw'eak stared at Wren in a manner that made the intelligence officer uncomfortable, but it wasn't her - Tw'eak was, in fact, staring right through her. After a moment, she shook it off. "When you put it like that... I'd like to make a few personnel transfer requests of my own."

"I believe I have sufficiently anticipated your requests," T'uni acknowledged.

Tw'eak had just turned to face T'uni when the door opened to reveal Kit McQueen entering, followed closely behind by four other individuals, two of whom had antennae.

Kit stepped forward and positioned herself so that Tw'eak's view of the newcomers was nearly completely concealed. "Admiral. I'd like to present your ground combat team. They just arrived."

Kit moved aside to reveal two familiar faces - Thenirtalilini sh'Iltyrav, otherwise known as Lini, whom Tw'eak had met as a cadet during her talk at Starfleet Academy, and Tw'eak's younger sister, Dashichal. She stood up. "Dashii! Lini! Welcome aboard."

"Hello, Admiral," Lini said, bashfully. "It's been a while."

"Very happy to see you."

"She's put in a transfer request consistently for the past four months, seeking to serve with you. We finally found a spot for her."

"Yeah, ever since I graduated - I've never forgotten the help you gave me that day."

"Oh, I didn't do much, did I? But it'll probably be easier for us to correspond this way. Just glad you made it out of the Academy."

"Oh, me too! Fourth in my class, too!"

"Still with the same guy?"

"No, I'm afraid he... we graduated, and... you know how it is. He got assigned to the Aberdeen, and next thing you know, 'let's try to stay friends'."

"Typical," Dashii said with a huff.

"And you'd know!" Tw'eak said wryly.

"Don't you start. Lucky for you the Majestic didn't want me back."

"Lucky for me, or the Majestic?"

Dashii shook her head. "Don't, Twaiheak."

"Spera... come on over. This is Esperanza, my daughter."

"Hello," Spera said.

Both Dashii and Lini looked astonished. Lini spoke first. "You said 'daughter'..."

"It's really complicated," Spera said, relying upon her standard phrase, then added, "and probably won't happen anyway, now."

Dashii pointed from Tw'eak to Spera, back and forth."No, she's definitely- Wait a second, shi... I thought... you don't even have a bond group."

"She's half-human. That's how."

Lini's eyes widened, her antennae flared outwards and upwards. "Really!" Her face bore an enormous smile.

"Really," Dashii said with a more cynical tone.

Tw'eak looked past Dashii to see another face she knew, moving to the forefront. "Well," she heard in a familiar tone, "look who's all in one piece for once."

"Welcome aboard, Doc," Tw'eak said with a smile. She reached out and embraced her friend, then looked past her shoulder. "And Kim!" Tw'eak released Doc from the hug to face Doc's partner. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Tw'eak." Kim raised her chin slightly to look around the place. "It's a bit of a cut in responsibilities from my old post, and those quarters are a lot less comfortable, but I figured it'd be a good place to retire anyway."

"You're retiring? Now?"

"Well, officially," Doc said. "Unofficially, Starfleet Intelligence made her an offer - we're your bio-chemical-medical specialist section. And chief medical officer, too."

"That's incredible."

"Not really. Can't risk losing the business of my favourite customer, after all."

"And we've been looking for a project to work on together for a while now," Kim added, joking.

Doc smiled. "The end of the world seemed like a perfect place for us to start."

"Welcome, both of you." Tw'eak turned to T'uni. "Your doing?"

T'uni nodded her head slightly. "Indeed."

"So that's you, me, Lini, Dashii and... Pal on ground ops?"

"Or Commander Wren. She is appropriately qualified, and experienced."

Wren stepped into view, beaming. "I've got a pulsewave assault rifle you'd love."

"I bet." Tw'eak turned to see so many familiar faces all in one place. She looked back to T'uni. "What about the others?"

"Is this not sufficient?"

"Well, yes, but... I don't know, I've been doing this for so long, there are so many people I care about."

"Not all of them will be able to escape the Iconians."

"And being aboard this ship won't be any guarantee either," Doc added. "Which is why we're here."

"I know... still. Thank you, T'uni. And thank you all for not running away screaming when you were asked to join."

"We're with you, Admiral," Lini stated emphatically. "Right to the end."

"Absolutely," Kit McQueen affirmed. Several others nodded their heads.

"All right. In that case, let's... all get settled in and see to our areas of responsibility. Don't leave anything undone. We'll be clearing port tomorrow, at the captain's discretion."

"We're scheduled for departure at nineteen-forty-five," Kit said.

"Thirty-four hours," T'uni noted, "and sixteen minutes. That should hopefully give you sufficient time to settle your affairs on Earth Spacedock."

"Hope so. That's all, thank you all." Tw'eak looked around the room once more as her crew introduced themselves to each other and milled about together. Aside from Wren and Varek, these were all the faces of old friends and family. Tw'eak felt a serene comfort in the presence of so many - and in the knowledge that others, such as Denver O'Leary, were also aboard. She wondered about Aurora duBois and her sister, about Zolnaen Didaggo and Selkirk Rex on the flotilla, about her dear friend Octavia, now commanding the Warspite, about the Warspite and her crew as a whole... and her friend Birmal Dazz, the name of the starship she commanded presently forgotten in Tw'eak's memory. These were capable officers, men and women of integrity, fearless and inventive, an honourable, formidable company upon whom she knew she could, and would, rely. With this force of will, this capable crew, behind her... she almost felt regret for the deserved fate of any adversary who made the mistake of standing in their way.


	47. Part III, Chapter 12

There was quiet in the shuttle ride back to Earth that followed. Tw'eak watched on the viewer as the sight of the Silhouette and its companion ships docked at Station Phoenix became a blue incandescent blur, followed by the return of their holo-deception, giving the appearance of inky space punctuated with starlight in pin-pricks along its length. T'uni had remained onboard Station Phoenix, leaving Tw'eak and Spera to fly back to Earth Spacedock themselves - a task which Spera had taken to without being asked.

"I still don't understand why me," Tw'eak said a few moments after the impulse engines came to life, taking the shuttle to its maximum sublight speed.

"Why not? Should be obvious."

"What makes you say that?"

Spera didn't look up from the controls. "Your friend in the Intelligence branch needed someone who was good at this, and who she was totally certain was not working for the Iconians. And you're already friends with her. Easy."

"So she always had me in mind for this?"

"I'd guess so, yeah."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "That's a lot of effort for her to go to just for me."

"Oh, not just for you. There are lots of other people involved. You're available for the job... you always taught me not to believe in coincidences."

"I did? Good."

"Yeah. Still, you might be surprised."

There was a pause of some moments before Tw'eak continued. "So none of this happens in your timeline?"

"Not to my knowledge. I've never seen a ship like that one there before, if that's what you mean. I think I'd remember one that looked like that. Of all the ships you talked about serving on, a ship named Silhouette never came up." Spera leaned back slightly. "Let's see...there were the Enterprise, the Nelson for a long time, the Repulse, the Bonaventure, the Warspite, the Wichita... and then you left Starfleet."

"So what was the break in the timeline, then, I wonder?"

"I can't remember. But you did get court-martialled at least once that I know of, right around the time you got married. Then along I came, a few months after." Spera chuckled. "The hard way, of course. Our family doesn't do things any other way."

"I taught you that, too?"

"Yep."

Tw'eak snickered. "Good. Plus, I can verify that it's completely true."

There was another long pause before Spera glanced up at Tw'eak. "So you're going to take the posting, then?"

"Wasn't it obvious before we left?"

"Not to the commander. She has a cloaked shuttle following us."

"Really?"

"Yeah. This shuttle has a tachyon pulse system, works with micro-probes that it can generate and emit, then track for a short lifespan. They're clearly reading a shuttle about a kilometre behind us, flying right astern of us."

Tw'eak looked up at the tactical display. "That would explain why she was 'staying around'... so she could board the next shuttle."

"You're not surprised, are you?"

"No - and clearly you weren't, either, if you were looking for them."

"Hey, I was looking for anyone," Spera laughed. "I don't think they expected me to know how to find them. But I learned from the best."

Tw'eak nodded, contemplating. "Is it wrong of me that I don't think of myself that way?"

"What do you mean?"

"Those people around that table... they placed such a high level of trust in my abilities, they were looking to me to explain things, or help them to understand these things, so that I can be the admiral they need me to be. What if I'm not? What if I get it wrong?"

Spera smiled. "You used to do this all the time - question yourself like this, I mean. And the stakes were a lot higher. If you did get it wrong, we all died."

"What was that like? To live like that, I mean. I'm going to have to get used to it, by the sounds of this."

"Well, it was... it depended, really. There were long stretches of time, I can remember, when nothing would be wrong. Maintenance issues, personnel issues, just the little stuff. We'd just be floating out there, hiding our fleet in a nebula, or behind a neutron star, or some other place, and would be going about being who we were, everyday life as it was for us... but you hated that. You'd be so anxious, waiting for them to get the jump on us. So you'd insist we maintain readiness for weeks, even months sometimes. Everything needed to be done double, then started again. No amount of preparation was sufficient. If it was right, it had to be wrong - find out how. Keep people guessing, keep them on their toes..."

"They must have hated that."

"Oh, sure, but they knew better than to let their responsibilities slide. It was amazing to see how much of a difference that would make in the hard times, though - when the Iconians would show up, we would very, very rarely get caught out for long. It never went perfectly - there were always losses, casualties, captures... we got through it, mostly in one piece. We'd regroup, realize our losses. And we'd re-organize and start it all over again. " Spera looked up. "I told you before how the residence ship was called Warspite, right?"

"Yeah."

"All the ships in our fleet - the reason I could remember so many names of ships you'd served on... it was because our fleet had ships with the same names. Even an Enterprise."

"So the Warspite didn't survive? My friends on that ship... all lost?"

"I think so. You always talked of them like they were lost. There was a small chance we just got separated and never met up with them. Remember that we went deep into the Delta Quadrant, figured it'd get us far from the Iconians - and it did, somewhat. They still had agents there but we were able to avoid most of them, which meant they let us go our way and we left them to their own devices." Spera shook her head. "I shouldn't say that - we'd still get up to a bit of fighting with them every now and then, just to keep them from having total power over the entire galaxy. There were a lot of places along the way where we had an impact, however minor. I like to think so, anyway."

"Yeah."

Spera looked at Tw'eak for a moment, then back out the forward window, then to Tw'eak again. "You know, I'm the one who won't get to exist, and yet you make me feel like you've lost that much more."

Tw'eak gave Spera a curious glance, then considered it. "Not yet," she responded.

"Not yet?"

"I mean, it's the knowledge that all of this - Earth, Mars, Vulcan, Andoria, Bajor, wherever else... all the good that the Federation represents, all the hope and meaning that goes along with that name, the United Federation of Planets... it's all about to be scoured from the face of the galaxy."

"No, no, shreya... it's not."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because we've got you." Tw'eak scoffed, but Spera continued. "And because you've got me." This made Tw'eak reconsider the next words which she was about to say. Instead she chose to let her affection do the speaking, and put her arms around Spera.

After a moment of embracing, Tw'eak leaned back. "I'm sorry you'll never be born in this timeline."

"I wouldn't be so sure. You can clone me, I guess."

Tw'eak chuckled. "Yeah, don't need anyone else for that, do I?" She looked at Spera. "Would that make you your own big sister?"

"Let's try not to think about that..." Spera said with a sigh. "So you're really serious about not going through with it?"

"I don't think I can. The timing's off. Starting to wonder if the whole thing wasn't really meant to be."

"I don't know - I mean, you know more about these things than I do."

Tw'eak shook her head. "That's the fanciest way of calling somebody 'old' that I've ever heard."

"No, no, Shreya! I mean-"

"Stop it, I'm kidding."

"But I didn't mean it that way. I meant you know yourself better than anyone else does. If it doesn't feel right, then... you would know, right?"

"I'm not so sure. I think that's part of the problem. If it was a command decision, where there was a distinct outcome I wanted, or wanted to avoid, then it'd be easier. These sorts of things... it's more diplomacy than combat. Not even - I can handle diplomatic functions." Tw'eak shrugged. "Not all that different, really, just words instead of weapons. This is more than just... words. And I don't know that I can explain it any better."

"You don't have to. I was just... trying to help, I guess."

"Thanks." Tw'eak smiled at Spera, genuinely appreciative. "I'm glad you did."

* * *

By Earth Spacedock's time standard, it was late in the day by the time Tw'eak and Spera returned to their quarters aboard ship. To Tw'eak's surprise, Leo was no longer staying there.

"He left?" she said to Spera. "He left. I can't believe it."

"Why would he leave?"

"I don't understand. Is it possible - damn it." Tw'eak was so confused.

"Hang on," Spera said, looking into the side room. "He took his stuff, too."

"I know, I saw. Damn it, why?" "I'm not sure I understand."

"Don't expect me to be able to explain." Tw'eak tucked her head into her hands and sat down on the couch. "Why would he go?"

Spera continued looking around. "Maybe this might help." She found a padd on the table. "Yeah, it's definitely for you."

"Let me see it." Tw'eak took the padd into her hands, cradling it tenderly, and lowered it into her lap.

 _'I thought about it,'_ Tw'eak read, _'about a lot of things, actually. There's a freighter that was allocated to our use, and it's leaving for the flotilla. I'm going to be on it. Hopefully I can make the right kind of difference out there, like you do. But I realize it now. You're needed here, both you and Spera, in a way I'm notf. I want you to know that I'm not running away. Call it a tactical retreat. But it's because of you. You're beautiful, and capable, and everything I could ever desire. But I don't want to hold you down. We both have things to do, so I'm going to go do whatever needs doing, like I know you would. At least out there, I know I can be of some good - not as much as you'll be here, but I'll try. I hope you can understand. Leo.'_

Tw'eak read the note, then read it again. "Damn it," she whispered through her tears before launching the padd across the room. It ricocheted off of a lamp, which crashed to the ground, before it clattered to the floor.

"Shreya!" Spera moved to her mother's side. "What is it?"

"He left. Sorry, he 'tactically retreated', or something - damn it..." Tw'eak wiped her face. "I'm sorry. Maybe you should leave me be for a bit."

"I don't want to. Can I read it?"

"Didn't you already?"

"Just the first few lines - just enough to know it wasn't for me."

Tw'eak waved in the padd's direction. "Go ahead."

Spera crossed the room, picked up the padd, and read. "...'At least out there, I know I can be of some good - not as much as you'll be here, but I'll try'. That's... a noble sentiment. "

"Yeah." Tw'eak felt decades of emotional conditioning being suddenly reversed. She was angry - irrationally, omni-directionally angry. She wanted to break things. And not holodeck-produced things, either - she wanted to trash everything within reach.

"He says he still loves you."

"I really don't-" Tw'eak felt her teeth grit together. "-care."

"Shreya... look, I understand how you feel."

"How I feel? No. That's the problem - I don't feel anything." She made a flippant gesture, giggling slightly. "I don't care. I don't. I really don't. I can't feel anything. If the Undine and the Iconians and the Borg and... I don't know, whoever's next after them - they can... they can have this place, Spera. They can have it. I don't care anymore. About anything."

"That's not true- I know you better than that."

"No, no. I'm serious." Tw'eak stood up. "What good does he think he's going to do? Or that I'm going to do, exactly? Let 'em have it! All of it! I can't stop them anyway! Undine planet killers and Iconian conquest fleets and whatever else is out there - let them come! What's the point in pretending they won't?"

"There's no way you believe that." Spera was quietly indignant.

"I do. I've been fighting everyone for so long. I - look at me, what do I have to show for it?"

"It's not hopeless!" Spera stood up, rushing over to Tw'eak and taking her by the shoulders. "Don't you ever tell me it's hopeless! The hope I had, it was all because of you!"

"False hope," Tw'eak muttered.

"What?"

"All in your head. What you wanted to believe."

"NO!" Spera's eyes went wide with outrage, and she opened her hands, telekinetically thrusting Tw'eak against the nearest wall. Tw'eak collided at an awkward angle, striking her right side against the bulkhead. It was as though she had been shoved, hard, into the wall. She crumpled to the floor. Spera flexed herself into a slightly defensive posture. "I'm sorry," she added.

Tw'eak began to get back up. The impact had caused her head to jar slightly, and she shook it to steady her balance. "That all you've got?"

Spera moved backwards, away from Tw'eak. "Why would you say that?"

On her knees now, Tw'eak looked up and gave a fierce chuckle. "Just like your father - you going to tactically retreat, too?"

Spera stopped. "There's no way you want to do this."

Tw'eak stood up, still doubled over. The pain in her side was a fiery distraction that simply fed her rage."What the hell... no point in saving anything anymore."

"There's no point in destroying yourself, either! Shreya, you can't-"

"DON'T. Just don't."

"But- alright. Fine." Spera took a long look at her mother.

Tw'eak felt like she could barely move - it was as though her side had been hit with a blast of plasma.

"You're angry with me," Spera continued. "You think he left because I came back."

"Did your finely-honed Undine senses tell you that?"

"No, you did just now. It's in your every word, in your actions. I don't need to read your thoughts to see it. You're scared of me... threatened." Spera shook her head, looking down sadly. "This wasn't what I wanted to happen."

Tw'eak began to regain control of herself. She crumpled to the ground. The pain was too much, and she could no longer sustain her fury.

"It wasn't what you wanted to happen either. I know that." Tentatively, Spera took a step towards her mother. "I didn't come back like I did just because of you - I did it because it was what had to happen. But I can not do this without you, Shreya." She cautiously knelt down before her mother, holding her hands in her lap, where she knew they could be seen.

Tw'eak brought herself back up so that she was sitting on her folded legs. "Son of a bitch - didn't even give me a chance to say what I really thought of him."

"Yeah."

"I, uh... I never did do very well getting left behind."

"I know."

"So many people I knew have died. They were friends. Some of them, good friends. Even my family. My parents, my sisters and brothers... now Leo... pretty soon everything's going to change, and everyone else I care about is going to be dead - or wishing they were."

"We can stop that, though. We can change all of what's to come."

Tw'eak coughed, hard. "Uzaveh's name - next time put me through the wall, would you? It'd hurt less."

"I thought I did," Spera said, then laughed softly. "Didn't expect you to bounce off."

Before long, Tw'eak started to laugh as well. The two of them embraced softly.

After a moment, Tw'eak looked at Spera, her face sincere. "Yeah, you know."

"What?"

"Yeah, maybe I am scared of you... of what you represent." Tw'eak adjusted her hair. "You come from a future where everything is awful, where the Federation is gone, the galaxy is torn apart... yeah, that's terrifying. As bad as it is, though, we stay alive."

"Because of you, Shreya."

"Yeah, but... I don't know. It can't be all me - but why only once it's too late? Nothing I can do will contribute meaningfully to stopping them, only in keeping us hanging on for our lives forever... I suppose nobody really wants to hear that."

"I wouldn't either. But I guess I'm just... that's my normal."

"It shouldn't be - and if we CAN stop it... if there's a way, even a remote chance of a way... I want you to know, we're going for it."

"You don't need to tell me that," Spera said with a smile.

There was another pause between the two of them. Tw'eak felt incredibly foolish. "I'm sorry for what I said."

"Don't need to tell me that, either."

Tw'eak sighed and looked around. "These are far too nice for us, aren't they? These quarters, I mean."

"I think we should devote the time we have left to taking a little trip to Andoria."

"Really."

"Yeah. At least for a real cup of katheka." Spera looked at Tw'eak with understanding. "A good cup might cheer you up."

"Maybe a good cup of something a little stronger."

"Yeah, I bet." Spera looked around. "Tell you what... maybe not Andoria. You'd better lay down. I'll contact the quartermaster and see if there's any available." She went to the nearby console and began searching requisition lists, while Tw'eak hovered in place. "Shreya, seriously - lay down."

"Probably a good idea," Tw'eak responded, and pulled herself up into a seated position on the couch. After a moment, she swung her legs over and extended to take up its full length. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me," Spera said with a laugh. "I'm the reason you're there."

"Let's not do that again," Tw'eak said, closing her eyes with a wince.

* * *

Tw'eak was still laying down, having taken a brief and unexpected nap, when she heard the door chime. She looked around. Spera was nowhere to be seen. She got up, slowly, although the bruise that was very likely forming across her abdomen wasn't nearly as tender as it had been before. She'd deserved a wake-up call for losing her self-control with Spera as she had, but as she lurched towards the door, Tw'eak felt herself to be more than paid back for what she had said.

The door opened, revealing an unexpected sight. "What are you doing here?"

Aurora duBois stepped quickly into Tw'eak's quarters. "Close the door! I don't want her to know I left."

"Want who to know?"

"The captain." Aurora looked at Tw'eak. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just great - Why are you hiding from Octavia?"

"I'm glad you're here. I should explain. "

"Commander, you're absent without leave from your post, which is in the engine room, I might add? If Warspite has a core breach while you're standing here-"

"Don't say that! Sorry. Look, let's just... how are you?" Aurora sat down.

"I'm... I'm well, thanks."

"I heard you made Vice Admiral. And - and the court-martial thingy, too. That went okay?"

Tw'eak took an extra-long blink to try and settle herself. This was vintage Aurora, slipping from crisis to cordial in a matter of moments. Tw'eak sat on the opposite chair. "Yeah, eventually. It was pretty stressful."

"And you're getting married? I couldn't believe that when I heard."

"Neither could I."

"Oh, that was just a rumour, then."

Tw'eak considered her response. "No, it almost happened. Then my daughter arrived."

Aurora nodded. "Yeah, we were talking about that... so what does that mean?"

"I... haven't decided yet. My next assignment should be helpful in putting all of that together - not that I can talk about it."

"Starfleet Intelligence, right?"

"I can't answer that," Tw'eak replied flatly.

"That's pretty exciting. I wish I'd signed up when they asked me to."

Tw'eak blinked. "You were approached about joining?"

"Oh, yeah. Most of the senior staff of the Warspite were. Me, Octavia, Bianca - Doc actually went, and your sister, too. We were all asked to talk to T'uni about it."

"But you weren't supposed to talk to each other about it!"

"We only talked - look, we were having a little senior officer's party for Doc, and she told us where she was going, even though she shouldn't have. I've only told you she did. And I only drank synthehol all night so I know I only told you." Aurora paused, thinking for a moment. "Yeah. Just those three."

"Wait." Tw'eak leaned forward. "Bianca?"

"Yeah! You didn't hear? Connaught transferred to the Meitner. He's their new first officer." Aurora snorted. "I feel sorry for them. He was such an a-"

"Wait, they put Connaught on the Meitner?"

"I know, right?"

Tw'eak shook her head. A no-nonsense, humourless martinet with a penchant for detail as first officer - responsible for the crew rotation, efficiency reports, and morale - aboard a science vessel... She gritted her teeth at the notion. "Well, it's... not my task force anymore."

"Yeah. They haven't re-assigned Warspite but they probably will. But - God, that's why I came to see you!"

"Right. "

"Octavia's not herself. Like, she's nuts!"

"What do you mean?" Tw'eak leaned forward. "Remember that I'm not your commanding officer anymore - you should really probably be bringing this to Fleet Admiral Kells."

"I can't do that! She's my friend. I don't want to rat her out!"

"She's also your captain - and ...you're not seriously going to make me give a big speech about the captain's role on a ship, are you?"

Aurora waved a hand and made a sour face. "No, of course not. I've heard it. But this - I should start at the beginning. Over the past couple weeks we've been running efficiency tests."

"That's not unusual."

"Three times a week."

Tw'eak's eyes opened wide. "Really."

"Yeah. Weapons crews train twice a day, and we're in spacedock! People are having leave cancelled, or being reassigned to first aid training... the other day I had two science ensigns in my engine room running an emergency warp core shutdown drill - and nobody had notified me!"

"This is serious."

"I know - the one guy thought if he just pulled out the dilithium matrix the whole thing would shut down! That's why I jumped when you said what you did about the warp core breach - if Lieutenant Etallox hadn't stopped him, we might've had a problem!"

"So why not refer her to medical for an examination?"

"Because Doc just left the ship. We don't have a medical. I don't want that sort of decision made by a biochemist."

Tw'eak smiled. "The Vorta, right?"

"Yeah. I don't know what it is, but I just... I don't trust him. I keep expecting him to try and take over the ship, with about a billion Jem'Hadar behind him."

"Let him try. Pal would get him."

"I haven't seen Pal in... weeks, it feels like."

Tw'eak looked around the room. Spera would know exactly where he was, but Tw'eak had no idea. "Yeah, he does that. Still, we're hardly at war with the Dominion. The Jem'Hadar have their orders now, same as us."

Aurora smiled. "I suppose you're right. But the crew's really edgy. A lot of people are upset about this - and they come to me about it, and I don't know what to say. It's not really fair to us, to put us through all these changes and drills and things, when we're accustomed to the idea that being in port with no orders means getting off the ship to do things. I mean, Bianca and I haven't even been home to see Mom yet, we've both been so busy. I know she's got the whole science department to figure out, but she can leave Tlhosh in charge for a couple hours and come with me, can't she?"

Tw'eak raised a hand. "Let's go back to the part about going AWOL, shall we?"

"Yeah, that's another thing - she never leaves the bridge anymore. I don't even know when she regenerates. I think she might have... assimilated the command chair - I know that's a horrible thing to say, but I think she's wired it into letting her regenerate. I've noticed a much larger flow of energy through that station lately - that would partly account for it. If I could get a tricorder up to the bridge... or re-route internal sensors-"

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "I have a better idea."

"You do?"

"Yeah. But I'll need you to get a couple things for me."

"Like what?"

Tw'eak smiled. "Well, for one thing... katheka."

* * *

The transporter room of the Warspite was exactly as Tw'eak remembered. She stepped down off of the pad, next to Aurora. "I should contact the captain-" the transporter technician, Ensign Justin Rhee, said quickly.

"No, please don't."

"But we aren't following protocol for flag officers-"

"Ensign," Tw'eak said reassuringly. "This is an informal visit. I'm not here in my capacity as an admiral. I'm here to visit."

"Nevertheless - the rules are, if dignitaries are-"

"Ensign," Tw'eak interrupted again. "Never call me a dignitary ever again." Rhee looked up at Tw'eak. "Not on my homecoming, anyway."

"I'm sorry?"

"This is the first time I've been back to this ship in a while. Flag rank or not, I'm coming aboard."

"But that - that would-"

"Be a breach of the rules, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Tw'eak smiled, trying to be a calming presence. "Justin... it is Justin, right? Glad I remembered - listen, Justin. Rules make Starfleet work, but giving our officers the discretion to follow their instincts instead of blindly follow the rules... that's what makes Starfleet great."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Besides which, as I said, I'm here to pay a friendly surprise visit to the captain - in the company of this ship's executive officer. Take it easy. I'll be here and gone faster than you can muster a bosun's whistle to pipe me aboard."

Rhee smiled, his shoulders finally relaxing. "I get it."

"As you were, Ensign."

Rhee saluted, and Tw'eak returned the gesture, then headed down the corridor with Aurora following close behind. "I remember when I used to get that worked up about the rules," the first officer remarked.

"Yeah, I remember that, too. Do you remember that time, in Cargo Bay Two - you had raised a ...what was it, a localized confinement field or - some kind of protective field, anyway."

"It was a localized confinement field, yeah."

"Yeah."

"And then when I went to activate the cargo transporter, I walked right into it."

"You'd set the field too wide as a precautionary measure and couldn't beam the thing aboard." Tw'eak smiled as she reached the turbolift. "And you had a minor burn across your forehead when - I've told that story too often, haven't I?"

Aurora nodded, smirking. "I was just trying to do the right thing."

The turbolift opened. "You always do," Tw'eak responded, then said aloud, "Bridge."

* * *

When the turbolift arrived at the bridge, Tw'eak stayed back for a moment as Aurora went to her seat next to Octavia, who was seated in the command chair. She barely acknowledged Aurora's presence, her human eye seemingly half-open. Tw'eak took a few quick steps into a concealed section of the bridge, observing. She then stepped out into the open, then took a few further steps. From the tactical station, Oulius straightened up, but Tw'eak waved her hand downwards, indicating that he should play it cool.

Tw'eak went a little further along, standing now right in front of Octavia. Oulius, for his part, had gone right back to some sort of intensive process involving his console. Tw'eak saw Aurora shake her head and shrug, which led Tw'eak to wave her out of the seat. Aurora stood up, making room for Tw'eak, and as the admiral sat down, she walked over to a nearby engineering console.

A few taps later from Aurora, after a rather frantic series of notification sounds issued from Oulius' console in a confused jumble of cacophony, Aurora came back to Tw'eak's side. "It's another tactical simulation, but... I don't know why it isn't on the main viewer."

Tw'eak nodded. She looked down at the chair, the underside of which glowed green. To her surprise, as she did so, Octavia stood up, moving right past Aurora. She turned to face Oulius. "Centurion, your overall accuracy rating was eighty seven point five percent."

Oulius nodded. "That's alright, then."

"On the contrary. Had the simulated Elachi craft been successful in avoiding your aim, as predicted, their chances of success in abducting the colony would have stood at seventeen point two-five percent. These are unacceptable numbers."

"But you put us as the only ship in harm's way - we would never be able to stop a full Elachi armada without more support."

"Your present efficiency rating ensures that statement to be correct."

Oulius lowered his forehead, a sort of snarl crossing his features. Tw'eak watched as he gnashed his teeth, grunted out a sharply-toned, "Understood," before adding, "ma'am" swiftly after the fact, and returned to calculations at his station.

Tw'eak crossed her legs. "Hell of a way to spend your time in spacedock," she said placidly, looking towards the viewer.

This statement startled Octavia. "Admiral." Her eye darted about. "I was uninformed by either our shuttlebay staff or our transporter crews of your arrival. This is disconcerting."

"Surprises usually are. I was thinking about you, thought I might just... drop in. Besides, force of habit - element of surprise, and all that."

"I understand."

"Maybe we should talk," Tw'eak suggested, then added, "privately."

"Very well." Octavia turned to Aurora. "You have the bridge."

Aurora nodded, but Tw'eak stood up and placed a hand on Aurora's shoulder. "She's coming, too." She looked over at Oulius. "I'm sure you can handle things out here, now that the Elachi are defeated."

"Yes, ma'am," Oulius said, a trace of relief in his tone.

The interior of the Warspite's conference room was just as Tw'eak remembered - nondescript, just like probably thousands of others like it. A long table arched along the far bulkhead, numerous chairs on either side, beneath a series of six ovoid windows showing the interior of Earth Spacedock, busy work bees and shuttles making their ways along from one docked starship to another.

Octavia walked over to one of these windows and stood with her back to it. Tw'eak followed her, standing and looking out over the interior, while Aurora sat in her usual chair at the end of the table. "So how've you been?" Tw'eak began.

"All is proceeding within normal parameters. I was... apparently mistaken in my belief that your overall ship's rating could be improved upon. It would seem the crew is limited in their ability to exceed their present levels of efficiency."

"That's normal. They're sentient beings. They aren't perfect."

"I am puzzled by their decisions. They do not sufficiently seek to improve themselves."

"Maybe not in a tangible fashion, no. But they're burning out."

"I do not understand."

"I know. Happens when we're pushed beyond... let's call it a comfort level."

"But I do not require any such comfort level."

"I've been on Borg ships before. There was little comfort to be had. For one thing, the humidity level was ridiculously high."

Aurora chuckled. "It's true."

"Especially for an Andorian. I don't sweat that much on Vulcan."

"Nevertheless," Octavia resumed, "peak efficiency will be required imminently."

"In Spacedock? I don't think so."

"In our next assignment. While we are able to attain efficiency ratings that are on occasion in excess of ninety-five percent, our typical rating rests between ninety-three and ninety-four percent."

"Which is still damned good for any Starfleet crew. I've seen the reports - we were the best ship in the whole task force."

"If we attain a consistent efficiency rating in excess of ninety-five percent, then our next duty assignment may be-"

"May be exactly what Starfleet expects you to do. Whether it's exploring or patrolling or something else, that's what they'll expect."

"It will be insufficient should we be allocated to duty in combat."

"The Klingons aren't going to be comparing our ratings if it comes to that."

Octavia turned to Tw'eak. "The Klingons are not my primary concern."

"The Borg, then?"

"I have been reviewing the dossier which Commander T'uni provided me."

Tw'eak took a half-step back, looking down. "Ah."

"If we are to offer an effective defense against the Undine, or for that matter, the Iconians and their servitor races, then it is incumbent upon us to make every available improvement to those defenses well in advance."

"And efficiency ratings count as... defense, then?"

"Those ratings should represent a continuous improvement in our-"

Tw'eak raised a hand. "Hold on. And don't take this the wrong way, because believe me, I mean no disrespect. I'm not just saying this because it's you, but... you're approaching this the way the Borg would."

"It seemed appropriate. My time in the Collective showed me the value in continuously seeking to adapt defenses in order to continue to advance. That was our primary purpose."

"It's the primary purpose of most lifeforms - to survive. But in the face of a threat as complete and as destructive as the Iconians threaten to be, all of our strength and efficiency may prove to be... irrelevant."

Octavia thought about what Tw'eak had said for a moment, then nodded.

"Besides, it can't be good for the crew to be constantly pushing forward. Remember what I told you about consensus? You can push them to excel, but you can't force them to do it."

"I believe I understand. In my drive for peak efficiency, I have created a situation where I have reduced my crew's overall efficiency to sub-optimal standards."

"That's one way of looking at it."

"I should therefore resign my command."

Aurora stood up. "Don't do that!"

Tw'eak took a step towards Octavia. "I think you've misunderstood."

"I understand perfectly. I have undermined the crew morale and my own ...prestige as captain. Therefore, I must permit another to take my place."

"God, you're such a Borg sometimes," Aurora said.

"I don't think that would be good for the crew," Tw'eak continued, ignoring Aurora. "Too many changes at the top and they lose their connection to who's in charge. That's not a good thing."

"Nevertheless, Commander duBois is better equipped to understand the more... human dimensions of command than I am."

"That doesn't mean she's more generally qualified."

"And I'm NOT taking command from you," Aurora added. "That's final. Don't want it anyway."

"Message received," Tw'eak said to Aurora, before turning back to Octavia. "You really don't want to do this. As much as I appreciate the sentiment, it's neither the right thing to do or the right time to do it. Suppose I had resigned my command in the middle of recovering the Meitner. That situation wouldn't have happened if I'd done my job, but my resignation wouldn't have brought those people home - the survivors, anyway. I used what I knew how to do and we made it back, with a little help from the task force."

"I do not follow your parallel. Your command decisions had no bearing on the Meitner's command crew - their breaches of conduct were violations of Starfleet regulations rather than your authentic orders. By contrast, I have voluntarily jeopardized my crew's opinion of me."

"Having their respect is essential. They'll never love you - not the way love should be, anyway, and you don't want them fearing you or cowering in front of you. They trust you, and I think they understand why you're doing what you're doing."

"We just don't want to do it that much," Aurora said quickly.

"Exactly. Especially not when they're in spacedock."

"Thank you, Admiral." Octavia looked from Aurora to Tw'eak. "I consider myself fortunate to have the opportunity to rely upon the both of you in order to determine my next course of action. I will authorize immediate shore leave for a reasonable percentage of the crew, and discontinue the schedule of efficiency ratings and gunnery drills, until I can consult with Commander duBois regarding scheduling."

"You don't have to consult with me," Aurora replied. "You can just come and visit. My quarters are on deck two. I'm not saying you have to come and have dinner, just... come by sometime. Bianca might even be there. Say hello. We can talk outside of Deck One and the engine room, y'know."

"I will endeavour to 'just come by' at some point in the future. I... look forward to it." Octavia turned to Tw'eak. "It would appear that I still have much to learn about my current rank."

"You'll learn on the job," Tw'eak said with a smile, clasping Octavia's shoulder with her hand. "Just like I did."

The door to the conference room opened, and Bianca came in, followed closely by Spera. Both carried with them a silver tin.

"Good, you made it," Tw'eak affirmed as she stood up. She went over to Bianca and took one of the tins. "Now, we can start."

Octavia turned. "I do not understand."

"You can have whatever you'd like - tea, coffee, raktajino, something else. But this... this is too good to replicate."

Aurora smiled broadly and went over to her sister. "Glad you came."

"The department's all in order for now. My department." Bianca looked around the room. "Never thought I'd get the chance to say that."

"Please, come sit down." Tw'eak pulled out a chair on the far side of the table. "You too, Octavia - up at the head of the table. Captain's prerogative."

"I... courtesy would suggest that you should be seated there."

"No, no- your ship, your seat." Octavia hesitantly sat down as Tw'eak went over to the replicator. "Now, what can I get for everyone?"

"I still do not understand."

"We're having coffee," Aurora informed her captain. "Together."

"I do not wish to 'have coffee'. Borg do not require such sustenance."

"Just an empty cup and saucer, then - oh, and a spoon." Tw'eak said to the replicator before turning to Octavia. "It's a human phrase - 'having coffee' in this case doesn't mean actually having coffee, but being social together in a comfortable setting. 'Small talk', with drinks." She picked up the cup, saucer and spoon, and walked over to an empty chair, then sat down. "It's something I'd like for us to all do together, when we have the time."

"The challenges of the coming conflict, to say nothing of the war with the Klingons-"

Tw'eak raised her hand. "Please, stop. That's the last thing I want to hear about when we're all together like this. Anything else. Family, friends, relationships, happier times, things we're doing, things we're feeling."

Octavia tilted her head. "Surely those things will be impacted upon by the war."

"Of course they will. But I can see that my-" She looked over at Spera. "Our next assignment is going to be a non-stop strategy festival, with little chance to get out there and interact with people outside of the team. It'll be busy, and in the end, it may be vital to whatever follows. Add to that the difficulty of getting out to relax anyplace because of our sensitive clearances and the information we'll be getting, and, to be honest, it occurred to me that the occasional get-together around this table, with friends, might be just what we all need. So here we are - what do you think?"

"I think I'll have a cup of coffee," Aurora replied.

"Me too," Bianca added. "You remember how I like it?"

"Lots of milk, bit of sugar," Aurora said, getting up.

Tw'eak sat down and opened the tin of katheka. The smell was lovely - a sort of combination of spices, an unmistakable scent. She smiled broadly, watching her officers - her friends - and her daughter begin to interact. The duBois sisters started the chatter, and Tw'eak watched the group as they chatted and relaxed. With all the changes, and all that lay ahead, the opportunity to let their guard down, to be at ease for a few minutes, and to share feelings and intuition would be as important to her as any intelligence report or field observation. Satisfied with the quantity in her cup, she went back to the replicator to get water at the right temperature for the perfect cup of katheka.


	48. Part III, Chapter 13

The noise in the conference room was subdued, but pleasant. Tw'eak had just come to the bottom of her cup of katheka, and was listening to Bianca, who was discussing her issue with replicated milk.

"I don't know what it is," she continued, "but it never tastes right. I looked at it closer, did a full analysis the one time, comparing it to actual milk I brought from home-"

"Wait," Aurora interrupted. "Brought from home or beamed up from home?"

Bianca blinked and tilted her head slightly. "Good point. Transporters would affect the composition - I hadn't accounted for that. You're right, I should get some and bring it back via shuttle."

"I could help you," Spera offered. "We could take the shuttle and... I don't know, find a cow?"

Tw'eak smiled at Spera. "Don't give her ideas. She'll want to bring the cow back with her, milk and all."

"I didn't say that." Bianca smirked. "Although now that you mention it, that might be the most scientific way."

"Don't babies need milk?" Aurora asked. She looked from Tw'eak towards Spera. "I mean, I don't know - Andorians might not breastfeed."

"They do," Bianca said, then she looked towards Spera. "It must be hard for you to work around the temporal shift. You're not even- I mean, not even born yet at all? And you might have to babysit... yourself?"

Spera blinked slowly. "I hadn't thought of it like that." She glanced over briefly at Tw'eak. "I don't know."

Bianca looked down at her cup of coffee, her face slightly forlorn. "Sometimes I wonder if I'd want to be a mom, have a baby to bring around with me. Being the new chief science officer here would be a lot harder with a little one to look after. Not that I have to worry about it, I suppose."

"You couldn't bring a baby everywhere!" Aurora chided her sister. "You'd have to leave it in your quarters."

" 'It'?"

"You know what I mean - him or her or whatever."

"Some aunt you'll make!"

Octavia cut in. "I was sorry to hear that your wedding has been postponed."

"It's alright," Tw'eak noted. "Some of us just... well, I don't know what happened." She looked over at Spera. "It's complicated."

"Well, at least you didn't fall in love with an Orion sleeper agent." Aurora smacked herself on the forehead in jest. "God, that was dumb."

"Not particularly," Octavia noted. "Orions are noted for being capable of manipulating the emotional response of other humanoids - males and females alike."

"Yeah, but he tried to kill the captain. Admiral, I mean."

"Even I couldn't have seen that coming," Spera helpfully suggested.

"No, but you could've thrown him across the room with your brain. I mean, that is pretty cool."

"Yeah." Spera nodded, looking downwards, blushing. "I guess."

"You can't blame yourself for what happened with K'Vor," Tw'eak interjected.

"Yeah," Bianca added. "Blame K'Vor!"

Tw'eak laughed. "Exactly."

"I just feel dumb. I really liked him, y'know? Even if that was all part of his stupid plan." Aurora shook her head, then turned back towards her sister. "This really isn't a good time for people to have kids anyway." Catching her error, she then quickly turned to Spera. "I mean - you know, other than the Admiral. Who absolutely should." Aurora then looked to Tw'eak. "Unless you don't want to do that alone. I mean, by yourself. I mean-"

Bianca put a hand on her sister's arm. "Maybe you should just stop."

"Sorry, I just - I start saying things sometimes and then I keep saying them to try to fix the other - God, warp engines are a lot easier to fix than conversations."

"Fortunately, your expertise lies in one of those fields." Octavia gave Aurora a crooked smile, then added, "if not the other."

"Hey, I - did you just..." Aurora burst into laughter. "That was good!"

Bianca smiled appreciatively. "Yeah, well played."

Spera giggled, while Tw'eak gave a smirk. "You're right, though," Tw'eak said, continuing the conversation. "In Spera's timeline, we didn't have as much warning. There's a lot more that we know now, about what's coming. That seems to have been why Leo left, after all - it's what he said, anyway. Hopefully, there'll come a day when it is the right time. Maybe not. It's hard to tell. I'd imagine that, if all our parents looked at the way the universe was heading in their time, and made their decisions based on the times rather than on... whatever else... none of us would be here at all."

"That's so true," Aurora said. She turned to Bianca. "I wonder whether Mom and Dad thought about it at all."

Bianca simply stared back at her sister.

"What?"

Bianca took a deep breath before answering. "Would you really want to know what they were thinking about at that moment?"

"Why, did they tell you?"

Bianca merely closed her eyes in embarrassment. Spera burst into laughter. "Are they always like this, Shreya?"

"I don't know, I've only really had the chance to get to know one of them." Tw'eak looked to Bianca. "Is she always like this when you're around?"

"Only for as long as I've known her." Bianca flashed a bright smile at Tw'eak.

Tw'eak turned back to Spera. "There you have it. They're always like this."

"I still don't understand," Aurora said to her sister. "What'd they tell you?"

"Think about what they would've been doing at the time." Bianca let her sister wait for a moment before adding, "Never mind."

"But I thought-"

"All I know is the same thing they told you, that they had us because they love each other, and they love us." Bianca looked at the others. "They told us that all the time. Some day, my kids, I'm going to do the same thing."

"Oh, me too!" Aurora exclaimed. "Me too, for sure."

Spera gave Tw'eak a wistful look, one she tried to ignore. Before she could say anything, to address the obvious questions she knew Spera would have, Octavia spoke. "It is in moments like these that I wish I had a more thorough remembrance of my upbringing - as a human child, rather than as Borg."

"You don't remember anything?" Aurora asked. "No playing in the park, no boys at school?"

"Maybe girls at school," Bianca suggested. "You never know."

Octavia merely shook her head. "I receive only occasional recollections, typically as symbols or brief mental pictures. I am told the process is similar to a certain state of dreaming."

"When do you have these recollections?" Tw'eak asked.

"Typically just before the regeneration process starts, or at the moment of its discontinuation."

"Like a Borg dream state?" Bianca inquired.

"Not precisely. But perhaps."

"Maybe we could modify the signal you receive while regenerating in order to try to amplify the vision, if you wanted to explore it a bit," Aurora offered.

"I do not believe that would be a good idea. The regeneration sequence is not something that should be tampered with, as it is attuned very particularly to my own bio-feedback."

"The Borg thought of everything, huh." Tw'eak gave a half-smile.

"Indeed, such a process is essential to maintaining properly calibrated drones. And I should prefer to remain properly calibrated given the vital importance of the captain's prerogative."

"Being the captain doesn't mean being permanently fixated on the bridge."

"Nevertheless, Admiral, the Borg have given me the ability to so remain, at no detriment to myself. There I will stay."

"At detriment to the crew instead," Aurora whispered.

"I heard that."

"Maybe we could try something different," Spera said after a moment. "Your personnel file still exists - from before you were listed as missing in action."

"That is correct."

"So maybe we could... take Octavia home again? In the shuttle, I mean. And see if we can, I don't know, re-connect her to her old self."

"Maybe we could pick up some milk," Bianca added. "While we're out."

Octavia shook her head. "Such a process has already been attempted as part of my therapeutic re-assimiliation into Federation society."

"I don't think 'assimilation' is the word to use there," Bianca hinted.

"Perhaps not. However, the process of 'going home again' was unproductive the first time. I spent a week in Melbourne without any clinical progress being made. There was music, a visit to a school, a series of sporting events, but none of these methods were effective. Nevertheless, the overall course of therapy was successful in that ...I was able to rejoin the Federation collective, so to speak."

"But so much has changed since then," Spera said. "You're not the same individual - maybe it'd work this time."

"The intermittent neural activity during my transition into and out of regeneration is not sufficiently worrisome to warrant this level of inquiry. With the exception of my ocular enhancement, and the loss of my previous identity, I am otherwise thoroughly and efficiently calibrated, and to be absent from my post when preparedness is required would... not be my preference."

Bianca leaned forward, looking at Octavia's eyepiece. "I'm not sure if this is an appropriate question, but... why do you still have that, anyway? Surely you could have a bio-synthetic replacement by now."

The short green ocular implant, surrounded on all sides by a further adaptation like a raven's claw, turned slightly to look at Bianca as Octavia responded. "The overall configuration of the implant occupies a rather considerable portion of the optic lobe of my brain, and is directly configured to my brain stem. Doctor Ellington has maintained a constant watch upon its overall health and continued operation, and she concurs with the opinion of the majority of medical practitioners whom I have been associated with over the years: to remove the implant would create more problems than would be easily solved, possibly even my death. I must admit, however, that it does carry a certain... penalty on social occasions. It is an unpleasant reminder to others of what I once was."

"It doesn't make the slightest difference to us, one way or the other," Aurora offered as reassurance.

"I am perhaps fortunate in that whatever prejudice I have experienced or reactions I have caused are easily noted, considered, and understood - since I do not have the same level of emotional cognition and response as is usual for my species, I have not felt it to be a stigma in the way I know others, whose adaptations may be more visible or more irreversible have felt."

"And is that the only part of you that's still Borg?" Bianca asked.

"I was modified on a nano-molecular level, so I cannot say for certain. But this represents the only major component which remains from my assimilated self."

"You know, one of my first assignments, I worked on anti-Borg nano-molecular programs. I wonder if some of them might still be resident in your cerebral tissue. Maybe that's part of it." Bianca realized everyone in the room were staring at her, and she leaned back. "Sorry, I was being a science officer just then, wasn't I?"

Tw'eak sat up a bit in her chair. "It's been known to happen."

"Right, sorry."

"I think as long as we're on the subject... there really isn't anything about Octavia that we need to fix, or make better."

"Not my intention." Bianca shrugged. "Sorry if it seemed that way, I just... wondered, that's all."

Octavia tilted her head slightly. "Perhaps there is something to this assertion. However, it would be impractical to test. It would require me to abandon my post."

"And it'd mean I'd be in command," Aurora said. Realizing she'd been heard, her eyes darted from face to face. "Which would be fine. Really."

"Nothing to be afraid of," Tw'eak observed. "You can handle it, if the time comes."

"I just... I know this is going to sound terrible, but I like my engines so much better up close. I know how they work, I like how they sound... they're just... more fun than command. It's different when it's a landing party, I like those - they're a really nice break. But I like my everyday routine so much better."

Tw'eak nodded. "I really enjoyed being stationed in phaser control. Then I got used to being the tactical officer. I used to tell myself for years, I stay at this console. Then I'd get put in charge on occasion for a shift here or there, and I got to like it." She adjusted her tunic. "Not everyone does - not every officer prefers to be on the command track, necessarily." She looked to Octavia. "I know you didn't expect it to happen for you."

"Certainly not."

"But you're the captain now. Just when you get used to life being this way or that aboard a starship, everything changes all of a sudden and you have to get used to it all again. Some parts are really challenging to get used to, yeah, but... there are very, very few things in this universe that are as satisfying as being in that chair, when everything's worked out and everyone's safe again, knowing that you did your best - for everyone."

There was a brief moment of contemplation, as each of the officers present considered what Tw'eak had to say. Aurora grinned proudly, while the others looked off into the distance. "You always do that," Aurora said after a few moments, almost giddy in response.

"What?"

"You... you just... the things you say, they make me feel so proud."

"It's part of being in command. You have to convince people to go places they'd never want to - but never send them anywhere you wouldn't go yourself."

Another moment passed. Aurora chuckled to herself. "Are- like, do you have these written down or something? Maybe someone should write them down, you know?"

"I doubt the admiral is reciting her lines from memory."

Tw'eak nodded. "Thank you, Octavia."

"Her delivery and tone of voice bear no sign of pre-determined speech patterns."

"Exactly." Tw'eak pondered for a moment. "So what's going to happen to your roses now?"

Octavia tilted her head in surprise. "They are continuing their life cycle as planned."

"No, I mean, now that you've... what did you do to the command chair, exactly?"

Octavia turned to Tw'eak, her eyebrows knitted slightly, and stared at her for a beat. "I adapted it to my purposes."

"Assimilated it, more like," Aurora joked.

"I merely enhanced its functionality in keeping with my expectations. It will permit me to continue to issue orders and maintain all operative functions within combat-ready parameters, should eighty-seven percent of the ship become non-functional. It also permits me to organize the arboretum continually, with a greater degree of efficiency than I would be capable of independently. This season's roses should be substantially larger, and available in a far greater quantity of colours than before."

"Can we go back to the 'eighty-seven percent' part?" Aurora inquired. "Am I part of that, or the other thirteen percent?"

"Engines will have to remain functional in order to provide sufficient power. However, should the engine room become compromised, I will be able to retain command-level function to ninety-three percent of required function."

"Oh."

"I had considered proposing a similar control arrangement throughout the entire ship."

"You want to assimiliate the Warspite?"

"I take offense to your continued use of the word 'assimilate' - is it because I am Borg?"

"You were Borg," Tw'eak interrupted. "Not anymore. Now you're Octavia. I'd run some simulations before you go any further."

"Agreed."

Tw'eak turned to Aurora. "But try to understand the nature of these... adaptations before you throw out the work, just because it looks like Borg technology."

"But it is-"

"Well, yeah. Just because it's Borg doesn't make it wrong." Tw'eak looked to Spera. "You need another cup of coffee?"

"I'm alright. I was thinking about heading back to-" Spera stopped in her tracks. "Um, that place we go... for duty purposes."

"Earth Spacedock," Octavia inferred.

"Not exactly." She looked at Tw'eak, hoping her mother understood the veiled reference to Station Phoenix. "Sorry, I just... want to get a bit more settled in at our new place. If you know what I mean."

"Same here." Tw'eak stood up. "We'll be going, then. So, you all take care of yourselves until the next time I see you. Which will be soon."

Tw'eak and Spera stood up, and to Tw'eak's surprise, Aurora crossed the table and gave the admiral a hug. Tw'eak returned the embrace, although taken aback by it. "I am really gonna miss you, Admiral!"

"Oh!" Tw'eak squeezed Aurora a bit. "Me too - me too, Aurora. I wish you could all come with me, but... the whole setup is going to be different." She took Aurora's hand and reached out for Octavia's. "And besides, the three of us have come a long way since those days on the Bonaventure, haven't we?"

"Yeah," Aurora replied as Octavia nodded. "Miss those days, too."

Tw'eak released their hands and gave a nod to Bianca. "And you let me know if big sister gets up to any trouble."

"I'd suspect you know she will," Bianca replied.

Tw'eak looked over towards Aurora, and Octavia. "I think she's going to fit in really well, this new chief of science you've got."

"Of course," Octavia replied.

Tw'eak turned back and placed a hand across Spera's shoulders. "Come on, we've got a shuttle to catch."

"Wait a second," Spera said, a tin of katheka under her arm, closing up the second with her other hand. "Can't very well leave this stuff behind."

"No, nobody else here will drink it, I'd guess."

"I have, like, a shuttle full of these. Cost me sixteen bars of gold-pressed latinum." Spera winced. "And I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Hmm. Good deal." Tw'eak took one of the tins. "Anyone want some of this? Apparently we have a shuttle full." She looked to Bianca. "Even for science?"

"You go ahead," Aurora said quickly. "Enjoy."

"Sorry, Admiral," Bianca added, "Never did like the stuff."

Octavia merely nodded. "Your presence and this opportunity to be cordial have both been gratefully appreciated."

"First chance I get, we'll do this again." Tw'eak smiled warmly at each of the three Warspite officers. "Take care." She and Spera, each carrying a tin of katheka under their arm, reached the nearest turbolift and stepped inside. "Main shuttlebay," Tw'eak said aloud, then turned to Spera. "That was fun, wasn't it?"

* * *

The shuttle ride back to Mars occurred entirely at impulse speed, at Tw'eak's request. Spera programmed in the launch codes, and the shuttlecraft Hypatia lifted off from the Warspite's shuttlebay and followed a heading in the direction of Mars. "It's important," Tw'eak said after a moment, then cleared her throat. "It's important to do things like that."

"I know. It's why I got so much katheka." Six large crates sat three to a side, on either side of the shuttlecraft. Each contained more of the silver tins like the one Tw'eak had placed on the floor of the shuttle when she had sat down. She hadn't been kidding when she said she had a shuttle full.

"No, I mean... whatever happens, down the road, as long as there's enough of us to keep doing that, it's important. We can't lose sight of civility. We can't stop doing the things that we feel are most important for us to feel like we're still us."

"Shreya..." Spera smiled, then looked down."No, I suppose you don't realize it. But you've said that to me before. We used to sit and talk all the time - you would do the same thing with all the senior officers, across all the ships, at least once every few months. Sometimes we'd get to talking about life and family and stuff, but every now and then we'd have it out over some issue or another. And you always insisted, no matter what, that we sort out the issues that faced us together - no imposed solutions, best fit for everyone. Sometimes that meant we'd be right back there again a short time later, but sometimes those moments would happen where someone would come up with an idea, then that idea would develop as someone else thought of something, and it grew and grew until we had a solution. It was how we came up with the scrambler field."

"What's that?"

"We had a problem, the first few years. The Iconians could find us if they wanted to - they have a whole bunch of other races that work for them so that if they can't necessarily get to us, others can. One of these races would steal people out of their beds at night, experiment on them, even plant suggestions or program them to act a certain way. We lost a ship to one when their chief engineer vented the plasma coolant internally."

"Uzaveh's name."

"Yeah, those that didn't die in the plasma, died when the warp core went up a few minutes later. There was nothing we could do but beam out survivors from a safe distance. It was horrible. We lost a lot of good people. He killed himself because he couldn't handle it, we found out later - they'd been taking him every night for months. But one of the survivors from that ship had an idea - these abductions only happened when our ships were spacetime-normal, under impulse or thrusters. So we modified a ship's warp field to create a phase-shift scrambler zone, a sort of weakened warp field thrown out in all directions to blind them to our precise whereabouts and make it impossible to gain access to our ships. We saved a lot of people that way."

"But there must have been some further losses in the meantime."

"Oh, we wanted it to be safe. We tested it out on a few ships at first, and there were no ill effects that we could tell. People on the other ships took to sleeping in groups or under guard just so we didn't lose anyone else. Nobody slept well like that, so it meant more sleep-deprived crew, and those who were supposed to sleep often couldn't. Once we had four or five of these ships all generating fields, you ordered basically the whole fleet to take the day off and sleep, in their own bed, safe at last. Now that was a happy day!"

"We didn't lose anyone else that way?"

"Well, it was kind of risky, generating a permanent warp field like that. We couldn't jump to emergency warp as quickly if we had a scrambler field up - and if we stayed at warp for long, we'd be vulnerable again. Somebody realized that we had all these shuttles around, so we altered their warp field emitters to serve as permanent scrambler emitters. We'd be flying around with shuttles bolted nacelles-out onto our hulls, configured to run exactly like that." Spera laughed. "It made 'scrambler duty' pretty popular, even if you were upside-down for hours!"

Tw'eak smiled and leaned forwards. "These are the kinds of experiences I find so interesting to hear about. The problems we'll encounter, the ways we'll find to solve them..."

"We don't have to solve them again. A lot of the information I know is already part of this shuttle's database."

"I know... I just really enjoy hearing them from you."

Spera looked down, blushing slightly. "It's about the only thing I have that I can give back."

Tw'eak considered carefully, looking for the right words to say. "Look, what they were talking about back there..."

"You don't have to-"

"No, let me finish. I think this is important. I don't really know if there's a precedent for this situation, and we know how much of a mess time travel can be."

"That's - sorry, I was going to tell another one there..."

"Go ahead."

"Well... what you said, about time travel. This one time, there was this guy, I think he was a second officer or something. Anyway, he insisted that the only way to defeat the Iconians was, essentially, go back in time with everyone."

"Everyone?"

Spera nodded. "All the ships, one big slingshot around, and we'd end up in the past. But you said no."

"I did?"

"Yeah. We didn't understand then that Iconians can't really handle time travel. Something to do with chronitons or whatever - I don't know."

"I think we talked about this before."

"It's always chronitons." Spera shook her head. "So much time travel. Anyway, they can't do it - because they can't, I don't know why. So this idea came up, send us all back, maybe even to our own timeline, we might be able to stop them."

"That's what you did."

"Yeah, but this group was saying 'all of us' instead."

"We didn't go for it?"

"No, one of the senior officers was a temporal mechanics specialist - said that with that many ships going back by that method, there was zero assurance we'd all go back to the expected point in time. To say nothing of the ships whose structural integrity wasn't good enough to survive the journey back. There was no good way to do it for all of us. So we didn't."

"I don't think I'd want to follow that plan anyway. If we can't actually stop them in this timeline, I don't really want to go back. Probably won't improve our chances either way. Besides, it'd mean giving up. It's not like we could come back forward from the past to fight them in the future. And it sounds like we already made huge concessions of space to them... would hurt to have to give up our timeline as well."

Spera laughed. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

"What?"

"You made pretty much the exact same argument at the time. And you know what? It was persuasive then, too."

Tw'eak smiled at Spera. After a few moments, her smile faded. "So why did you, then?"

"Why did I what?"

"You must have traveled back in time with a specific purpose. Other than everything that's already happened, I mean."

Spera grimaced. "I... I feel like we've already gone over this."

"Maybe we have. But I don't understand why, if it's no good for everyone, it's alright for you."

"No temporal scatter if it's just me. Besides, I have a specific mission. I'm doing that right now."

"No, I know that. But you could've sent the shuttle back by itself - or could've found some other way to give me those messages."

"Those messages weren't going to be persuasive on their own. Look, admit it, if I hadn't come along with them, you would've dismissed them as fakes."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Or you would've had them sent for analysis - and analysis takes time. What needs to be done, they should've started doing years ago."

"So why not come back years ago?" Tw'eak leaned on the armrest.

"You weren't ready. That's what you said. Interrupting that trip to the Gamma Quadrant was your idea. I don't know if you had a second agenda, breaking off the wedding to Dad that way, or what, but here I am."

"So all this... with this task force, this... this didn't happen in your time."

"Nope. I didn't know anyone on that ship, except for Zhayra Dashii." Spera thought for a moment. "Yeah. None of the others are familiar. The names or the general idea of who they are, but not personally."

"So who do you remember, then?"

"I don't know, there are so many. The only constants are family, really. Zhayra Sassil, for instance." Spera's tone became oddly flat.

"You two don't get along. Right."

"It's more than that. She's - she will be? No, I guess she is still-"

"Just stick with the present, since she's apparently still alive."

"Right." Spera nodded. "She's so Klingon now."

"What do you mean?"

"She thinks she's learned the meaning of honour. She's used to people challenging her authority and getting their face full of ushaan-tor blade as a result. The two of you argue constantly - and you always say, it's good for us to disagree as long as we work together, but... I know she doesn't always carry out your orders."

"And now that she's taken command, since I'm dead..."

"Exactly. I'm almost certain the fleet will split as a result." Spera shifted in her seat. "You had this way about you - like what Aurora said before. You could talk to anyone and understand their point of view, or at least make them feel like they're understood. You always told me, that was the most important thing for me to learn."

"I did?"

"Yeah. 'The most important weapon for you to learn to use is authority.' "

"-'because it's also the most dangerous.' "

"Yeah. 'You can hurt yourself using it as much as anyone else.' That's it."

Tw'eak smiled. "Not one of my sayings, that's why I remember it."

"Who did, then?"

"I never told you?"

"No."

"That was one of my thavan's favourite sayings. Authority was a delicate subject for him - I think that's why he joined the Marines." Tw'eak sat back, looking off into the distance. "He was your father's commanding officer, you know."

"Yeah, I know. He was always pretty proud of that, you told me."

"Yeah." Tw'eak continued to stare outwards at the stars as they passed. "He's a good man." She furrowed her brow. "I mean, I know that. I know he is. He's got certain wonderful qualities..."

Spera leaned forward. "Shreya? Are you okay?"

Tw'eak brought herself out of her trance. "Sorry, I was trying to talk myself into... out of something, maybe. I don't know."

"Well, if it's having a daughter with him, please don't jump into anything on my account."

"I'm surprised to hear you say that."

"No, really, Shreya. Your science officer friend got me thinking about it. The timeline and everything... I really don't care if this is how it goes. I don't even want to go back. You're not there. That timeline ends the minute I arrive and find you - just like your old one changed the moment I showed up. We're in a new set of events now. One we can control, one where we get to change those outcomes along the way."

"Unless we can't."

"Which do you think is more likely?" Spera said with a smile.

Tw'eak smiled right back. "Point taken."

* * *

Once the shuttle had reached the Silhouette, Tw'eak stepped out of the shuttle and found Kit McQueen waiting for her.

"Captain," she said, acknowledging Kit.

"Admiral." Kit looked past Tw'eak into the shuttlebay. "Cargo?"

"Important cargo. Put it someplace safe."

"Very well." Kit waved over one of the lieutenants in the shuttlebay. "Cargo transfer."

"Yes, ma'am," the lieutenant replied, and went off towards a grav-sled sitting neaby.

Kit looked back towards Tw'eak, nodding at Spera, who stood by her mother's side and smiled amicably. "I've assembled the captains of the task force in the war room," Kit said after a moment.

"Good. I wanted to meet with them before we got underway. How... how big a task force are we talking about?"

"Nine starships in total."

"Nine? Well."

"Most of them are the same class as this one. I - you know what, Commander Varek can probably explain it better than I can."

The three officers walked towards the nearest turbolift, at the end of a short corridor. "I'd just as soon hear it from you."

"Our role is to gather intelligence. To do that, we need to utilize a number of ships in specific tasks - but under cloak as much as possible, even within Federation space."

Tw'eak pressed the button to call for a turbolift. "So this is to be a shadow force, then."

"That's part of the fun of intelligence work, right?" Kit chuckled. "Six of the ships are Phantom-class starships like this one, and only five of them will be on assignment. The other four starships will form the heart of the task force. If they're needed, they'll be called for - and then go."

"Why would that happen?" The turbolift door opened, and the three officers stepped inside.

"Each one has its own specialization. Two are Scryer class vessels, both equipped as science vessels but organized to support intelligence gathering. USS Partisan is our Eclipse-class starship, it'll house a lot of the intel teams and serve as a sort of control point for everything."

"Yet this is my flagship. Why?"

Kit smiled. "Intelligence analyzed your leadership style and determined you're most comfortable when you're leading from the front. They figured it was a simpler step to use one of the Phantoms as your flagship."

"You'd probably spend most of your time over here anyway," Spera added. "It makes sense."

"That was pretty much the idea, yes." The turbolift door opened, and Kit led Tw'eak towards the door to the war room. "It's also the reason we have this onboard."

"So this 'war room' isn't standard equipment for the class."

"No, this would have otherwise been crew quarters for... sixteen officers, I think?"

"So we're short-handed."

"Not at all. We just have slightly less cargo capacity. Onboard a ship this size, space will always be at a premium. It's just the way it is." Kit gestured towards the door to the war room. "Are you ready to meet the captains?"

Tw'eak looked at the closed door, then to Spera, and took a deep breath. "I am."

* * *

After a brief discussion of their role by Commander Wren, followed by a short intelligence briefing by Commander Varek, all eyes were on Tw'eak. She looked around the table - while specific introductions hadn't yet been made, her audience consisted of six escort captains, two science captains, and a host of analysts who had accompanied their captains. All were seated or standing around the table, in addition to Varek and Wren, Captain McQueen, and Spera.

"Now that you've had a chance to hear what we're up against," Tw'eak began, "let's review a few other things, for the record. I'm not going to belabour the point with a lot of doom-saying nonsense. And there's a reason for that. None of it's true. There's an old saying, well-known on Andoria, and I see some of you are from Andoria, but I'm sure the rest of you know a similar saying or two - tell yourself the ice will break, and you'll never make it across." Several of the captains around the table nodded. One, a Vulcan, closed his eyes, which caught Tw'eak's attention only because she happened to be looking straight at him.

"There are many reasons not to do what we're in the process of doing. It's risky, there's no guarantee it'll work, it's a huge amount of energy to put into what might be a hopeless cause, whatever else. Those arguments have been advanced to keep people from many races across the Federation from doing things before, in far less perilous circumstances than the ones which are ours. Yes, there will be risks - and casualties, as well. I'm not going to lie to you on that point. They may be casualties among the innocent. They may be casualties we bear a direct hand in causing, among those innocents. They may include each and every one of us by the time it's over. But so long as our aim is true and our principles upheld, we cannot falter. We're here, being asked to do this, for the sake of not just the Federation but pretty much the entire galaxy. The stakes are the highest we've ever known, and, if it comes to it, yourselves and your entire crews are to be considered expendable if for the greater good. The needs of the galaxy outweigh the needs of any one of us or our crews. I realize that, for those of you with Starfleet backgrounds, that's pretty much standard operating procedure. But there will be losses. I wish I could tell you otherwise.

"That being said, I still expect each and every one of you to conduct your commands and utilize your personal authority as captain for the greater good of all. Don't give into whatever perceived hopelessness you might take from what you encounter. We might not be officially under Starfleet Command's direct authority, but that doesn't mean we can give way to dalliances or tyrannies in our commands. Whatever happens, we need crews that are ready, that are confident, and most importantly, that are fully committed to our best destiny. They will take their readiness, their confidence, their inspiration, from each and every one of you. Get to know your crews. Get them comfortable with what they're being asked to do, as uncomfortable as it may be for all of us. And most importantly... be the inspiration they need. Be the kind of officer they want to be. Expect great things from them. Let them know you do. And don't let them down."

Tw'eak took a look around the table. "Any questions?"


	49. Part III, Chapter 14

The meeting concluded, Tw'eak had been given a brief opportunity to mingle with her captains and get to know them a bit. Captain Glav of the Scryer-class Polaris had offered apologies and made a hasty exit, a bit unusually for a Tellarite, who tended to be the first to offer ideas in the hopes of arguing their merits. So also had Captain Nomi Drot, the Bolian commander of the intelligence escort Swiftsure, although she had a legitimate reason: she had yet to be shown aboard her command. The other captains, however, lingered about, waiting their turn to be introduced. Kit McQueen moved aside to allow a tall Andorian to pass through. He extended his hand to Tw'eak.

"Captain Issem Th'sazik. Scorpion."

"A pleasure, Captain." Tw'eak shook his hand as offered.

"It's an honour to serve with you," Th'sazik continued. "I've been an admirer of yours ever since I read about what happened on Nimbus."

"Thanks," Tw'eak replied. "Was awful work."

"Still, I'm glad there's an admiral left who's not afraid to get things done."

"Couldn't agree more," said another Andorian captain, Thylan Zh'damui of the escort named USS Salamander. While clearly Andorian, her skin tone was a much deeper blue than either Tw'eak's or Th'sazik's. "I'm every bit as honoured to serve with you, ma'am."

"Thanks." Tw'eak looked from Th'sazik to Zh'damui. "Are you both from the homeworld?"

"Yeah," Zh'damui replied, "I'm a capital kid. Grew up right in the middle of Laikan."

"Nice. I'm originally from Lai'bok myself."

"So you're practically neighbours," Th'sazik interjected.

Tw'eak laughed. "Don't let anyone from Lai'bok hear you talk like that." She looked at Zh'damui and shrugged. "Never really understood that, myself."

"I wouldn't know. I grew up on starships, mostly. My bond mates tell me I'm more Bolian than Andorian."

"I've known a few Bolians in my time," Tw'eak said, thinking fondly of Birmal Dazz, whom she had regretted not seeing among the crowd. "You'd be in good company if it were true." She nodded politely. "Excuse me." Stepping past Zh'damui, she smiled at another group of her captains, one a slender Rigelian, another a rather curvy female Betazoid with hair so fine and light in colour she might have passed for Andorian at certain angles, and a third a greenish-pale, dark-haired Vulcan male. "Hello."

The Vulcan was the first to speak, bowing slightly. "The honour is ours, Admiral."

Tw'eak turned to face him. "Captain Tinel, I presume. A pleasure to meet you." Tw'eak offered a bow of her own towards Tinel, captain of the escort Skarbek, but was suddenly self-conscious of her thoughts in the presence of the Betazoid. This was Captain Nazza of the Scryer-class Partisan, her dark eyes seemingly bearing down on Tw'eak.

"It's all right, Admiral, no need to be nervous," the Betazoid said. "I couldn't help but notice your anxiety. You're not used to having telepaths around."

"Not exactly. I know from part of a youth spent on Vulcan just how much information I can volunteer without knowing I have." Tw'eak tapped her forehead. "It's an Andorian thing, I'm told."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I always keep my mind to myself."

"I appreciate that. Wish I could." Tw'eak smiled and looked up at the third captain. "Captain Piminagirod."

"Please, just call me Pim." The Rigelian captain of the escort Spirit shook Tw'eak's hand. "It's far, far less complicated that way."

"I'm glad to have you all along." Tw'eak ushered Kit towards the group in a sort of huddle. "I'm looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish together. As I said before, any concerns, any ideas, any suggestions... I'm always willing to listen. I can't make any promises, but it's my hope that we can work to achieve just what Starfleet hopes we can... together."

The captains nodded appreciatively. "Certainly hope so," Tw'eak could hear Thylan Zh'damui say softly.

"Alright. I'll let you all get back to your respective commands. We'll rendez-vous, under cloak, of course, in the Acamar system in... what did we say, Kit?"

"Thirty-six hours, ma'am," McQueen replied.

"There you have it. I'll review orders and assign tasks at that point. Dismissed."

The captains drifted away, and across the war room, Tw'eak could see Commander Wren having a similar discussion with the intelligence officers assigned to the respective escorts and other ships. She also noted, towards the door, that Spera was having a conversation with one of the captains, a youthful-looking human with thick, straight brown hair and a winning smile, which he wore frequently. She waited a few moments, then stepped over to where Kit McQueen was standing, and said, "I should go over, shouldn't I."

"I wouldn't," Kit replied, turning to face away and leaning against the table.

"But I should."

"Don't you think that'd be a little weird?"

"What do you mean?"

Kit leaned over to her admiral. "You're talking to this cute guy, he's got his own starship, he keeps smiling at you like that" - just then, he smiled again - "exactly like that... and then bam, in walks your mom and makes the whole thing awkward."

"In walks-?" "Like I said, I wouldn't." "I hadn't thought of it like that." Tw'eak adjusted her uniform tunic. "I'm so new at this 'mom' thing." "Yeah, I can understand that." Tw'eak turned away, joining Kit in leaning against the table. "Do you have any children?"

"No, I'm not even married. I've been a daughter, though."

Tw'eak nodded, coming to a conclusion. "That's part of the problem. I have been, too, but the way I was raised? That's not the way I raise her, clearly."

"Exactly. She'll be ...not exactly Andorian."

"She would've been bonded already if she were."

Kit's eyes opened wide. "Seriously."

"Yeah. She and her three bond mates would already be-"

"Wait, three? No, sorry, I knew that." Kit shook her head. "Sorry, Admiral, I just... Don't get me wrong, I get it."

"Andorians, I know." Tw'eak sighed. "Is that really what I'm doing? Being a mom?"

"I don't know. Depends. Were you going to go over to introduce yourself to him, or to find out what they were talking about?"

Tw'eak thought for a moment, hand to her mouth, then bit a knuckle. "Damn it."

"Total mom move," Kit said with a laugh.

"Alright, but seriously." Tw'eak tossed a look over her shoulder. "That's-?"

"Captain Lee Chu-Young, captain of the Turing."

"He is? Is he old enough?"

"We have younger captains in Starfleet. I was one, actually."

Tw'eak smiled. "Wow. He looks like he's Spera's age."

"He's probably got... ten years on her?"

"Ten years?"

Kit nodded. "Yeah. Look, if you want to go over, then okay, but seriously."

"No, you're right, I'll leave it."

"Probably for the best."

"Yeah."

Kit waited a moment longer, taking a quick glance at the pair. "Then again, there might be a change of plans."

"Are you trying to provoke me into going over?"

"Nope." Kit stood up and turned. "Hello."

Tw'eak looked up to see Spera and Captain Lee approaching. "I apologize for the delay in my arrival," Lee offered, his hands outstretched. "Captain Lee Chu-Young, of the starship Turing."

Tw'eak extended her hand and shook Lee's. "Pleased to meet you." She fought the urge to glare at Kit, instead just giving her a quick look. "We were just talking about - this ship. So new."

"That was what I was hoping to discuss with you," Lee said. "My ship, the Turing, has not yet had its warp engines fully calibrated. Thus, my delay."

Tw'eak looked at Spera. "Is that what you were talking about?"

"No, your daughter was just telling me that-"

"I recognized him," Spera said with a smile. "From my time."

"I was just saying to her how happy I am to hear that I will apparently survive whatever comes next. It should be my hope, of course, to find myself in such honoured company as this after the world ends."

Tw'eak's attitude towards Lee shifted from irritated to charmed so quickly she felt herself flush with embarrassment. Her antennae started to incline slightly and she felt the urge to grab them and hold them in place. She decided to shift towards the business at hand. "Will your engineers have time enough to complete the calibrations before we clear spacedock?"

Lee shrugged. "I am not sure. You know how engineers can be - very thorough. I myself spent much of my earlier service in operations, so I am well acquainted with their tendencies to work miracles when required."

Tw'eak smiled, acknowledging her familiarity. "I think they major in miracles at the Academy, myself."

"Ha! Precisely. But I fear I can not offer you any assurances that my ship will be available to provide logistical support as required."

"Logistical support?"

Kit explained. "The Turing is our Eclipse-class starship, sort of a 'mothership', if you will. It'll co-ordinate the escorts' efforts in gathering intelligence and house most of the analysis section. We'll have a number of our own experts on board, notably Commander Spera, but all of our efforts will depend upon the Turing."

"I must add, I feel so privileged to be part of your task force. It truly is an honour to be entrusted with such a starship as I have been."

Tw'eak smiled. "I know exactly how you feel. It's an honour for me to be given this opportunity. Hopefully we make the right kind of difference."

"I agree completely." Lee smiled. "I will return to my ship. With any luck, those engineers of mine will have results in sight, if not in hand."

Tw'eak shook Lee's hand. "If not, signal me and we'll wait."

"Thank you, Admiral."

Lee turned to Spera. "And thank you for the excellent news." He made his way to the door, a newfound spring seemingly in his step.

Tw'eak waited a moment, then both she and Kit closed the distance towards Spera. "What 'excellent news', exactly?"

"Oh, God, Shreya..." Spera giggled. "I just - temporal paradox, I suppose. I just told him his wife's expecting again. Or may be."

"You did?"

Kit pointed a confused finger back and forth. "And... your telepathic sense told you that?"

"No. That's what I meant by 'temporal paradox'." Spera looked to Tw'eak. "His daughter was one of my best friends growing up."

"He was aboard ship?" Tw'eak asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's your flag captain, and a good one, too."

"Wait a second," Kit interrupted, "that job's taken."

"No, no, I mean in my time. He didn't trust Sassil, either." Spera shook her head. "Never mind. Long story, and all that."

"Don't be so hasty," Tw'eak said. "He's an officer I trusted - will trust, I mean?"

"One of your most trusted officers," Spera replied. "But he's perfect for that 'mothership' role. He's also tactically very conservative. He always shepherds his resources, protects what he has, takes fairly few risks. I used to have a hell of a time against him playing three-dimensional chess." Spera looked up and smiled. "Too aggressive. He'd out-maneuver me so easily."

Tw'eak nodded. "Anyone else look familiar?"

Spera looked over to where Commander Wren and Commander Varek were giving their briefing, similar in tone but different in function to what Tw'eak had offered her captains. "Her," Spera said. "Captain Wren."

"Commander Wren, you mean."

"Sorry - she's still a commander here. She's part of the fleet. Maybe Varek, too? I... sometimes I have a hard time telling Vulcans apart, but I remember him. He had a family on the ship. So did Iffy. She had two daughters - one was younger than me, but another was a ...well, we were friends for a while. Then she got all weird when she got old enough to notice boys."

"Yeah, that happens," Kit replied.

Spera looked a little more closely. "Actually, that Caitian there..." She looked over towards Tw'eak. "See him?"

Tw'eak looked to where Spera was indicating. "I don't believe it," she said after a moment.

"Ma'am?"

"Kit, you weren't with us during - no, I didn't meet you until after I lost the Bonaventure."

"That's right."

"And you didn't come to Nimbus at all."

Kit shook her head. "I mean, I've flown past it a few times, but I'd never want to set foot on the place."

Tw'eak looked to Spera. "You recognize him?"

"Yeah, he was another of our captains. He had this funny voice he used to do, like he was... some kind of pirate or something?"

"That's because he was a pirate." Tw'eak smiled. The intelligence briefing had just been dismissed, and she walked over towards the crowd.

Wren saw Tw'eak coming and raised her hands, fluttering slightly. "Oh - ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. This is Vice Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas."

"Hello," Tw'eak offered, looking around the group. She noted the Caitian she had spotted earlier ducking behind a taller Rigelian. "It's an honour to serve with each of you. I just wanted to wish you all the best in your work yet to come. I'm certain that, together, we can make the difference in the coming fight. I know you'll all be thorough in your reporting, but I would ask you to be sincere as well. An honest appraisal is often better than an overly detailed analysis. I know that in time I will come to rely on those reports in order for us to do what we can against the ensuing threat. You're vital to the task force, and I look forward to getting to know each of you in time. That's all, thank you."

"Thank you, Admiral," Wren said, then continued speaking to the larger group. "Please contact either myself or Commander Varek if you have anything to offer!"

Tw'eak gave the Rigelian intelligence officer a quick nod, then stepped past to see... no one was there. She looked back towards Spera, who was pointing at an adjacent bulkhead. Tw'eak took another few steps and spotted an old friend. "Didn't expect to see you here," she said.

"I didn't much expect to be here," the Caitian said. Without his eyepatch and gruff act, Tw'eak barely recognized the man she knew as Selkirk Rex. "Still... here I am."

"How are the kits?"

"Well, thanks. They're comfortably aboard the Turing, thankfully. Never would've gotten 'em back without you."

"How did this come about?"

"Ah, an interesting tale - well, not really. We made it back to Homeworld, and I realized I had everything I needed there. The flotilla... well, it'll be someone else's from now on. Leo's, I'd expect? Sort of thought you would take over operations there, actually."

Spera stepped over to Tw'eak's side, and she looked up at her daughter's approach. "No, things changed somewhat while we were both away." Tw'eak indicated Spera. "This is Esperanza. She's my daughter with Leo from a future timeline."

"Please, call me Spera."

Selkirk's eyes went wide. "Yow. I don't- you mean- no, what I said before. Yow..."

"Her arrival changed quite a few things, especially with Leo. He's gone back to the flotilla. It's good, you know. It's where he belongs."

"Aye, he was always more aggressive about those sorts of things than I was. I just played at the role... he lived it."

"Well, you gave him what he needed to get started. That was all that mattered. I'm sure he'll have things well in hand there."

Selkirk nodded. "He commands the respect of all the crews, even the unruly ones who never liked me all that much. They're in good hands."

"What about you?"

"Right, how I got here. I contacted some old friends in the service about getting back into Starfleet, even just as an ensign or whatever I could do to help. Next thing I know I'm here, I'm second-in-command aboard the Polaris, my kits are healthy and happy and aboard a ship where I can keep them safe... and I'm about to set out on a voyage that could change the fate of the Federation. Just like that."

"Under another assumed name?"

"As it happens, yeah." He straightened up a bit. "Commander Khao Manee. A pleasure to meet you both."

"Likewise, Commander. Best of luck." Tw'eak gestured over her shoulder. "Back to normal, then."

"Aye. Anyway, now I should be going. Captain Glav probably needs me, I saw him leave earlier. See you again, Admiral." Selkirk - or rather, Manee - took a bow, and wandered off.

Tw'eak turned to Spera. "Glad to see him here. Surprised he's not in command, given his experience."

"Yeah."

"He could probably run this show. Starfleet regulations, though. Typical."

"Right. Hey, Shreya. Do you think Dad can handle being in charge?"

Tw'eak took a deep breath. In her heart, she hoped for the best, but in her head, she knew Leo wasn't the sort for space-borne command. Either he would find someone else in the flotilla to run things while he conducted the ground missions, or the flotilla would be in for a long process of trial and error as he learned on the job - maybe learned the hard way. "We'll have to wait and see," was the best she could offer.

Lost in her thoughts, Tw'eak barely noticed that Commander Wren had joined them. She cleared her throat. "Admiral."

"Commander."

Wren nodded to Spera. "Spera."

"Hello," Spera replied.

There was a long pause as each of the officers considered the others. "It's going to be an interesting assignment," Wren finally said.

"Indeed."

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"No, no, not at all. We were just..." Tw'eak looked to Spera. "Worrying together."

"It's about all we can do, at this point. The intelligence we have is relatively limited. We don't have a starting point, even, beyond what we already know."

"Do we have any... leads? Is that the right term?"

Wren nodded. "Yes, and we have fairly few leads at present. But that's half the challenge of working with intelligence - what you know, what you don't, what you have yet to find out, what you intend to... it's all very exciting. Usually we have to do a lot more ground work, or shuttle flights, to get to the bottom of things, but this... this is all new for us. We've never seen this level of involvement before."

"And the Silhouette... the Phantom class generally... I don't know anything about it."

"Next-generation escort, heavily modified to be survivable and stealthy."

"So it's not going to be very powerful in a stand-up fight, then."

Wren shook her head. "I didn't say that. That stealth is our means of survival - but we're just as heavily armoured and shielded as a typical Starfleet escort. We're a bit bigger than a Defiant class ship, but the heart of this ship is the very same. Captain McQueen and the other captains, they've all come over from escorts with long service records. These are experienced crews all around."

"And reliable, too?"

"Very. Most of the crews were hand-picked by our people. A few of them were obvious concessions, like spouses or partners, in a few cases, siblings."

"My sister, for example."

"My shreya, for example," Spera said with a smile.

Wren looked to Spera. "You're probably the one officer aboard whose experience means the most, you know."

Spera smiled. "Not like I can help that much."

"What makes you say that?"

"Nothing specific - just this feeling I..." She looked over at Tw'eak, her face anxious. "Never mind."

Tw'eak smiled at Wren, shifting the topic to spare Spera's blushes. "Spera tells me that your family is part of her future."

"That's reassuring," Wren said with a smile of her own. "I wonder sometimes what all this will mean for my daughter. When she's... well, your age, Spera, I just hope there's a Federation left for her to belong to."

"Daughter?" Spera asked. "Not - you know what, never mind."

Wren looked at Spera, still smiling. "You're not telling me anything I don't already know." She turned to Tw'eak. "I just found out earlier this week."

"You - oh, I see." Tw'eak looked to Spera. "How many times have you done that now?"

"A couple," Spera said with a smile.

Tw'eak turned back towards Wren, unsure quite what to say. The timing could not have been worse, as this was going to be an officer Tw'eak would come to rely upon. Add to that the factors she knew to be a part of a new child's birth, such as sleepless nights, inconsistency of readiness, and so on, factors which had proven difficult for officers she had previously served with to handle under less stressful circumstances than the ones which faced them... "Congratulations," she offered almost automatically, forcing a grin to match.

"Thanks. We're excited, but it's so early yet. I really didn't expect to... sorry, that'd be a terrible joke. I didn't see this pregnancy coming." Wren looked at Spera. "How did you know?"

Spera pointed at Wren's stomach. "We were friends. Will be, I mean."

"Maybe you'd better not tell me, I don't want to start a temporal paradox." Wren looked over at Tw'eak. "I don't know if it's appropriate to ask, but... I don't know quite how Spera comes into this, in our timeline. If she does - I could understand if you decided to forego it altogether now that there's so much else to worry about."

Tw'eak looked at Spera. "Her arrival changed everything for me."

"Yeah, kids will do that. They don't usually spring fully-formed into the world, though."

"Probably would've saved my parents a lot of time if I'd shown up with my own shuttlecraft, combat-trained and ready to serve." She smiled at her daughter.

"How old is Diana now?" Spera asked Wren.

Wren looked momentarily surprised. "No, of course you'd know her name. She's just turned six. Very busy. Has a great sense of humour. Asks so many questions - she could have a future in Starfleet Intelligence at this rate!" Wren patted her belly. "And she's very excited about becoming a big sister." She looked up sheepishly at Tw'eak. "I'm sorry I didn't disclose this earlier, ma'am."

"It won't be a problem, don't worry."

"No, it won't, I promise. So far - every pregnancy is different, right? But so far things are going a lot better than they did with Di. I had the worst morning sickness for the first few months... nothing like that so far!"

Tw'eak inclined her head. "Morning sickness?"

"Do Andorians not get that? I'm jealous."

"I don't know... I've never been."

"Oh, right! I'm sorry - I start talking about that other important title of mine, Mom, and I just start going on and on."

"Admiral?" Tw'eak turned to the sound of Kit McQueen calling her. "If you have a minute, could you come up to the bridge?"

"Be along in a moment." Tw'eak turned back towards Wren. "Well, again, congratulations."

"Thank you - and as I said, this will not be a distraction, I promise. Having Varek along will be helpful - that's why we arranged for him to be onboard, actually. Silhouette's the only ship with two intel officers for that very reason. But again, even in the worst of it... you can count on me."

"I would regardless. But I want you to realize that I don't see any of this as 'distractions' or anything of the sort. I respect that life is going to continue to find a way, aboard ship - it always does - and I very much want it that way. Believe me." Tw'eak contemplated what that would mean for her, and she looked over at Spera, who was very much in her thoughts, both in her present and her unborn states. "We can't let the weight of expectations - no pun intended - I mean the fear of what might happen, keep us from making the most of now. Still, I look forward to getting to know you and, in time, relying upon you and your experience in these matters."

"Same to you, Admiral."

"Please, call me Tw'eak."

Wren nodded. "Iffy."

"What is?"

"No, no, that's how I've gotten used to being known - Iffy. It's easier for most people to say than Iphigeneia. Family tradition to give our kids names from mythology. It's because my name's so long that Diana has the name she does." She patted her belly again. "Going to have to start thinking up another name." Wren looked up at Spera. "Any chance you'd know this little one's name already?"

For her part, Spera merely grinned enigmatically.

"I knew you were going to do that," Wren deadpanned.

"Of course you did," Spera replied. "You're the intelligence officer, remember."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'm needed on the bridge." She turned to head away, then stopped and looked back. "That would mean the both of you will probably be needed by me once I get there."

"Senior officers' privilege," Wren noted with a chuckle.

"Indeed. C'mon, let's go."


	50. Part III, Chapter 15

The bridge of the Silhouette was a lot like Tw'eak remembered other escorts' bridges she'd served aboard to be - small but not comfortable, just enough room to be functional. Behind the captain's chair, however, were a pair of multi-function displays along with a pair of chairs. This was unusual for a ship of its size - one display was horizontal, integrated into the surface of a table, while the other rested upon the far wall. Neither showed an image of the Silhouette in cutaway, as was typical, but instead carried a series of small text reports centered around a rough diagram of the Alpha and Beta quadrants. Around one of the displays sat five chairs - two to either side and another, larger chair tucked in between the display and the table.

Kit McQueen spun the captain's chair around to face the opening turbolift. Tw'eak, Spera and Wren entered when the door opened. "Admiral on deck!" Lieutenant Lini said from the tactical station, to Kit's left, with the turbolift entryway just behind it.

"As you were," Tw'eak said. She saw Denver O'Leary at the helm station, and Dashii stood up from the operations console and came over to greet her sister. Kit joined her.

"Welcome to the bridge, Admiral," Kit said.

"Thank you." She nodded at her sister. "Good to see you're still here."

Dashii gave her a confused look. "Where else would I be?"

"Don't know. Saves me the trouble of organizing a rescue, though."

"Hey, who said I needed rescuing? I was on my way out when you found me, remember?" Dashii laughed. "I just hope that someday when I have to return the favour, that you do half as good a job of being 'rescued'."

Commander Wren had continued past the group, and took a seat at the command table. Spera followed. "What's all this?" she asked.

Tw'eak and the others followed Spera over to hear Wren's explanation. "This is our command interface. It's like a smaller version of what's available in the war room. We may not always be able to step away from the bridge to co-ordinate efforts, so this unit will at least allow us to track the information from here. Commander Varek or I will be able to handle things from here. Any new analysis or input which the intelligence team can provide will be made available here for your information."

"I like that," Tw'eak said after a moment of taking it all in.

"We're still waiting on the Turing, Admiral."

"How many ships of the task force are otherwise ready to depart?"

Wren checked the display. "All other ships show green for departure."

"Very well. We've got some time, then." Tw'eak walked over to her chair and sat down. "Dismissed."

Spera nodded at Tw'eak, then wandered off with Dashii. Kit returned to her command chair. Wren went back to her reports. The turbolift door opened, admitting Captain T'uni onto the bridge. She took a brief look around, then spotted Tw'eak. "I trust you find everything to your satisfaction, Admiral."

"Indeed," Tw'eak replied. "Are you coming with us?"

"Regretfully, I am not. My responsibilities as commander of this station will keep me occupied for some time to come."

"I didn't realize they'd put you in charge of the whole Phoenix facility."

"They have indeed. I have become a figure of some importance to Starfleet Intelligence."

"And you like that, I bet."

T'uni arched an eyebrow. "It would be inappropriate to speak in terms of 'like', or 'enjoyment'. Nevertheless, I do feel sufficiently utilized, even challenged, by the magnitude of work with which I am entrusted."

"That's what I mean." Tw'eak paused for a moment. "I wanted to make one last request."

"As you know, I cannot make any promises."

"No, I realize that, but... well, it occurs to me that if we're ever stuck, say a situation arises where a rescue is required, or we discover proof of something the Klingons have done, maybe that they're planning to do. It won't be the right time for us to de-cloak and become involved."

T'uni nodded, looking to Wren, who was following the conversation. "That would be logical," the Vulcan said.

"So a more expendable asset, with a regular crew, might be an appropriate addition to our task force."

T'uni contemplated, then shook her head. "I am afraid that would be impossible."

"Really."

"At the very least, it would not be feasible for some period of time to come."

Tw'eak leaned forward. "Why is that?"

"Several reasons. Even if there were a vessel available for the task, it would have to be capable of operating independently, requiring an efficiency rating of ninety-five percent or higher across all systems and in all conditions. It would also need to be fitted with a cloaking device in order to operate seamlessly with the task force at all times, since there will be periods of time where the cloaking devices on all ships will need to remain active in order to facilitate co-ordination, planning and operations. Further, any such ship would have to have its crew vetted and checked, and its overall construction refit to Intelligence standards. This would eliminate approximately ninety-eight percent of vessels in current Starfleet service."

"But not all of them."

T'uni caught onto Tw'eak's drift. "I believe I see where this is headed. You are attempting to ascertain whether USS Warspite can be transferred to your flag."

"Well, why not?"

T'uni arched an eyebrow. "Indeed."

"She's not a year out of spacedock - she's in spacedock, on Earth, right now, waiting for orders. It'd be no trouble to fit her out with a cloaking device, easily - there's a rig for one. We know she's a capable ship, and her entire command crew can be vetted, no problem, because I served with them all for two years and know them very well."

"The senior officers of the Warspite are not representative of the entire crew, however."

"Octavia was responsible for most of those crew transfers, as my first officer. She's overseen every new addition to that crew from day one. There are few officers in all of Starfleet whose judgment I trust more."

"Nevertheless, I am concerned that your loyalty to those among its crew whom you consider to be personal friends may be clouding your judgment."

Tw'eak had anticipated this, and smiled at T'uni while looking to Wren. "Commander, how does that Earth saying go again?"

"Ma'am?"

"Something about a kettle. A black kettle, specifically."

"Oh," Wren said, nodding. " 'The pot calling the kettle black'. Old saying - basically implying-"

"Implying the hypocrisy of the accusatory party as a result of their being guilty of the same infraction." T'uni completed the definition, then gave Tw'eak a particularly sour look. "I see your point, Admiral."

"Had a feeling you would. I seem to recall a poor little blue girl asking the question, 'why me?', and not being given an answer."

T'uni adjusted her shoulders slightly. "Very well, Admiral. I will make the necessary arrangements, and have Starfleet Intelligence arrange for a team to deliver a cloaking device to Warspite."

"Maybe they'll need an intelligence liaison aboard ship. Given your past history with certain members of that same crew, you might want to consider asking for a transfer."

"I must admit, I had considered the... possibility of so doing, but felt that making such an arrangement might give the impression of favouritism."

"You can't do that," Tw'eak said, tapping the rank pips on her collar, "but these can."

T'uni nodded. "Indeed," she said again. "Do you have any further requests?"

"My ground gear has all been brought aboard?"

Lini overheard and turned at her station. "Saw to it myself, ma'am." She smiled. "Made me pretty jealous, actually."

"I would advise against your direct involvement with any off-ship operations," T'uni cautioned.

"I'd agree," Wren added.

"Noted," Tw'eak said quickly, fully intending to ignore that recommendation. "Lini, did you get a chance to see the autocarbine?"

"Yes, ma'am - rather impressive. Task Force Omega gear is amazing."

"Really is. The adapted MACO stuff is probably a bit better, but... well, you'll just have to wait and see once we get out there." Tw'eak looked back towards T'uni. "Anything else?"

"I fail to see the logic in soliciting my further opinion when you have so deliberately dismissed my previous attempt."

"I like to have all options on the table, even the ones I don't particularly care to hear." Tw'eak smiled. "Besides, we've known each other long enough that you should've expected that. It'd be like me asking you to burst out into tears."

"That would be most unexpected..."

"Exactly."

"And unpleasant," T'uni concluded.

"Exactly," Tw'eak repeated.

Wren spoke up with a question. "How long have you two known each other?"

"Oh, long time now," Tw'eak replied.

"Twenty-nine years, eight months, nine days."

"That's a long time," Wren said.

"That's what I said," Tw'eak added, giving T'uni a playfully admonishing look. "Only down to the days? Not seconds?"

"I..." T'uni looked away from Tw'eak, to Wren. "I know better."

Tw'eak also turned to Wren. "When I was a kid, I ran away to Vulcan for a few months. During my time there, I stayed with T'uni's family. They... didn't like me."

"On the contrary, we offered every courtesy and provided you with a comfortable respite. Given your adverse reaction to Vulcan climate-"

"See what I mean?" Tw'eak said to Wren. "She still doesn't like me."

T'uni remained silent, looking off, one eyebrow raised in seeming disgust.

"Dashichal?" Tw'eak called out.

Dashii turned away from Spera and her console. "Yeah, shi?"

"How are we doing up there?"

"Kid learns fast. Takes after her shreya."

"Zhayra Dashii was showing me how to distribute the shields," Spera replied. "And how to use internal sensors, too."

Tw'eak nodded. "Good. Lini, when she's done over there, give Spera a walkthrough of the tactical systems as well. Then the two of you swap consoles for a while."

Both Lini and Dashii looked confusedly at Tw'eak.

"Redundancy. If anyone's killed, we need to be able to take over each other's work stations. That goes for you too, Mister O'Leary."

"Hey, I got nothin' better to do," O'Leary quipped. "Not much for a helmsman to do at a time like this."

Tw'eak looked over her shoulder. "Pal?"

There was no response.

"Spera, is Pal onboard?"

"No, he stayed aboard the Warspite."

"He is still chief of shipboard security," T'uni added.

"I know, I guess I just... got used to having him around." Tw'eak gave a wistful look over her shoulder at where her friend had once been.

"Shall I request a personnel transfer?" T'uni asked.

Tw'eak considered it for a moment. "Ask him."

"Sorry?"

"I said, ask him. He deserves to be consulted about his future."

"That is not the typical procedure."

"He's a Jem'Hadar, T'uni. You could ask him to shovel the surface of Andoria and the whole planet would be clear of snow before the wet season began. He's been cultivated, his entire life has been duty and sacrifice. He's chosen a life for himself beyond that, a life that's better than that. Let's give it to him. Ask him where he feels he would be most essential, and from that, try to satisfy his decision."

"Suppose he makes no decision? Or defers a final decision to you?"

"Then we respect that. But let's ask. Just this once. He's earned it."

T'uni nodded. "I believe I understand your point. I will see to it as you have requested."

"Thank you."

"Permission to return to Station Phoenix?"

"Go right ahead."

T'uni gave a small bow, and then turned and left.

"That was really sweet of you," Wren said after a moment.

"Thanks. The poor guy doesn't know what it means to be respected by anyone. It's the least I can do, to show him that he's earned it."

Wren nodded.

Tw'eak stood up. "Now, if nobody needs me right this second, I'm going to go see about those quarters of mine." She reached the turbolift, pressed the button, then turned to Spera. "Let me know if you have any questions, later."

Spera nodded. "Will do."

Tw'eak smiled at her daughter. The turbolift doors opened, and she left the bridge.

* * *

Admittedly, the admiral's quarters aboard the Silhouette were smaller than she was accustomed to, but Tw'eak felt more comfortable in this set of quarters than any other she'd seen recently. She walked over to the replicator, placed the remains of a dinner eaten in solitary silence - no Pal out there someplace in the room, no Section 31 operatives dropping by to stress her further - and turned to face the room. The entire space of her quarters was smaller than the sitting area on Earth Spacedock had been, but Earth Spacedock was a gargantuan facility silently floating over a planet. This was a starship, a lean, nimble escort with a mission.

And that mission terrified Tw'eak.

She realized now that she had been subconsciously braced for impact ever since she had come aboard. Tension she hadn't even thought was there now started to release itself, and she felt herself begin a slow unraveling into an exhausted state. She scratched at her uniform, the fabric suddenly irritating her throat, shoulders and back. "Computer," she said to the room, "what are the current environmental control settings?"

"Temperature nineteen point three degrees Celsius, forty-seven percent humidity."

So it was even a bit colder in here than typical Federation quarters. And she still felt like her skin was on too tight. Perhaps it was something in what she'd eaten - replicated food rarely did this, but it was known to happen. Time to focus. She pressed her fingers against each other, tip to tip, and stared at them for a moment, trying to come to terms with why she felt the way she did. Was there one reason, a specific thing? Were there multiple reasons? Applying logic to the situation merely made Tw'eak more frustrated - and then there was the matter of her uniform, which suddenly felt like sandpaper.

She went into the bedroom and changed out of her uniform quickly, opting for a loose-fitting bit of nightwear. Her feet bare against the carpeted floor, she closed her eyes for a minute and sensed the interior of the room. Satisfied that there wouldn't be any distractions or unpleasant irritations during the course of her night's rest, she went back out into the main room and looked around. A replicator along one wall near a desk, a few chairs, some random artwork of coloured lines against a black background...

That was when Tw'eak saw the kut'luch which had nearly killed her, so many years ago, tidily placed on the wall over the desk. Her mouth hung open for a moment, and she took an idle step towards it. She had last seen it in the ready room of the Warspite, weeks ago now. She then noted that, under the desk, a moderately-sized metallic case not unlike a foot locker sat next to another, familiar silver box. She went over, sat at the desk, and pulled the case up onto the desk. She then carefully placed the box of katheka on the desk, up against the wall. Opening the case, she discovered a number of her possessions - a plasmonic sculpture kit, one of her works in that art form, a piece of pottery she had picked up on Vulcan while she had served aboard the Repulse, a series of padds which she recognized as containing her personal logs, a small model of the Bonaventure mounted to a stand, and at the bottom, concealed within a towel, her ushaan-tor. She took the tri-sided blade into her hand, its familiar weight and shape like an old friend. She moved it from one side to the other, careful not to strike the desk or the wall, and she smiled. The familiar movement reminded her of both of her fathers, for different reason - her thavan had taught her how to use the blade, while her charan had told many stories of prowess in the ushaan, stories whose glory she had been compelled to emulate in the relatively few (for an Andorian) number of times she had been called upon to duel.

The sound of the door chime took her out of the moment, and she looked up, startled. "Come in," she said, standing.

The door opened, and Dashii stepped inside, then recoiled. "Whoa, shi - I realize you're a little jumpy, but the ship's secure, really."

"What? -Oh, sorry." Tw'eak looked down at her hand, and placed the ushaan-tor on the desk. "I was just unpacking some of my things." She gave Dashii a slightly sad look. "But now that you mention it... I'm not really used to being on my own. My invisible friend isn't here to protect me anymore."

"Yeah, I get it." Dashii walked over and glanced into the case. "I think I have more underwear than you have of anything. You don't bring much with you, do you?"

"Not really. Never have." Tw'eak looked up at the wall, where the kut'luch was mounted. "Easier that way." She reached in and brought out the plasmonic sculpture. Carrying it forward, she placed it on one of the side tables, then stepped back and looked at it. "I don't like it there."

"I do. It looks like a flame, but... liquid somehow. I don't know."

Tw'eak carried it to the centre table. "That's the effect I was going for with this one. I burned myself a little doing it, too - on the new arm, too. Doc wasn't happy with me."

"Well, it works well there. Ties the room together. I didn't realize you'd made it."

"Yeah. I used to love doing this stuff. I don't know why I ever stopped."

"Do you think you'll start again at some point?"

Tw'eak gave a sigh. "I don't know if there'll be any time."

"We should sit down." Dashii took a spot on the couch, and Tw'eak sat next to her. "I wanted to talk to you."

Tw'eak's eyes narrowed slightly. "Off the record, I take it."

"I wanted to talk to Twaiheak, yes. If she's in there."

For whatever reason - it being Dashii who said it, the exhausted state she was in, the tone of Dashii's voice - Tw'eak was stung. "I..." Her brow furrowed and she felt her antennae angle towards each other. "I don't know anymore."

"What?" Dashii's tone shifted to sincere concern. "I didn't mean for that to hurt, I'm sorry."

"Damn it, zhi... I don't know if I can handle all of this."

"If anyone can, it's you, Twaiheak. Like, I know it's a lot, and I'm going to do all I can-"

Tw'eak felt the tears start to come, and despite her best efforts, her usual reserves were simply not available. She collapsed onto her sister's shoulder and wept. Dashii, uncertain what to do, merely reached up and put her arms around her sister.

"Come here," Dashii said quietly after a moment. She tipped her head back. "Computer, mark the vice admiral as unavailable for communication."

"Noted," the computer replied.

"Why'd you do that?" Tw'eak asked, startled.

"Do you really want to answer them right now, if they call?"

"No." She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to force out the remaining tears. "But I should be on duty."

"I disagree. Look, the day you picked me up on Nimbus, would you have wanted me on duty?"

"No, but so much had happened-"

"I was fine. I took care of myself."

"Dashichal." Tw'eak leaned back. "I saw the reports. I know what they did to you."

"Yeah, well." Dashii lowered her head. "Maybe I had it coming."

"What?"

"You know what thavan used to always say - Dashichal only ever learns the hard way."

"What were you supposed to learn with a Nausicaan at your throat, exactly?"

"I don't know... not to be a stupid romantic fool?"

Tw'eak pursed her lips. It was a lesson Dashii had learned the hard way, having been lured to Nimbus by the promise of a reunion with an old flame. "So you're telling me that I should've let them capture me, too, then."

"What do you mean? You're the sensible one."

"Am I? I just... gave my heart away to the first guy that comes along outside the rank structure." Tw'eak looked off into an imaginary distance. "And now... he's out there trying to run a pirate flotilla without any command training or experience."

"Leo has plenty of experience."

"On the ground, yes, with a rifle in his hands! Not in command of starships! Not running combined operations!"

"So he'll learn on the job."

"He'll get them all killed! Those people aren't-"

Dashii stopped her sister with a hand, gently to her mouth. "This isn't really about command. Admit it."

She lowered her hand as Tw'eak bowed her head slightly. "No, it's not. I made a mistake falling for him." She snickered. "If I even did."

"I don't follow."

"Is it him that I love? Really? He's two different people - I mean, he's dashing and handsome, strong, and he's funny... but then he's not really committed, he apparently has girlfriends all over... am I wrong to want someone like that in my life?"

"We never really talked about Qaz, did we?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "I was so mad at Qaz for running off with you, I never wanted to hear his name again."

Dashii chuckled. "I talked him into it, y'know. I ran off with him."

"I never realized that."

"Yeah. I was looking at spending the rest of my life bonded to these... boring people. I didn't really like any of them. Shorban especially - Uzaveh's name, he can be such an icicle. But Qaz was exciting... forbidden somehow. I guess I just wanted some of that excitement again, the unexpected. So, we went."

"You should've said something. You shouldn't have entered into a loveless bond!"

"What was I going to say? To who? I knew you would never get a chance to bond, so I didn't think you'd understand. And zhavey was always so damned proud to be part of a bond like they had. Who was I going to talk to? Sassil? She wouldn't get it. Shreya would've been worse. You know as well as I do that shreya would've blown smoke out of both antennae if I'd tried to stop it. She was so happy." Dashii shrugged, and her voice got smaller. "It finally meant she was happy with me for once. At least I thought so."

Tw'eak pursed her lips, the sour taste of her own shreya's influence affecting her. "She's never happy with anything. Even now, she's off excavating shipwrecks from the Dominion War, somewhere in the Draylon sector. Easier than being at home, I guess. She retired five years ago from the Judge Advocate General and she still hasn't been in touch unless absolutely necessary. Even then - who'd want to hear from her?"

Dashii laughed. "I know. She's crazy."

"I mean, I understand why she's doing it. She lost family in the War. She's looking for closure."

"That's why she's crazy?"

"No, her crazy is in the DNA. I mean, look at us, right?"

Dashii smiled appreciatively. "The twisted offspring of Tri Sh'abbas... you, me, Sassil - still, apparently."

"So Spera tells me. Apparently you're dead and I have Sassil as a second-in-command in the future. Maybe that's why I'm so tense."

"Maybe... but still, Spera... turned out okay."

"Yeah. Probably because I raised her after the end of the world. No time for shreya to get her hooks in."

"No, I mean it, shi. She's great. She has the potential to be an amazing part of this crew. I mean, it's a little weird to work with her - she's so... pink-skinned."

"Damn it - you had to say it, didn't you?"

"Just a little! In her skin, I mean!" Dashii rolled her eyes. "Don't get offended. I didn't mean it the way it sounded. I meant her skin is pink. A little. Just a little little. Only so much that we'd notice. But I didn't call her a pink-skin. I wouldn't talk like that."

"I've heard you say worse about Tellarites."

"Um, shi? We've both said worse about Tellarites."

The two sisters laughed for a moment. "Fair point," Tw'eak said after a moment.

"But no, what I mean is... she's so Andorian. Always conducts herself just so, always alert, very capable. I get the sense she has quite a temper."

Tw'eak felt her side ache from where Spera had tossed her against the bulkhead. "You have no idea."

"But she's quiet - even by our standards. And she's smart. Really smart. I mean, it took me a week to learn the shield distribution matrix. She was re-routing EPS and boosting our emitters - it's not right for tactical officers to show engineering officers a few tricks with their own power systems..."

"Well, it's not your fault."

Dashii gave her sister an acid look. "Why's that?"

"You're a combat engineer. We're in spacedock."

"Okay. I thought you were going to do some sort of 'tacs are better' thing, and then I was going to have to engineer me an ass-kicking."

"You can try, if you want, lemme just go get my shield generator." Tw'eak shook her head and started to stand. "I was just getting comfortable, too."

"Nah, sit down - you're off the hook for now." Dashii laughed. "Now we're even for you getting all upset about that 'pink-skin' thing."

"Glad YOU think so." Tw'eak smiled. "But you're right though. She's really something else." Her brow fell again. "I just don't know if I'm ready for that, too."

"Having Spera a second time, you mean."

"Yeah. I mean, I already know I'd have to raise her without Leo. Clearly he's going to be Captain Inconsistent as a dad. We had that - well, at least from thavan."

"You think that's part of it? You had a Marine for a dad, so you're trying to spare her from the same thing?"

"It's not just that." Tw'eak suddenly felt cold, and pulled her legs up to her chest. "I've had a lot of assignments over the years, different ships, stations even. And y'know, even when I was just getting assigned to a different phaser room, on the Nelson, I was so excited, every time. New duties, new officers, new commanders... a change of pace."

"But nothing was on the line, then."

"No, not like now. I just... I can't shake this awful feeling, like nothing we accomplish is going to make any of this go away, or get any better. Not sure I want to bring a baby into this world, the way that it is now."

"Really."

"Well, yeah. I mean, it's just a feeling - nothing much to make of those. But I get this feeling like it's not the right time."

Dashii let the moment remain silent for a moment, then stared off into the distance. "You know, I used to get asked all the time by people I served with on the Majestic, what do you make of this, Dash? what's your feeling on that? I usually wasn't far off from what would happen next, even if I didn't know anything."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. 'Andorian intuition'. It's a thing now, I guess. Still, let's presume it's real for a moment."

"Okay. What's your Andorian intuition telling you about this?"

"Obviously it's going to be hard, right? I mean, they wouldn't ask for you by name if it was going to be easy."

Tw'eak chuckled. "When you put it that way..."

"But seriously, shi, just hear me out. Obviously it's going to be hard. It would be anyway. There'll be a lot of challenges, probably a few sacrifices along the way that we'll have to make. That's nothing new. You went up against that monster Borg ship and you didn't even flinch."

"I also lost my ship, and a lot of good people died."

"But that's part of the service. And you learned from it, so it wasn't in vain. That's what I mean. You took what you learned - and now those Borg ships, when they do show up? We've adapted better than they have. And you made your next ship that much better, too."

"Well, that's actually true. We made a lot of changes to Warspite's design based on combat experience. Paid off, too."

"See?" Dashii bounced on the couch, angling towards Tw'eak. "That's kind of what I wanted to come down here and tell you. I never really properly thanked you."

"For what?"

"For Nimbus."

Tw'eak shrugged. "It was too important."

"I know, but - not just that. They had me sized for a prison jumper, Twaiheak. I'm sure of it. Dereliction in the face of duty? They'd keep me in there even after the Iconians took it over. You... this has all given me a second chance, one I probably don't really deserve." Dashii smiled at her sister. "I want you to know how much I appreciate it."

Tw'eak smiled and put her arms around Dashii, and the two sisters embraced again.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you," Dashii said after a few moments once they had returned to sitting up. "I got to talking to Spera, and one of the things that I asked her about was, y'know... how she got here."

"She doesn't really remember. I asked her about it, too. She was pretty young, and it seems to have been a pretty elaborate process."

"Right... what I was thinking was, it doesn't have to be the same way around this time."

Tw'eak lowered her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, maybe I can help. I know there are all kind of restrictions around this sort of thing, but-"

"What are you saying?"

"My idea is, we clone her, and I carry her to term."

Tw'eak tilted her head. "That's crazy."

Dashii gestured back and forth between her sister. "Yes, we are. You just said so not five minutes ago."

"No, I mean, that's too crazy."

"I was going to ask Doctor Ellington to run the risks for us, see if it can be done."

Tw'eak stood up, waving her hands at her sides. "Dashichal..."

"I wanted to ask you first, though." Dashii stood up as well. Tw'eak paced back and forth. "You're not happy. I thought this would make you happy."

"It's not that - I had just finished telling myself that it was impossible, that there was no way for this to work."

"But I want it to work. For you. And I'm going to help."

"I know! You just said- That doesn't mean that you should!"

"And Lini does too."

Tw'eak stopped, turning to face her sister. "You told Lini?"

"Of course I did. I knew she was ...like you. It was in her records."

"You READ her records?"

"Not like I was looking to find out! I was delegating crew assignments - that's what operations officers do, right? She's just like a younger version of you! She's even more you than Spera is! And she was SO excited. Definitely wants to help. But, y'know, can't."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "So you're all in on this. All three of you."

"You make it sound like a sordid conspiracy. Even the captain thought it sounded nice."

"You talked to-?"

"Well, we WERE talking about it on the bridge."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "Which means O'Leary knows, too."

"No, we were the only ones there. Wren was down in the war room, and O'Leary, um... he was... I don't know where he was. He wasn't there, though. Lini was at the conn. He got called to engineering? I don't know - look, that's not the point."

"How long was I gone for this to all happen?"

"Not the point, either."

"Was there nothing else to do on the bridge at the time?"

"Of course not, Twaiheak. We're still docked. Not the point!" Dashii sat back down, frustrated. "You can be impossible sometimes."

"I'm sorry," Tw'eak said, sitting next to her sister. "But this is all such a huge risk for you all to be taking."

"We know!" Dashii gestured with both arms out. "There could be complications. We could lose the baby. I could die! We know. Okay? We know. Spera went through a whole list with us already."

"She did."

"Yes. She's the only one of us who's not in favour of doing it. And now you, too."

"Wait - Spera didn't want this to happen? Spera."

"Spera. I know. She doesn't want us to go to all that trouble. Said, she doesn't feel she's worth it."

"Oh." This hit Tw'eak hard. "Uzaveh's name. That poor girl, to have to decide if her own conception is in everyone else's best interests but her own."

Dashii gave a sad chuckle. "When you put it like that..." Tw'eak got up and went back into her bedroom. "Where are you going?"

"I'm getting dressed."

"Why? We're okay without you on the bridge."

"I know. That's why I'm getting dressed, so we can talk to Doc before you people start planning for me to raise an army of Speras, like my daughter is a Jem'Hadar or something."

"You know, that might not be such a bad idea-"

"No!" Tw'eak yelled from the next room.

"They wouldn't have that ketracel-white problem."

"Dashichal!"

"And they'd be part Andorian!" Dashii looked up into the distance. "I wonder if we could teach them to shroud."

Tw'eak leaned in from the next room and threw her nightwear blouse, bundled up, at her sister's head. It landed with a thud, entangling itself in her antennae.

"OW! Hey, that had a commbadge in it or something!" Dashii exclaimed.


	51. Part III, Chapter 16

"Out of the question."

While the sickbay on the Silhouette was compact, it was effective. It was also, thankfully, empty. This meant that, in the adjacent office, Tw'eak, Dashii, Spera and Doc had plenty of time to argue the merits of Dashii's plan, one which, when explained, had left Doc with a disapproving expression. She sat at her desk, facing Tw'eak and Dashii, shaking her head. Spera stood in the corner, leaning against the wall, not really involved in the conversation.

"But we've considered most of the risks," Dashii countered.

"No."

"I'm willing to help if I can."

"I said, no."

"Why not?"

Doc crossed her arms. "Let's just... let's just leave aside the ethical considerations of what you're asking for the moment. Let's just leave out the questions of whether it's right for us to go cloning sentient beings - even ones who turned out all right and came back from the future or whatever."

"In fairness," Tw'eak replied, "Spera's not directly involved."

"I am, sort of," Spera said.

"Yeah, I don't..." Doc shook her head. "I can't even get my head around that whole concept. I'm a doctor, not a time-traveller."

"But the baby is sort of me, too, right?"

Doc rubbed her temples for a moment. "Let's be clear. There's you, and then there's your clone. This new baby version of you is not you. It'd be like... a twin sister. Twenty-some years younger but still genetically identical."

"We need to pick a new name," Dashii said to Tw'eak.

"You do not need to -" Doc uncrossed her arms and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her hands, resting her head upon her wrist as she did so. "I'm going to need something for this headache you're all giving me..."

As she said this, her partner and fellow doctor Kim walked into the sickbay.

"Kim - Kim, come in here, please."

"Just a minute, Shirl - want to check the results."

"Results?"

"Yeah, we received what might be a partial DNA scan from a remnant that Starfleet Intelligence discovered in... I don't remember the name of the system. They thought it might be Iconian DNA. It'd be helpful in knowing what they're made of."

Kim had by this point walked off out of sight, her voice trailing off in mid-discussion. "Back to what we were discussing," Tw'eak said, nodding slightly.

"Yes. The answer's no."

"But why, though?"

"I have several reasons. Firstly, you're not healthy enough to carry a child yet. Not really."

Dashii made a sort of whimpering noise. "But I've had plenty of time to recover!"

"Given the nature of your injuries, and that some of those injuries... were very deep, I would rather wait and see how you heal up before we proceed."

"But that doesn't mean 'no' permanently, then?"

"Again, I-" Doc took a deep breath. "I can't guarantee that the process will actually work. The files that Spera provided include next to no information about how she was conceived. If I had to guess, given that we don't have any information about other Andorian carriers having been involved the first time... I would presume the involvement of some sort of synthetic uterine-simulation device."

"A what?" Dashii asked.

"An artificial womb," Spera replied. "I don't know, it could've been that. Not sure why I never would've heard of it otherwise, though, if it had been used."

"It's a possibility. It's not something that our science would really consider unless used in an emergency - even then, only in the absence of any surrogacy candidates. I'd be much more comfortable using the real thing. We always do, if we can. There are plenty of precedents for that - the chief engineer of the Enterprise-F is a human with two mothers, for example. His actual mother was injured, so they transferred him as a fetus to a Bajoran surrogate. Again, though, that was an emergency. Not a full term."

"I can't say I've ever heard of anything like that happening to an Andorian," Tw'eak noted.

"There's a reason for that. Andorian reproductive systems are notoriously difficult to do much of anything with, even reproduce. The four-gender equation changes things and makes the entire process much more susceptible to collapse and miscarriage." Doc looked straight at Dashii. "Which is most of the reason I'm saying no. The odds of your carrying a viable cloned fetus to term, even in perfect health, are not particularly good. Natural birth, again, would be different - but a clone would need to develop, at least a little, before implantation. I doubt it'd work, even if you were healthy."

There was a pause in the room. "So how did I even get born, then?" Spera asked.

"If I knew more about it, I could replicate the procedure, maybe even... learn from my future self's mistakes. I don't know."

"Wait, though." Tw'eak had an idea. "Spera isn't fully Andorian. She's part-human too."

"So? She's also part Undine. And that's another thing, Dashii - we don't know what kind of effects carrying a telekinetic fetus will have on your internal organs. It's cute when baby kicks, but when baby rearranges your intestines with her mind..."

Dashii instinctively grabbed hold of her midsection and winced. "Did you have to be so descriptive?"

Doc smirked. "Yes."

Kim entered the office and walked past Tw'eak, a frustrated look upon her face. "No luck."

"No?"

"The DNA composite signature is closer in overall makeup to a Dewan. We have records from New Romulus that were an eighty-nine percent match."

"Maybe they're cousins."

"No," Tw'eak noted. "I remember seeing an ancient recording playback, in the tunnels near that major power source we uncovered last year. Dewans and Iconians are nothing alike - even though all we saw were shadows of their forms, those forms were completely distinct."

"Well, it was worth a shot," Kim noted. "The best we can do at this point is continue to speculate."

"I'm a bit confused as to why they had you test the sample," Tw'eak inquired.

"It wouldn't surprise me to learn this was for biogenic weapons research."

Doc made a clucking noise. "You don't know that - and I specifically told them we're not going to get anywhere with Section 31 style nonsense. What we did to the Founders was a war crime, I don't care what anyone thinks."

"They wouldn't tell us," Kim said softly. "You know how Intel works."

"I do." Tw'eak adjusted herself in her chair. "And I don't like it. We run things the Starfleet way from now on."

"Good. Whatever they choose to do with the research, I honestly feel a bit better knowing that this sample is not Iconian."

"Kim has something of a superstition about Iconians."

"It's not a superstition," Kim protested as she adjusted her ponytail, her long reddish-blonde hair flowing freely for a moment as she did. "I just have a healthy respect for them. We know so little about them, I like to be safe when possibly dealing with them."

"Probably a wise precaution," Tw'eak noted.

"Some of us make those kinds of precautions," Doc said. "They tend to sit on this side of the desk."

"Well, doctors always place too many restrictions on their patients."

"And commanders always push themselves too hard," Kim retorted.

Tw'eak nodded. "Don't I know it," Doc quipped.

"So your answer is really no?" Dashii said softly.

"I'm afraid it'll have to be." Doc turned to Kim. "She's trying to convince me to let her carry a clone of Spera here all the way to term."

"And you're not in favour?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" Doc laughed. "It's a preposterous suggestion."

"Not really."

"Really."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you're always asking 'why' instead of asking 'how'."

"But the 'how' isn't ethical, or probably physiologically possible."

"What's wrong with the idea of it?"

"She's part Andorian. Dashii is Andorian. Let's start there."

"We've worked with lots of Andorians before, though." Kim looked over at Tw'eak. "One in particular. Your favourite customer."

"That's hardly fair - she tries to get herself killed, it's completely the opposite."

"Only half-Andorian," Spera pointed out from the corner.

"And telekinetic," Doc replied. "Let's not forget that."

"That probably wouldn't manifest itself until after she's born, though," Kim noted. "Andorians don't even develop their sense of spatial awareness until their antennae rise off of their skull plates, and that takes at least two months or more."

"They're so cute with their antennae tucked down," Dashii added. "And that fine white fuzz for hair."

"Actually, that makes sense," Tw'eak observed. She looked at Spera. "You told me that story about how your senses came on suddenly after you were already born."

"That's right," Spera replied. "I remember Shreya telling me about it, actually."

"So that's that accounted for," Kim noted.

"Which brings me back to my point from earlier," Tw'eak said. "I asked before if it were more likely to be feasible with a human surrogate, rather than Dashii."

"For that you'd need a volunteer." Doc shook her head. "And unfortunately, we're not going to be able to find many people - it'd be different if this were Earth Spacedock but we're leaving for our assignment in less than a day. It's no time to start matching Spera's blood type compatibilities and a thousand other variables."

"Those variables can all be accounted for," Kim said in reply. "No reason we can't start looking for volunteers. Come on, Shirl. There are inter-species babies born every day across the Federation. Most of them come out okay, and live wonderful lives."

"But this isn't a baby - it's a clone."

"A clone of a baby!" Kim shook her head. "You're being unnecessarily difficult."

"What's to say that there's any more merit in this than, say, cloning Tw'eak?" Doc retorted, indicating the admiral.

"The Admiral is in her right point in time. Spera technically won't be born for months yet." Kim narrowed her eyes. "What's this really about?"

"What do you mean?"

Kim placed a hand on her hip. "You just don't want to do this? Is that it?"

Doc's tone was disgusted. "That is a hell of a thing for you to say to me."

"So what's your worry?"

Doc's eyes narrowed, and she looked over at Spera. "The future."

"I don't understand," Tw'eak said.

"Think about it. We put this to good use. We do what you're suggesting - using Dashii or whoever, a human, a Vulcan, a Gorn as a surrogate, I don't care who."

Kim shook her head. "Don't Gorn lay eggs?"

"Then these Iconians arrive. And we have the technology to make clones. Those clones are blank slates, just waiting to be programmed as the Iconians need them. Just like that, we've given them an army of telekinetic warriors to rival the Undine."

It was Tw'eak's turn to shake her head. "You're worried the Iconians will clone Spera?"

"They could probably already do that if they wanted," Kim added.

Doc shook her head. "We may be doing it for them - and our friends in Section 31 might just use that means to swing a deal."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "So we'll develop the ability to clone Spera, and they'll hand that to the Iconians? In exchange for what?"

"You never know," Doc responded with a shrug.

"Wait a minute," Tw'eak said. "When we defeated Hakeev, he had Remans working for him."

"So?"

"So if the Iconians wanted an army of sturdy, telekinetic warriors with sensory enhancements, wouldn't they have just taken the Remans and done the exact same thing?"

"Exactly," Kim said. "We're placing way too much emphasis on this. It's just one baby."

"You don't know that," retorted Doc.

"Neither do you, Shirley! You're being exasperating about these what-if things that have no bearing on reality."

"But it's consistent," Tw'eak noted. "The biogenic weapons, the emphasis on turning this child into a living weapon... I see what your point is, at least, philosophically."

Doc nodded, her shoulders rounded forwards. "I'm getting old, Tw'eak. I know you've been at this for a while, but I've got at least fifteen years on you - plus my time at medical school before it. And all that time aboard starships, front-line starships, by my own choice. Feels like I've had to heal every known injury, had to replace limbs, mend faces, fix what's broken... If there's anything I can do to bring one less weapon into this universe, I'll do it."

Kim walked over and put her arms around her partner. She kissed Doc on the cheek. "So noble. Just like always."

Doc looked over at Kim. "I'm sorry we had to quarrel over it."

"That was your quarreling?" Dashii laughed. "By Andorian standards, that was a conversation!"

Kim smiled at Doc, and rested her forehead against Doc's temple. "I'd like to suggest a solution, if I may."

"Well, sure, let's hear it."

"You're not going to like it."

Doc chuckled. "I know I'm not going to like it."

Kim smiled and stepped back, looking directly at Tw'eak. "With your permission, Admiral, I would like to volunteer."

Doc became alarmed. "What?"

"Really?" Spera asked.

Dashii blinked. "You-?"

Tw'eak sat back, merely smiling. "I'd like to hear your reasons before I respond."

"Well..." Kim looked at Doc. "When I met you, I knew I'd never get to have a family. Your life was out here, and you hated the idea of being a family person."

"Still hate the idea," Doc replied.

This comment made Kim hesitate to continue. She turned her eyes towards Tw'eak. "I know you want what's best for Spera, whether present or future. But I also realize you won't have time for a baby."

Doc made a clucking noise. "Neither will I."

"You won't, but I'm here as an analyst, not as a medical officer. I won't be here in sickbay at all hours. I can do my lab work as required and still take care of myself."

"But you know all the reasons I never wanted children, Kim."

"Of course I do. I respect them - all of them. But this isn't our child. We can look after her for the first little while, then when she's old enough, after she's weaned or whatever, she can join an Andorian family as an adoptee, and we can go back to our life together." Kim looked at Tw'eak. "Whether that's your family or another family... I don't know."

"And you'll get to have had a baby," Dashii said with a smile.

Kim smiled appreciatively. "I don't want you to feel like I'm taking that from you, though."

"No, no. I'll have my chance." She turned towards Tw'eak. "It'll have to be as part of my bond group, that's all. Like the doctor said, natural."

Tw'eak nodded, then turned to Spera. "How does that leave you feeling?"

"Honestly, Shreya? It sounds pretty much perfect."

Dashii turned to Kim. "You know that Lieutenant Lini and I would be more than happy to help, any way we can, with babysitting or whatever."

"Um, excuse me," Doc interrupted, "but as chief medical officer, I would like my objections to this whole process to be noted."

"I hear you, Shirl," Kim said. "But this was something I always wanted to experience. I just... never knew how to tell you."

Doc gave a wistful smile, and reached a hand out to Kim, who took it. "I wish you had," she said quietly. "How we can be together so long and I still find out new things about you."

"She can be stubborn sometimes," Tw'eak said to Kim with a smile, "but her heart's always in the right place."

"Sounds like something I told her about you," Doc quipped in reply.

"What will you need from me?" Spera asked.

Doc brought her hands back to fold them across her lap. "A few tissue samples, enough to get the process started. It's not like the embryonic generation process will be that difficult once we have the right tissue to work from." She looked up to Kim. "Fortunately we have a specialist on board."

"That isn't my specialty," Kim replied, "but I do have experience with the process. I should be able to get things to the point of viability for implantation."

"We'll have to run some simulations before we proceed, be sure we understand all of the variables, account for as many of them as we can... but once we do, if you don't mind, I would much prefer if we brought in another medical officer to oversee the actual procedure, maybe be present for the simulations as well."

Tw'eak nodded. "I understand. If there's anyone in particular you have in mind, let me know."

"Not at the moment," Doc replied. "I hadn't really made a list of who I'd want to operate on Kim if it came down to it. Prefer not to think about that. Now that she's aboard ship here, as of right now, that'd be me."

"I can understand that, too." Tw'eak looked around. "I might ask T'uni if she can assign us another shipboard doctor."

"Preferably one with labour-and-delivery experience," Doc added. "We've got four pregnant officers onboard, including Commander Wren."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'll see what I can do." Her face took on a broad smile, and she looked to each face in turn as she said, "well, we're certainly going to make an interesting family, aren't we?" There was a general laughter and a smile in the room, which masked the considerable anxiety everyone felt. Kim walked across the room to hug Spera, who looked relieved. Dashii sat and watched, a slight streak of a tear across her face. Meanwhile, Doc merely leaned back in her chair and gave a contemplative grin.

This would be a huge risk - but for once, Tw'eak thought to herself, the risks weren't on a galactic scale, not even sufficient to shake the quadrant. Yet somehow the stakes felt higher precisely because it was a personal choice which Kim had made, as Dashii had made in offering the suggestion to start with, and which would eventually affect each of them... plus one more, in time.


	52. Part IV, Chapter 1

The Silhouette had a single holodeck onboard. Caught on a nostalgic whim, Tw'eak found herself standing before its controls. The holodeck was unbooked and out of use at the moment, which meant that she could remain there almost indefinitely. She considered what she wanted. It wasn't easy to figure out. Her mood, having only recently left sickbay, was a sort of mishmash of sentiments taking her in different directions simultaneously.

She followed the first instinct that entered her head. "Computer, load me a simulation of Andoria."

"Please specify parameters."

"Um... entirely up to you. Someplace cold, but not too cold. By Andorian standards."

"Unable to proceed. Planetary simulation not loaded."

"Uzaveh's name..." Tw'eak took a deep breath. "Show me a map of the surface of Andoria." The computer agreed, and on the small display a sphere appeared, showing the planet. "Someplace around here," Tw'eak said, tapping the area near where she had grown up. "Outdoors. Rural. Early winter, just after the rainy season."

"Program initializing. You may enter when ready."

"Thank you."

Tw'eak stepped through the door, into a wide open space slightly covered with snow. She felt the crunching effect of her weight upon its surface, and took a few steps outward. Her blood began to heat as her body recognized the change in temperature, and her metabolism adapted to its surroundings. It was a bit of a rush, to be sure, but it was something of a pointless rush. After all, there was nothing here but the comforts of the cold and the smell in the air. Tw'eak shook her head. This wasn't what she wanted.

She took another step, nervous energy flowing through her, the urge to keep moving just to stay warm. She contemplated simulating something else out here - but what? A herd of zabathu wandering by? A series of structures? An invasion from fluidic space? Maybe just an ushaan against someone she didn't particularly like?

"No," Tw'eak muttered. She looked up into the sky, the familiar shape of the planet Andor floating above her homeworld. She hadn't seen that shape in so long. "Hello, old friend," she said, remembering her habit of taking long walks, in open spaces just like this, imagining herself in conversation with the gas giant that Andoria orbited. It wasn't as though the planet had ever talked back, of course. Perhaps she would have returned to Andoria sooner if it had.

Dissatisfied and uncomfortable again, despite the welcome sensation of knowing her cold-dwelling traits still worked just fine, she spoke not to Andor, but the computer. "End program."

The black-and-yellow surface of the holodeck reappeared, and the temperature of the room slowly returned to Starfleet standard. "It's just not right," she said to herself.

"Please specify," the computer said.

Tw'eak thought for a moment. Where had she last felt truly at ease with herself. "Computer, could you... um..." Tw'eak threw her head back, thinking. Where would be a logical place to put herself, to satisfy whatever angst she was experiencing? "Computer, what's a popular program for someone who wants to get away from things?"

"Risa Package IV is currently the most-frequently loaded program."

"For Andorians, I mean."

"Risa Package IV is the most-frequently loaded program among Andorians."

"Damn." Tw'eak shook her head. The popular appeal of the beach seemed to have everyone in its thrall. She wondered for a moment how much of that was down to Dashii slipping into a swimsuit in her off-hours. Tw'eak knew her sister would simply settle on Risa permanentlyl if the option was presented to her. But spending ridiculous quantities of time with a drink in hand working on- what? Andorians reacted fairly minimally to sunlight, and their skin did not tan the same way other species, notably humans, would do. Either way, it held little appeal for Tw'eak.

"What's the most popular... I don't know, historical simulation, then."

"Starfleet Museum, Enterprise Exhibit."

"Explain."

"A simulation of each of the nine starships to bear the name Enterprise, with guided tour presented by Ambassador Spock."

"What does the tour include?"

"Tour begins with an overview of each of the starships, followed by tours of the bridge modules and engine rooms of each vessel, along with certain famous sections of each vessel, such as-"

Tw'eak tilted her head slightly, an idea in mind. "Computer. Can you load a simulation of another starship? Not an Enterprise, another Starfleet vessel."

"Affirmative. Please indicate which vessel."

Tw'eak smiled. "USS Bonaventure."

"There have been seventeen vessels by that name. Please specify registry."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes slightly. "I... um... NCC..." It came back to her. "NCC-91867." Tw'eak shook her head at herself. It hadn't been that long that she should forget such an important detail from her old command.

"Program simulation in progress. Please stand by."

Tw'eak turned to behold the interior of the bridge module of her old command. She felt herself take a sharp breath, and her hand rose and clutched itself to her chest. The familiar sight of her old command chair, the stations where her former officers and friends had carried out her every order, made her remember them each in turn as she walked slowly to her command chair... Denver O'Leary at the helm - a husband and soon-to-be father now, but still her helmsman... Octavia, no longer merely an operations officer but now a captain in her own right... Tucker Sharpe, her one-time first officer, now captain of the Bonnie... Lio'wan, her flight deck officer, whom she missed dearly... Birmal Dazz, another dearly-missed friend who also had risen to captaincy... Shepard Clark, who had perished at the hands of an Orion matron nearly a year ago...

Tw'eak sat down in the command chair at the centre of the bridge and looked up at the curved surface of the dome above her, its simulated surface betraying no sign of the damage that had nearly caused both her and Dazz to be sucked out into oblivion. She leaned back in the chair, as uncomfortable as ever, and thought to herself about the officers and crew she had lost when this brave vessel had nearly been destroyed by the impact of a half-destroyed Borg ship. It felt like a hundred years since that desperate action. Since then she had overseen the finishing touches on Warspite, been promoted twice, and now taken command of another starship - and a task force - in turn.

"How many have died since then?" she asked aloud.

"Unable to specify," the computer replied.

This response startled Tw'eak. "Sorry, wasn't looking for an answer," she muttered, but then contemplated. Was she? Did she really want to know? Unending conflict, even away from the front lines of a pointless, seemingly unending war with the Klingon Empire. Not just without end, but to what end? The continual grind of the machinery of warfare, out there on planets, space stations, starships across a jagged line extending across two quadrants... and for what? To say nothing of the other existential threats that caused the entire Federation to hang in the balance when they intervened... the Tholian menace, the spectre of the Borg, and now both the Undine and the Iconians to add to that list...

And to think, Tw'eak thought, that for her, it had all started here.

"Computer, give me a readout of all the casualties incurred during my command."

The computer made a sort of whirring, disconcerted noise. "Unable to comply."

"Are there that many?"

"Negative. Please indicate how to proceed."

"Just... I don't know. One by one. On the main viewer. Show me all casualties from the time I spent in command of USS Repulse, USS Bonaventure, USS Warspite... and include all casualties from my task force as part of readout." Tw'eak didn't want to forget those who had perished aboard the Meitner, although her involvement was indirect.

"Working," the computer acknowledged. Before long, a series of faces, starting with Lieutenant Myra Aanveer, began to flash on the screen one at a time, each holding for some six or seven seconds before the display moved onto the next. Tw'eak watched the faces as they passed - clearly alphabetized - and nodded at each one she recognized. There were not many whose faces she did not think she knew, although in fairness, she couldn't be perfectly sure for far, far too many for her liking. After a few of the faces had come and gone, Tw'eak felt her emotions surging, a sense of profound loss, of futility, breaking through the perimeter of her self-control. Tears began to slowly accumulate, one or two breaking down her face, and the sight of names she did remember well took hold.

She could remember the letters she'd written home for several of them, the things she'd said, always a difficult task to undertake. So many of them had passed now, it seemed, yet the list went on. Shepard Clark's face now came up, his service record visible beside him, and Tw'eak remembered his memorial, the speech she had given on Starbase 39-Sierra, the anxious worry that whatever she said would be insufficient. He had been the solitary casualty of that mission, a mission which had brought her into contact with Leo for the first time, as it had happened. Now, Tw'eak realized, she was faced with a growing anxiety that the dead would outnumber the living by a good margin once the implacable Iconian threat that faced them took its terrible toll. And so Tw'eak wept, silently, for some time, as the list rolled on.

It was a rude shock to hear the sound of the doorway to the corridor opening. There were no full-sized doors on the Bonaventure's bridge, their loud and lengthy sliding motion producing a far greater volume of sound than the subtler whoosh of a normal door. She might not have noticed that door among the ambient bridge noises, but Tw'eak's antennae clearly indicated that someone else was aboard the Bonaventure with her. She straightened up, her gloved hand absorbing the trails of the tears which had flowed down her face. "Computer, cease playback."

As Tw'eak adjusted her uniform tunic, she turned to see Spera, not in uniform but wearing a khaki-and-lavender dress, standing near the flight officer's station. "You okay, Shreya?" she asked.

"Just fine. I was... revisiting some old ghosts, you might say."

"Yeah, it looked like."

Tw'eak willed her antennae to straighten, but they could only go so fast as she tried to force them into shape. "How can I help you?"

"I went looking for you, but you disappeared out of sickbay so fast. I didn't want to try too hard, you know?"

"I don't understand."

"I know how you sometimes need your space. I do too, sometimes. A little distance from everyone else can help."

Tw'eak smiled. Once again, her daughter knew her better than she knew herself. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

"Oh, I asked the computer. You kept your commbadge on, so it was easy. But I went back to my quarters to change first. I'm... not fond of uniforms."

"You didn't wear uniforms in your time?"

"Not really. Mostly jumpsuits. Lots of pockets. Nothing like a Starfleet uniform."

"No commbadges, either?"

"Oh yeah. Mostly Starfleet surplus ones. We used to wear them upside down as a joke, claim they were more Andorian that way."

Tw'eak looked down at her commbadge, its two downward pointed tips resembling antennae in her imagination for a moment. "Yeah, I can kind of see it. And the top point's her chin, I take it?"

"Yeah. First time I showed you that, you didn't think it was funny, but you got used to it, I guess." Spera stepped closer and sat down in the first officer's chair. "That symbol meant a lot more to you than it ever did to me."

"You know, I was just... coming back here made me feel a bit more at home, I guess. I've been thirty years, almost, in service. It's all I really know." She looked up at Spera. "But I guess twenty years of constant war is all you've ever known, isn't it."

"Not really constant. I mean, I told you before, we'd have periods of time where there wasn't much pressure, in that sense."

"But everything you've done was affected by the war."

"Oh, absolutely. We were refugees, no doubt of that. But we had hope."

Tw'eak smiled. "Hope... Esperanza." She looked up at Spera, nodding her chin slightly.

Spera shook her head. "I mean actual hope. And we got that from you. People counted on you, they trusted you... liked you. We all took our cues from you. And we didn't really have much extra energy to put into using a holodeck for recreation - we mostly used them for education. Most of my schooling and training took place on a holodeck. Many times I was thankful for those safety protocols. Had to learn a lot of that combat training the hard way."

Tw'eak stared past Spera, almost ignoring what she had said with her next question. "How did you handle losing people?"

"I don't know, why?"

"I mean, casualties. There must have been casualties."

"Yeah. We lost people. Then we learned from it, so it wouldn't happen again."

"Just like that?"

"No. Learned how to do that the hard way, too." Spera's eyes darted off into the distance. "Dorian Naysmith."

"Sorry?"

"Dorian Naysmith. He was in my class. We got together - you were so upset with me for even having a boyfriend." Spera laughed. "We had a huge fight over it. It seems funny now. He was a really sweet guy. Very tall, bright blonde hair. And he was the first boy I ever really noticed who noticed me back. I remember he kissed me for the first time, my first time ever, in the port side turbolift. He was so nervous you'd find out! Every time. We used to go off and kiss in that turbolift, a lot. 'Hold' the turbolift, then hold each other..." Spera sighed. "I used to go back and ride that turbolift just thinking about kissing him. It wasn't anything special, just another turbolift, right? But it was happening to me. It felt like a special sort of meaning no one knew about. There were other places that had that kind of meaning for me, too, but... never mind."

"Seems strange to me, that I'd get upset about that. That sort of companionship can be a wonderful feeling."

"I think you objected because it meant someone else to care about, someone else to..." Spera's smile faded. "He lived on a ship in our flotilla. One day it had engine problems, and we had to leave it behind. It never came back. And neither did he, or anyone else. I remember this one time, maybe a month later, you asked me to go down to the engine room, and I walked away, around the long way, to the starboard side turbolift. You just watched me go, and then you asked me why I'd done it, before I could safely get away... I had to explain everything to you."

"I hope I handled myself appropriately."

"Appropriately, as a commander? Yeah. But not really. I think you just thought I would be able to turn it off or something. And - and for months, afterwards, I would avoid using that turbolift. Mostly because I was afraid it'd open up, and he'd be there... and I would've already moved on or forgotten."

"You didn't think he'd be there?"

"I knew he wouldn't be." Spera pointed upwards, towards her antennae. "I can tell where people are, sometimes, around me? It's a blessing and a curse. So I knew the turbolift was empty before the door opened. I was just worried I'd be wrong."

"Why would you be wrong about that?"

"Doesn't have to make sense, does it?"

"Just wondered." Tw'eak smiled and looked down. "I get those moments where I think someone's going to be behind the door, and then they're not. Or that any second now they'll come onto the bridge, or into the room, or whatever. I've been thinking a lot about the people I wouldn't have even noticed. So many junior grade officers, enlisted personnel, that I've ordered to their deaths without even knowing their names."

Spera shifted a bit in her seat. "We had a saying, where I'm from. 'It's always easier when you don't know who you've lost.' And it's kind of true - not very nice, but it's true."

"Not sure it's any easier..."

"I don't think you understand - you used to make a point of getting to know the people in our little fleet. On all the ships, as many of them as you could get to know, you did. We had a real problem with people giving in, you know, the despair... giving up on their jobs, on their lives. It was really hard - we almost lost a few ships because their engines weren't quite working, just because no one had bothered to work on them. That was one of the things you did to try to encourage people, to get to know them. You tried so hard to remember their names, their faces."

Tw'eak looked up at the main viewer, now inactive. "I still do. It still doesn't happen."

"No, and that's not your fault. We've been in this task force two days."

"That's not what I mean. I don't have that kind of memory - sometimes I remember details, someone's wife's name, their children, that sort of thing, but I'm not good with it. Ways to kill them, well - I can tell you several for every occasion. But I'm not as good in company as I am in combat."

"Yeah... we practiced lots of killing on the holodeck too. Not, like, assassination or anything - combat. Defensive, mostly. How to deal with Borg, with Undine, if you're armed, if you're not, what various armaments do, what to do if you're assimilated, if you even have the time to do things."

"Was it effective?"

"Mostly. We lost way more people because a ship would be destroyed than we usually did on an operation - and a lot of that information was useless unless we were boarded, which we did everything we could to try to avoid, and usually did. There was... did I ever tell you about how we kept the Iconians from showing up?"

"I think you did, yeah."

"Yeah, so that helped. No random boarding actions at all hours. Nobody just disappearing from the ship in the depth of the night."

"It just... that sounds so much worse than what I've already faced. I've done so much fighting, lost so many people. That was part of the reason I wanted to be back here." Tw'eak indicated the Bonaventure's bridge. "I was captain of this starship before you were born."

Spera looked over at the dedication plaque. "Oh, the Bonaventure. Yeah. I've heard lots of stories about this ship. There was a big Caitian guy who saved your life."

"Yeah," Tw'eak said, looking over at the flight officer's station, "Lio'wan."

"That was it. I think you... kind of, you know... liked him, too."

Tw'eak shrugged. "I did, probably, yeah."

"That's okay, y'know. Captains have feelings too, even the ones they're not supposed to have."

"As long as they don't interfere with your duty..."

"It's what any caring sentient person would feel, really."

"I never really know how to feel about Caitians, to be honest. I like their ears, their faces... and they're usually very physically strong, and built like it. But then there's those tails of theirs."

"I'm sure they say the same things about us and our antennae," Spera said with a laugh.

"Yeah, no doubt." Tw'eak chuckled and looked over at her daughter. "I'm glad you came looking for me."

"Yeah, me too." Spera took a quick look around. "Hey, Shreya?"

"Yeah?"

"This holodeck... it's a simulation of the whole ship, right?"

"Hopefully. I don't know how accurate it is."

Spera stood up. "Well, let's find out."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow slightly. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'd love to hear all about it."

Tw'eak felt a slow, warm smile spreading across her features. "I don't know. This ship - if you don't count the Repulse, since I took command under such difficult circumstances... this ship was the first one I ever captained."

"So it's true, then."

"What?"

"That whole 'you never forget your first time' thing."

Tw'eak made a face. "I think that usually applies to a different event."

"No, I mean, first time in command. God, that was awful of me, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Tw'eak smiled and stood up. "Come on. Let's start with my ready room." She linked arms with Spera and they walked across the bridge together, both happy to be in each other's company once again.

* * *

The doors to the holodeck opened, the tour complete, and Tw'eak walked out in Spera's company. They were still discussing the incident with the Borg that had nearly destroyed the Bonaventure, and stood together in the corridor for a moment, the door sliding closed behind them.

"And after that happened, we thought for sure that Starfleet would simply put us back in space together in a few months' time - those of us that survived, of course. We lost a lot of good people, most of whom I knew personally, if not that well."

"But it didn't happen that way?"

"No, a few of us got promoted, and the team that's in charge of the Warspite were mostly of my choosing. That's where I first met Kit McQueen, too."

"Does Starfleet always do that sort of thing? I don't get them."

"What sort of thing?"

Spera shrugged. "You know, things other than what makes sense."

"It makes a different kind of sense to them. They don't ask us if it makes sense. But they also have their own ideas, their own philosophy, and that doesn't always match what we think out here. Sometimes we're right - sometimes, not. We're given some leeway to disagree, and sometimes that means a decision is overturned... but not often. Starfleet has a particular way of doing things, sure. We may not think it's the right thing to do, but we don't have to. We're here to follow their orders the best we can."

Spera shuddered a little, as though ice bores had just crashed through the ceiling onto her back and shoulders. "It's so weird. I mean, for me, you have a good crew? You keep that crew together. If there are conflicts or problems, maybe a few people get reassigned or moved to other ships - we used to do this sort of thing once every couple weeks, you called it 'crew call', where we'd have a few problems, call in the captains, shuffle the crews... there are so many more crews, I guess, with all of Starfleet."

"That's right. And the personnel decisions are usually made by someone else - it's just my job, or whoever's in command decides to give final approval or disapproval to the posting. Even then, it's no sure thing. Orders change sometimes. As I said, we're here to follow those orders, as best we can."

Spera shook her head. "It's also weird for me to think that you all thought of the Borg as being the Final Darkness."

"Well, again - from our position, they definitely were. I'd imagine they remained an existential threat even in your time."

"Yeah, but they were... I don't know, boogeymen. I met more former Borg in my lifetime than I ever did actual Borg. We never got attacked by them, and they never tried to assimilate us."

"Even in the Delta Quadrant?"

"They were far too preoccupied with trying to assimilate the Undine - and, I'd imagine, the Iconians."

Tw'eak smiled at her daughter. "You really believe in that? The story of the Final Darkness?"

"I don't know. I mean, the time when all light is extinguished? When the fire of the universe is effectually out, and the glorious throne of Uzaveh cast into shadow?"

"And the Spirit of the Warrior is cast within a tomb of ice, its portal sealed with his frozen tears. Yeah. That one." Tw'eak shivered. It was the kind of story that every Andorian child knew - the apocalypse, in human terms. Tw'eak had read over it way more often than any other part of the Andorian scriptures she had been raised with, along with the Andorian creation story. Both the beginning and the end were vastly more accessible and readable than the lengthy middle, with its tales of generational conflict and all too many Andorians fighting other Andorians.

"We used to use that story as a reference point - ours was the world in its final darkness. I've been... struggling not to use the term, honestly. My timeline, your timeline, that sort of thing - we just... we understood that we were the last living warriors in the time of the Final Darkness, wounded and trapped in our tomb, just... waiting for the light to go down."

"But you still fought against it."

"So did the Spirit. Right?" Spera closed her eyes, her hands rising as fists. " 'His eyes in blindness, his strength undimmed, the Spirit rose again. His senses guided his mighty blows, ushaan-tor in each hand, as they fell and fell again until they broke against the rigid icy armour of the Blizzard Beast.' "

Tw'eak grinned fiercely at the recitation. " 'And though the creature of cold cackled at his efforts, yet still the Spirit burned with righteous fury.' " She nodded. "I haven't heard that story in years."

"Charan used to tell it to you. As a bedtime story."

"I know." Tw'eak gave Spera a slightly hurt look.

"Sorry, I know too. Was just trying to get ahead of you that time."

"Oh." Tw'eak chuckled. "Of course I told you about that."

"How it's harder to be admitted to the Guard of Honour and serve at the Wall of Heroes than it is to join the Starfleet Special Forces."

"That too, huh."

"Yeah. And how proud you were - are, still now, right? to have a charan like him."

"Still am, yeah." Tw'eak smiled at the remembrance. "Did I ever tell you why I rarely talk to him?"

"No."

"I never really tell anyone this, not even Dashii knows this." Tw'eak bowed her head slightly, embarrassed to admit the truth. "I never really feel like anything I do is... worthy of recognition."

"What?" Spera was visibly astonished. Her mouth hung open for a moment, her antennae widening in surprise. "Shreya, really."

"No, I know. It's not something I realized until I lost my arm. All those stories, about the Spirit of the Warrior, the Guardians of Honour, Andor the Sentinel... I looked into what they must have been trying to communicate - like the story of the Blood Rider? It's really about winter storms on the edge of the rainy season. You've... never lived on Andoria, but those storms? They're killers."

"Which is why the story tells people of the time of the Blood Rider's coming..."

"To make sure they're safely indoors, basically. And underground."

"I get it."

"But with those stories... I mean, even when you recognize that they're myths, that they explain... the seasons, or the storms, or the behaviour of particular animals or whatever... they're still powerful. And I suppose I just felt like if I can't contribute anything of equal worth, it's not really going to count."

"That's what I don't get. You have two Pike Medals for Valour."

"No, I don't." Tw'eak gave Spera a confused look. "Just the one."

Spera bit her lip. "Never mind - look, you've faced, and fought, against just about every enemy the Federation has. You don't have anything left to prove."

"But those fights... they were with rifles, under energy shields, onboard starships. It's not the same as duelling it out with an ushaan-tor in hand. It's not really, truly our way."

"If you tried to fight the Borg with only a blade-"

"I know, I know. We have demons enough in reality to make our myths pale in comparison."

" 'Demons of air and darkness', you mean," Spera said, referring to the Iconians by a name from another myth.

"Not just them. Although it would be lovely to settle the whole matter between them and us in the ushaan, wouldn't it? One Andorian champion against their chosen warrior... on the ice, with a blade." Tw'eak found herself revelling in the idea. She shook it off. "Sorry. Sometimes, I lose myself in thinking about it. I guess the spirit of this warrior" - here Tw'eak indicated herself - "never truly feels content. Especially not lately."

"Not enough ushaan?"

"Actually, that's not true. Hasn't been that long. When we went to retrieve Dashii, I faced off against this Orion matriarch. She was tough - I mean, really tough."

"What happened?"

"Well, at a critical moment, she was standing with -"

"Bridge to Sh'abbas," Tw'eak's commbadge suddenly said.

"Go ahead."

"Admiral, it's Commander Wren. We need you up here immediately."

Tw'eak shot a look of concern at Spera. "Is something the matter?"

"Potentially."

The nearest turbolift was a few paces away. Tw'eak and Spera were in it, and on their way, within seconds.

* * *

When they arrived on the bridge, Tw'eak noted that Dashii was, not uncharacteristically, arguing with Kit.

"There has to be some mistake!" Dashii yelled, her back to the turbolift.

Kit sat in her command chair, her hands out on either side, her eyes locked onto Dashii. "The orders are clear. Would you like me to read them again?"

"But it's utterly ridiculous! Even by Starfleet's standards, this is stupid."

"Watch yourself, Lieutenant."

"Why, because this is stupid?"

"No - because Starfleet's standards are mine, too." Kit's eyes narrowed, and she noticed Tw'eak step into view. "Admiral on deck."

Lini, at the tactical console, straightened up from where she had been leaning, watching the back-and-forth between her captain and Dashii. She now stood at attention. "Admiral on deck!"

"Normally I'd say 'as you were', but..." Tw'eak took a step further to see Wren sitting with her back to the argument, leaning over a padd, head in her hands. "Commander?"

Wren looked up, then handed the padd to Tw'eak. "I've got Captain T'uni standing by on secure channel once you've finished reading this."

Tw'eak turned to Spera and read aloud. "To: Station Phoenix, stardate 99533.7, re: Task Force Silhouette. Attention all personnel: as of this stardate, all official command and logistical support for operations at Station Phoenix have been rescinded pending further investigation. Any continuance of the program without the explicit authorization of Starfleet Command will be perceived as acts of aggression and sedition..." Tw'eak trailed off, looking around at the faces on the bridge, many of whom nodded cynically or simply looked ashen. "I don't understand."

Iffy Wren broke the silence. "Starfleet seems to have misunderstood our mission."

Tw'eak shrugged. "I'm not sure I do, either. I can hardly blame them."

"They think we're creating a new Obsidian Order," Dashii said. "Or a Tal Shiar."

"They already have one Section 31, I guess they figure." Wren shook her head. "Even if we're nothing of the sort."

"But that's-" Tw'eak's facial expression was unimpressed. "So we're locked down."

"Pending official investigation," Kit added. She stood up. "I would like to request permission to place security personnel upon all decks."

"On what grounds?" Wren demanded.

"There are non-Starfleet personnel onboard, they may not... fully understand the nature of this order."

"They're hardly treasonous!"

"That's for the security personnel to decide."

"Your security personnel," Wren added contemptuously.

"Starfleet personnel," Kit replied angrily.

"All right, all right," Tw'eak raised her hands. "Captain, as commanding officer of this vessel, you would certainly be in your rights to secure your command."

"Thank you."

"If that were necessary."

Kit's head swung sharply towards Tw'eak, who for her part, looked to Wren.

"Commander, would you kindly advise your personnel to confine themselves to quarters and social areas of the Silhouette for the time being, until we get this sorted out?"

"Gladly."

Tw'eak looked back towards Kit. "Now, if you wish to place security personnel in sensitive areas - the engine room, deflector control, here - then I would respect your decision." She shrugged. "I don't think you have enough guards to watch everyone. At least, I hope not."

"No, you're right." Kit looked down, defeated. "I guess I just... I don't understand how this all works, exactly."

"None of us do. Not even Starfleet Command knows how to handle this. That's why this happened. We're going out after intelligence, and they're seeing us as a force for insurrection. And while everyone here knows that isn't the case, we'll just... we'll sort it out." Tw'eak turned to Wren. "I'll talk to T'uni in the ready room, if that's all right with you, Captain. Won't take long - she isn't who I really need to talk to anyway."

Kit nodded, and Tw'eak walked towards the ready room door. Spera stepped up quickly alongside. "What about me?"

"You?"

"What do I do?"

Tw'eak considered it for a moment. "Good question. Let me get this mess all settled first."

"No, I mean... right now."

"I don't know. Come on in."

* * *

The conversation with T'uni had been brief, stilted. T'uni was still in as close an approximation to shock as her Vulcan features would betray. Nothing much was worth mentioning otherwise, and to be honest, Tw'eak couldn't stand the sight of her old friend in such a state of disarray. It was almost as though seeing T'uni being unable to handle this news made it harder for her to accept. Spera's presence helped, actually - it forced her to keep her command face up and make the best of things.

The channel closed, Tw'eak turned to Spera, who sat across the desk, at a right angle from the desktop viewer. "Well, what would you do?"

"Sorry?"

"If you were here, in this chair, I mean. You're the Iconian expert."

"I really wish people would stop calling me that."

"It's true. Sort of."

"I lived through it, I didn't actually do anything to stop them."

Tw'eak nodded. "I get it. But still, I'd appreciate your input."

"I don't know why. There were lots of experts on board, people with decades of experience. You're a ground combat expert, a space combat expert, because you've been there. I spent most of my years of experience, so-called, as a child."

"True. Still, you know what we'll be up against."

"Not because I want to! That's why I brought so much information with me - that's the expertise. That's the experience. Most of it was yours, Shreya, not mine."

"It doesn't matter. Was just a question." Tw'eak shifted a bit in place. "Not sure I like this chair - although there is one thing about this setup that I really like."

"You mean you're okay with being the next Section 31?"

"We are not-" Tw'eak caught herself. Her tone was sharper than she had intended, borne of frustration. She corrected herself. "We're no such thing."

"I know, Shreya. I get it. Sorry."

"No, I know you do. Better you get that pulsewave blast rather than Admiral Quinn."

"Is that your next step?"

Tw'eak raised a hand. "In a minute. Let me finish my thought. Whoever it was that made the decision to put me in charge of this fleet gave me a major tactical advantage over your actual shreya." Spera tilted her head slightly. "They've given me a command structure that's made up of competent officers, many of whom I know or whose records are spotless. Instead of being cobbled together from what's left, they've given us the tools for the job. And if they ever let us get on with that job, maybe, just maybe, they give us a fighting chance as a result."

"If you're allowed to take that chance."

"Well, yeah, but I've tangled with rules of engagement on occasion. Sometimes I've even won."

Spera shook her head, smiling.

"But what I mean is, having you on board... having Dashii on board, Lini, O'Leary, even Wren... there's something about this that feels like we're the difference that has been waiting to be made."

"You think so?"

"I don't know - I'm hardly impartial on this. Maybe it's just that I'm finally getting everything I want, right down to the shiny new starship with all the features. But for once, y'know... I was feeling really confident about this." Tw'eak shook her head. "Doesn't happen often."

"No, I ...I know. I remember. And you said as much, when we were touring the Bonaventure before."

"I did, yeah." Tw'eak smiled, satisfied. "Yeah, I did."

Her pleasant moment was ended sharply by the communicator. "Bridge to Sh'abbas." The voice was Commander Wren's.

"Go ahead, Wren."

"I have Fleet Admiral Kells on subspace."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "Not Admiral Quinn?"

"No, ma'am."

Tw'eak pressed a finger to her cheek. "Alright. What does that mean?"

"Not certain, ma'am, but Admiral Kells is-"

"Yes, I know who he is. We've met before." Tw'eak gave a look over to Spera, concerned. She sat up and straightened her uniform tunic - and, for appearance's sake, her antennae. "Put him through."

On the screen, the image of Fleet Admiral Barnard Kells, his white hair and distinctive blue eyes clearly visible. He held a padd in one hand, the edge of his arm extending across the lower edge of the screen. "Admiral Kells." Tw'eak nodded slightly. "How may I be of assistance?"

"Would you mind explaining to me how Starfleet Intelligence gained the authorization to build starships?"

"Can't be of much help there, sir. These ships were built and crewed by the time I was assigned to this post."

"That's another thing - assigned on whose authority?"

"I don't actually know." Tw'eak figured a lie couldn't hurt. T'uni, ever logical, might be fitting herself for a stockade jumpsuit as they spoke, but Tw'eak didn't need to contribute to the prosecution. "I was given a unique opportunity to command this task force-"

"Task Force Silhouette, I believe."

"That's correct."

"And you never thought to clarify your authorizations? To see what the table of organization for your fleet indicated your role to be?"

"I've never needed clarification before, sir. That information has always been provided to me in every previous command. I don't think you can fault me for presuming that my orders would have arrived before we left port."

"You can't be serious." Kells' tone was contemptuous.

"On the contrary, sir, I am. Quite."

"I don't think you understand the... sheer magnitude of difficulty your little task force has created just by existing, let alone damn near slipping out of its secret spacedock."

"What aspect of our existence constitutes 'difficulty', exactly?"

Kells let out a grumbled, "The Intel parts."

"I fail to see why. All of our duty ratings are Starfleet officers and enlisted personnel. There are civilian intelligence operatives onboard as well, but they're confined to specific sections of their respective ships. No real problems there."

"I hardly classify children as 'intelligence operatives'."

"There's precedent for that. The original launch of the Galaxy-class starships, for example, included families as-"

"There have never, and I repeat, NEVER been children onboard escorts in Starfleet history. It's without precedent."

"The children aren't aboard the escorts, as far as I know." Tw'eak lied again - she knew Iffy Wren's daughter was quartered aboard ship somewhere, apparently the first in Starfleet history.

"But what's the rationale for bringing them along?"

"I'm sure I don't need to remind the fleet admiral of my recent involvement in a running firefight across the Promenade of Deep Space Nine? Or that the same Orions that tried to kill me had been taking the children of our personnel as hostages for years before I showed up on Nimbus to put an end to it?"

"God's sake, Sh'abbas. You're serious."

"I was advised that the personnel would have their families on board as a security measure, to give them one less thing to worry about. Given the nature of our particular mission, at least as far as I was briefed on it by Starfleet Intelligence personnel... yeah. I'm serious." She leaned forward slightly and, with more than a hint of venom, added, "Quite."

"This is ridiculous. Admiral Quinn had asked me to contact you in order to try to sort out just what your intentions were, but I can see now that I'll have to shutter your entire operation. Permanently."

Tw'eak realized the tide was turning against her. Her pulse began to race, and the veneer of supreme professionalism which she was attempting to maintain began to slip. "On what grounds?"

"Insubordination."

"You think I'm being insubordinate? You seriously want to go there with me?"

"Well, prove me wrong. Show me that you're doing something other than letting these Intel tricksters take you in with this malarkey."

"I've met them. This command staff have either served with me before or have exemplary service records. If you don't have their records, I'll arrange to have them sent to you. They're inspirations. Each of them."

Kells held up the padd. "They're right here. I've reviewed them. There are some serious discrepancies. Your sister, for instance."

Tw'eak's eyes narrowed. "What about her?"

"She's basically a walking security risk."

"She was. Now she answers to me."

"Don't be so sure - nothing in your supposed orders are permanent yet. I can have the entire crew complement reassigned and the ships turned over to proper authorities in a matter of seconds."

Tw'eak sniffed, intending to give an impression of nonchalance to mask her rising anxiety level. "You'd have to relieve me personally of my command for that to happen. And I believe you'd have to have a reason other than my so-called insubordination in order for that to happen."

"I don't think you understand the precariousness of your position here, Sh'abbas. This is way, way worse - by an order of magnitude worse than that little stunt you pulled on the Meitner."

"I'm sorry, Admiral, we've discussed that ...'stunt' before. Your opinion was different then." She shook her head, and then allowed her eyes to bore down on his. "I don't believe you're capable of reviewing this matter impartially."

Kells leaned forward, his face disbelieving. "Excuse me?"

"I am calling into question, based on our past history and your highly subjective conduct, whether you are really the right person to make this determination."

"You're questioning MY professionalism?"

"Indeed." Tw'eak drew upon the depths of her emotional reserve and her stare was imperious. "You have, in the space of our conversation, twisted my words, threatened by command, and called into question my authority aboard this vessel. You have questioned my intentions and loyalty, and indeed you have slandered both my own personal honour and that of my family, a family which, I should mention with the pride it deserves, has a glorious and long-standing history of impeccable service to Starfleet in many diverse branches of its service, not least of which includes both Command AND Intelligence. If I may be so bold, sir... Were you Andorian, I would be left with no choice but to settle this ...our way."

Kells shifted in his chair, but said nothing.

Tw'eak continued. "Your conduct, sir, has been adversarial, even bordering on harassment, on the basis of a faulty assumption. You see, I was given this opportunity precisely because I am trusted, by both Starfleet Command AND Starfleet Intelligence, NOT to abuse the trust that I have been given, and to direct my energies solely against the enemies of the Federation."

"And what reassurances do we have of that, precisely?"

Tw'eak raised her chin, looking down the angle of her nose at Kells. "None."

Kells let out a guffaw. "None," he repeated.

"And that's precisely what you should require of us. We're Starfleet officers. We've taken our oaths. We know what we uphold. We know what we believe in - the same things you do. And we intend to uphold those beliefs, in the face of an enemy that Starfleet may not have time yet left to understand, let alone defend against." Tw'eak looked towards the bridge. "Do you know... we were about to clear port. And, those officers out there... all of them as excited and as anxious as any Starfleet crew would be to leave port, do you know... none of them so much as even hinted to me that we should break out, or steal away from port?"

"I see." Kells was nonplussed.

"They're determined - don't you see it? - they're absolutely determined to show that they can be the best of the best. They've taken no actions except to secure the ship and to keep it here. If they were as treacherous as you think, if they were an insurrection waiting to happen... why aren't we warping off to regroup right this minute? Why have each and every one of them remained at their posts?"

"You can vouch for this?"

"Absolutely, I can. Not really sure how, but I don't need to check up on them like a zabathu den mother. I can vouch for them because I know the officers they are, if not in person, then by their reputations alone. They're not Undine in disguise - there are no stashes of isomorphic injectors aboard. No group of people so determined need be questioned, not when they're determined to make a difference - and the right kind of difference, at that. The Federation is under threat. One can hardly imagine greater motivation."

Kells shook his head. "We've seen examples of how those threats can motivate the wrong sort of response in the past. Need I remind you of Admiral Leyton and Red Squad?"

Tw'eak nodded, remembering the admiral who nearly took control of Earth during the Dominion War, save for the intervention of the crew of the USS Defiant. "He's been on my mind a lot lately. But so has Admiral Kirk, sir."

"I... don't follow."

"Doing this by the book, the Starfleet way... might not yield the results we're looking for. We can't capitulate, follow Leyton's path and do things by any means necessary - that much, I grant you. But we also can't save the future by remaining hidebound to the old ways, either. Our information from the future seems to indicate that a rivalry and a distrust between Command branch and Intelligence branch provided one of the fundamental areas of breakdown in Starfleet operations, one the Undine and Iconians exploited."

"Is that so. I don't recall reading that."

"I'm still working on that report." Tw'eak saw Spera's face wrinkle, and gave her a quick, guilty look. Another lie - and Tw'eak's level of comfort lying to Kells seemed to be increasing beyond her will to control it - but again, another necessary one. She looked back to Kells. "Nevertheless, we're trying to bridge that gap, here, in this task force. As I said before, we might not prove to have done so soon enough."

Kells cleared his throat. "It's a scary thought, to think that to be true." He tapped at the padd, his attitude far more conciliatory. "I'll speak to Admiral Quinn in the morning, review... the more cordial aspects of our conversation with him. I can't guarantee that he'll be willing to go along with this."

"Then let me speak with him."

"No, anything you have to say to him, goes through me."

"Why won't you speak to me directly?"

"You're too highly ranked for me to need to explain the chain of command, or so I would hope. Never mind that, though." Kells pointed, albeit in a non-threatening manner, towards Tw'eak. "You're not off the hook yet, Sh'abbas. Just because you've made the decision that this is the right move doesn't necessarily mean a damn thing - but it doesn't mean you're wrong, either."

"All we're asking is the chance to prove ourselves."

Kells let out a harsh chuckle. "Your Intel friends would've been better asking to do that before trying it on." He looked at the padd. "How they got the Corps of Engineers to co-operate in providing and prototyping these advanced starship designs..."

"Maybe the Corps of Engineers thinks this was the right move as well."

"That's not for them to judge - or for you, or for I, for that matter."

"I understand."

"You do."

Tw'eak fought the urge to roll her eyes. "As I said before, Admiral, my loyalties and my duty rest with the chain of command as established in Starfleet. If the orders say no, we'll find some other way to do the job. It may not be as effective as what we had planned, but one way or another..." Tw'eak gave an intentioned shrug. "The Iconians are coming."

"Let's get one thing straight, Sh'abbas - between you and this other... Counter-Command idea... the notion that any one group of officers is more qualified or more capable or more ideally suited to some outcome or another flies in the face of every guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based."

"So why have Special Forces then, sir?"

"That's not the same-"

"Or the Marines? Or the Corps of Engineers? Or the admiralty, for that matter? Like it or not, there will always be inequalities between groups of officers. If either you or Admiral Quinn take exception to the selection of personnel, I'll submit the entire series of crew rosters for detailed review. But we need to recognize something. Every group of officers, in any capacity, will have those inequalities. It can't be helped. From each according to their gifts, to each according to their needs - that's what the Vulcans taught me. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations - but some combinations will always be more suited to one task than another. And as long as we harness those combinations, and utilize those seeming inequalities as assets, rather than liabilities... then the Federation, and all it stands for, will prevail."

Kells nodded, seemingly in spite of himself. "Alright, you've made your point. Enough said. I'll bring this to Quinn in the morning. You'll hear from someone before long." Kells let out a long-held breath. "That's all, Kells out."

Tw'eak tapped the viewer to terminate the conversation. She looked over to Spera. "That could have gone better."

"Are you kidding? Shreya! You were wonderful!"

Tw'eak tilted her head sharply, surprised. "You think so?"

"Oh yeah. You threw every point back at him - and so politely, too!" Spera let out a laugh. "And that part where you mentioned the ushaan? I think you scared him!"

"Well, it's true. You're part of a long-standing legacy of Starfleet service - and service to the Andorian Imperial Guard, too. It's as much my legacy as yours."

"I know." Spera nodded solemnly, then her smile returned. "Damn, that was awesome. I had to try really hard not to cheer for you."

"Come on," Tw'eak said incredulously as she stood up.

"No, really."

"No, really. I mean, come on. I need a cup of katheka after that. Maybe a sonic shower, too."

Spera laughed, altering her tone of voice to more closely match her mother's. " 'Were you Andorian, we'd settle this... our way.' "

"Please... please don't go repeating this to anyone."

"Just Zhayra Dashii?"

"DEFINITELY not her." Tw'eak raised both hands. "Please."

"Okay, okay." Spera looked downwards. "I know better than to ask if you're serious." She began to giggle once again.

Tw'eak finally let herself give into a roll of the eyes, and left the room, headed in the direction of the nearest cup of fresh, non-replicated katheka.


	53. Part IV, Chapter 2

There was a point, at some moment over the few days that followed, where Tw'eak got an inclination to take a minute to head over to the Warspite. Everything was ready across all the ships of her task force, and the command crews of each vessel were involved in tactical simulations of varying sorts, put together as tests of their abilities by Spera, Wren and Tw'eak. None went so far as to deal with the actual arrival of the Iconians - it was felt to be too much of a stretch, and Spera's understanding of Iconian ships and their capabilities had proven too limited to provide a full exercise. With the information within the memory banks of her shuttlecraft not proving much more helpful in that regard, the idea was abandoned in favour of more likely scenarios.

A series of small-scale simulations, sometimes involving each ship individually, others in small groups, had been held. Not all of them had been combat engagements or direct-fire exercises. Some of them had simply been to determine for the respective captains when they should know well enough to break out of a system under cloak and preserve what they had found out rather than doing what Starfleet might have prescribed for them under regulations. Situations like foundering freighters or other such lures were commonplace. Not all of these situations had been comfortable or even straightforward.

All of this simulation and training had made Tw'eak desire the opportunity to be on an informal basis with her friends. It had proven hard work for everyone to not only arrange but to assess performance from each scenario, and Tw'eak had dreaded the follow-up de-brief. The loss of the ship and its crew, the discovery of their intelligence-gathering mission, or the death of civilians or the destruction of civilian property, had meant mission failure in each simulation, but many of the scenarios had made one or more of those outcomes all but unavoidable. In many cases, the commanders and crews had made herculean efforts to try to overcome the limitations before them, in true Starfleet fashion. Still, however, Tw'eak had been put in a high-command position for a few days more than she typically liked, and it made her long for the comfortable companionship of her old vessel.

Long service had taught Tw'eak a valuable lesson about the imperium of being the commanding officer - a little went a long way. The more she was under pressure to maintain a ship, or the task force, at combat readiness, the less responsive the crew would be - whether due to fatigue, morale or interpersonal conflict, the threat of failing being ever-present increased its likelihood. With nothing better to do, their actual mission being withheld until further notice, Tw'eak took the crisis and made it an opportunity. Still, it was one she was glad had been taken, and was now concluded. Since shore leave was impossible for the majority of the crew, given the secretive nature of their mission and the potential security breaches that crew on leave might represent, no one was allowed to be released from their respective vessels unless absolutely necessary. So Tw'eak saw again a chance to spend some time with her people aboard the Warspite, since it had been part of the task force for a short time before the order had come down.

Aurora met her in the transporter room. "Hi," she said, having activated the transporter herself.

"I didn't think I'd see you in here," Tw'eak said as she and Spera stepped off the pad.

"Well, I... wanted to apologize, I guess. And thank you, too."

Tw'eak looked uncertainly at Aurora. "What's this about?"

"The last time I saw you, when, you know... Octavia - the captain, I mean. Everything's... really good aboard right now. Not like before. I'm sorry I had to come to you with it. I should've just talked to her."

"You're her first officer. It's pretty much your job to talk to her - to bring her options, to advise her on her decisions, all of that. Sometimes that means you'll have to stand up to her."

"You know I hate doing that."

"If that was reason enough, I'd never give anyone an order again."

"I understand." Aurora smiled and looked over to Spera. "And how are you?"

"Just happy to be here," Spera said with a grin of her own.

The three of them walked down the corridor from the transporter room, towards a turbolift. "It's a bit weird not having you aboard anymore," Aurora said. "I'm so used to you being in command, bring around..."

"I can understand that. But Warspite's a good ship, with a fine crew. With any luck, Silhouette will prove to be a lot like it."

"Only smaller," Spera added.

"How are you liking it?" Aurora asked Tw'eak.

"Not as much as I'd like, to be honest. I don't know much about ship design, but it's not your typical Starfleet escort. I've commanded a couple in the past, first Repulse, then Bonaventure, but... I hope Silhouette can take a hit, that's all."

"I've served on a couple. They can be tough, especially in a fight, but that's what they're meant to do. Fight. There isn't a second function like with cruisers or science ships. You're there to do the damage, not to take it."

"Which is what I mean, actually. Both the Repulse and the Bonaventure were big ships for the type - and all the other ships I've served on have been Sovereign-class starships, or here on Warspite. I like the smaller rooms, the tighter feel of the corridors... feels very Andorian. But still, I'm not used to having to seek an empty space for a meeting or a function. The conference room, if you'd even call it a conference room, is right on the bridge. It's smaller, but it's also overloaded inside with mission-critical components. Feels even smaller than usual."

"That's fine by me, but then, I'm happy in a Jefferies tube most of the time." The turbolift arrived, and the three women entered. "Bridge," Aurora said after a moment. "Guess you couldn't have a get-together like we do here aboard that ship, then. No room."

Tw'eak smiled. "Yeah. We'd bother the bridge officers with all our talk."

"Yeah." There was a quiet moment, and then Aurora made a little noise in her throat. It caused Spera and Tw'eak to both look up. Against the wall of the turbolift, Aurora was squirming, like she was almost choking.

"You all right?" Spera asked.

"Hold!" Aurora spouted suddenly. Startled, Tw'eak instinctively took a step to square her shoulders relative to Aurora, placing herself slightly in front of Spera. "Admiral, there's something I need to ask you. Before we go up to the bridge."

Half-expecting Aurora to turn into an Undine, Tw'eak half-nodded. "Go ahead."

"I know you... you have really, like, strict regulations on stuff."

Tw'eak returned to a normal stance. "Like what?"

"Well... and I feel really bad about this, but..." Aurora hesitated, her hands and arms nearly resonating with anxiety. She moved them around as though churning them would somehow make the words come out. "I went out with this one guy a couple times, and he works in deflector control." The truth out, she paused again, staring desperately at Tw'eak, both hands reaching out to her. "He's really nice. You'd like him."

Tw'eak smiled slightly, careful to keep her facial expression pleasantly neutral. "That's... that's great, Aurora. I hope you like him, too."

"Oh, I do!" Aurora was still more or less in a state of frenzy, her gestures, nods and footing far more erratic than usual. "It's just... he's a lieutenant, and I'm the first officer. I know you take regulations - I mean, Starfleet regulations... you know, really seriously."

"You're the executive officer, Aurora."

"I know. That was kind of how we met."

Tw'eak raised a hand. "Can you just calm down for a minute? Let's just... let's be friends, before we worry about rank and regulation."

"That was what we did, too!" Aurora looked like she was about to collapse, on the verge of tears. "Oh, I am so bad at this!"

Spera stepped past Tw'eak, and aligned herself beside Aurora. She put her hand on Aurora's back. "It's okay."

"Thank you."

"How long have you been worried about this?" Tw'eak asked.

"A couple of weeks. When we were waiting around in spacedock, you know, while you were on trial and stuff, I did all my crew evaluations. That was when I met him. Gavin. He was so sweet. And he's from Australia. I've always wanted to go to Australia. I grew up on the other side of Earth, so I'd love to see what the stars are like on that side-"

"Wait. Wait. Aurora." Tw'eak took half a step towards her friend. "Let's do this one step at a time. You're happy?"

"I think so! I'm so worried. Bianca told me that people who fall in love, they forget sometimes what it means to be happy with themselves first. And after what happened with K'Vor, I am so afraid to feel this way, especially since he's only a lieutenant, and... oh my God, this is all so wrong..."

Spera gave Aurora a sort of half-hug. "It's okay," she repeated.

"No, it's not."

Tw'eak paced about the confines of the turbolift in a tight circle. "I'm not... I'm not going to ask you about any details or anything."

"We haven't slept together, if that's what you mean."

Tw'eak made an uncomfortable face. "Exactly the detail I wasn't going to ask about."

"No. I mean, we kissed. A lot, that one night. But I was so scared, so I took it really slow. I couldn't tell him that I was, you know, avoiding anything more. I mean... what would he think if I did? But then I thought, what would YOU think if we did it? So I left, and I talked to Bianca about it the next day, and she's... like, I love her, but she and Cam have been together since before the Academy, so she doesn't really know what it's like, you know?"

"Aurora... we all have our responsibilities aboard ship. But that doesn't mean we can't be who we are. You don't think I've had moments where I've thought that way about certain members of my crew?"

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, take that Romulan tactical officer you've got onboard."

"Subcommander Oulius?"

"Yeah. He's kind of cute."

"It's true," Spera agreed.

"Nah." Aurora turned up her nose. "He's a Romulan. I know that's... that's, like, prejudice or something, but I don't think I could really get to know a Romulan well enough to trust them."

"Trust is important, but it's not everything."

Aurora looked at Tw'eak, surprised. "In a relationship? Yes, it is."

"But you don't start with a relationship, just like that. There has to be attraction, too."

"Oh, there'd be that," Spera said in a soft tone. This admission surprised Aurora, and Tw'eak felt her eyebrows rise. Spera's eyes refocused on her mother's face and she straightened up. "Sorry."

Unsure what to say, Tw'eak merely stared at Spera.

Spera gave an exasperated expression. "Oulius. Do I need to - look, he's cute." She shook her head slightly from side to side. "Okay, really cute."

"He's also got a wife and two children back on mol'Rihan," Aurora added with a shrug. "That came up in his personnel evaluation. He's an interesting person, I'm surprised you mentioned him."

"Not as surprised as I am," Tw'eak said dryly.

Spera shrugged. "Sorry."

"No, no, don't be. It's fine. Was just something I hadn't considered."

"Because you don't ask about those details, right?" Spera asked flatly.

"Are there details?" Tw'eak inquired sharply. Then she shook her head and waved a hand. "Don't answer that." She looked back to Aurora. "My point was that one's inner sense of self, the people we like, the people we don't, those sorts of things... they're a normal part of the service. As long as they don't interfere with your duty, then you don't need to worry."

"But it does, doesn't it? I'm one step removed from overall command of this ship."

"Granted. And I doubt Octavia would be very understanding of this sort of thing."

"Oh my God!" Aurora put a hand over her mouth. "My worst nightmare! And things were just getting back to normal - she'd have him transferred to the Gamma Quadrant!"

Tw'eak laughed. "Probably. But maybe that's something we could consider, within the task force. We'll all be working fairly closely together. I could arrange a personnel swap with the Turing or one of the science ships, if you'd like."

"You could!?"

"Yes, of course. We'd be able to arrange that quietly, I'm sure. That way he doesn't report to you directly and you two have nothing to worry about."

"Wow, thank you!" Aurora hesitated for a moment. "But that'd look bad. On his personnel record, I mean."

"Not necessarily. There's a big difference between simple personnel transfers and a disciplinary transfer."

Aurora let out a rather substantial sigh. "Okay, thank you. God, I was so worried - I thought you'd be so disappointed in me."

"Not at all."

"And I mean, after that whole mess with K'Vor... I mean, I really liked him, too, and look how that turned out."

"Was he really an Orion?" Spera asked.

"Yeah, that was him all right."

"You know about how they can seduce people, right?"

Aurora nodded. "Yeah, I know, wasn't really my fault."

"If it makes you feel any better, men fall way harder for female Orions in disguise. They're irresistible, apparently." Spera looked over at Tw'eak. "I got dumped for one, once."

"We had Orions onboard? In disguise?"

"Not disguised, but a few of them, civilians. We needed all the help we could get. You didn't like it, but they were willing to prove themselves. Most of them were the quiet kind, not really as treacherous. Lucky breaks put them in our path, that sort of thing. They were more focused on us all surviving than building a syndicate, but we always suspected there was a black market in the fleet. Never found any proof, though. They were really good at it if they even existed. Very little contraband onboard most of the time, that we knew of, anyway. But there were a couple of Orions my age, and my boyfriend at the time cheated on me with one of the younger of the girls. I was about ready to duel her, but you told me to relax, that he'd come back once she was done with him." Spera slapped her hands together. "And sure enough, he did, not a week later. She moved on, and when she did, he wanted to get back together."

"So what'd you do?" Aurora asked.

Spera smiled. "Exactly what my shreya suggested - a cold shoulder like only an Andorian can give."

Tw'eak chuckled. "That's my girl."

"Was too bad, he was really sweet. Funny, too." Spera looked up at Aurora, then at Tw'eak. "No details, of course."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Resume, please," she instructed the turbolift.

Aurora leaned over to Spera. "Maybe later, details," she whispered.

Spera gave a little giggle, and nodded. For her part, Tw'eak merely gave a knowing upwards glance towards the turbolift roof, pretending not to hear.

* * *

The bridge of the Warspite felt as though Tw'eak had never left. The view of Mars and the stations of the Utopia Planitia yards upon the screen gave the impression of a vast, boundless energy as countless ship building projects continued apace. If ships could talk, Tw'eak thought, they'd probably see this place as a nursery, hospital, private club... prison, perhaps?

Around the bridge, signs of energy abounded as well. Oulius was discussing some matter with his twin brother, Subcommander Tavian, who served aboard as a projectile weapons specialist. After a brief pause as both of them nodded at Tw'eak as she entered, they continued talking, allowing her to understand the subject of their conversation - a tractor-beam emitting mine - a bit better. From the captain's chair, Octavia rose and came over to greet them. Tw'eak took in a quick look over the shoulder from Lieutenant Aewon, at the helm despite the ship not going anywhere, and the operations officer, whom she did not recognize.

"Good to be back," Tw'eak said to Octavia as she approached.

From the science station aft, Bianca duBois came to Octavia's side. "Wonderful to see you both," she said.

Tw'eak looked up at Octavia. "Everything all right?" It wasn't like Octavia to remain completely silent like this. She looked over at Bianca furtively, then nodded.

"Perhaps we'd best move to the conference room before I explain," Bianca said quickly. She pointed an ushering hand in its direction. Tw'eak gave Aurora a sharp look, but Aurora could merely shrug. Tw'eak also noted that Spera was watching her every move, anxious. Striding assertively, Tw'eak stepped into the conference room.

The table was set with a pitcher of water, a steaming teapot, and a couple of other coffee pots and kettles. The smells - of coffee, katheka, raktajino, and an assortment of other hot drinks - hung in the air. On the other side of the table, Doc Shirley Ellington sat with her partner and assistant, Kim. Talking softly among themselves as she came in, Tw'eak could overhear Doc say, "here she is," to Kim, and both of them stood up to greet the admiral.

Once Octavia had come through the door, she once again gestured to Bianca, who said, "Doc has some news for you."

Tw'eak turned to Doc. "Well, Tw'eak..." she began. "I ran a couple tests, and put in a few long nights on this. It looks as though the-"

"We're expecting." Kim cut Doc off flatly, then burst into a smile.

Tw'eak looked from Kim's excited expression to Doc, whose joy seemed somewhat forced. "That's wonderful news!" She walked to the pregnant Kim first, giving her a careful hug. "I don't know if I should do this."

"She'll survive," Doc quipped. Tw'eak then hugged her chief medical officer and friend, then leaned back.

"So is this baby-"

"Let's not go calling it a 'baby' yet. At this point it's barely visible to a tricorder."

"But the... patient...?"

Spera jumped into the conversation. "It's me?"

Doc shook her head. "Honestly, this is what I get for coming out of sickbay. Layman's terms for everything."

Kim clucked her tongue. "Shirl, can you please just tell them?"

"There's a developing process underway. I'm very concerned that it won't be viable over the long term, but it took three or four tries to get one that worked. The new medical officer aboard here, Doctor Soltar, was extremely helpful - he was the one who performed the actual process."

"She's always so protective of me," Kim said.

"I've learned that's a good trait for your doctor to have," Tw'eak replied.

"And yes, Spera," Kim added, patting her stomach, "it's you."

"Not precisely," Doc noted. "We didn't have to make any changes to the overall genetic material, but getting that zygote to co-operate was finicky work. Luckily, I had a fertility expert onboard, she just happened to be involved in the experiment."

Tw'eak turned back to Octavia. "So that was why you were acting so strangely."

Octavia gave her typical crooked smile. "I was advised by Lieutenant Commander - by Bianca that it would be inappropriate to advise you of this information myself. As you know, I have a difficult time maintaining surprises."

"You did just fine this time." Tw'eak smiled at Octavia, and at Bianca. "Thanks for helping out."

"Just another day aboard the Warspite," Bianca said with a laugh. "Honestly, this ship's like no other I've ever served aboard. All this happy stuff... if only every senior staff meeting was this cordial."

Tw'eak took a look around the room. "Hold on a minute." She tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Silhouette."

"Silhouette. Dashii here."

"Dashichal - good, I was hoping to catch you. Why don't you get... Captain McQueen, and Commander Wren, and Lini, too - the four of you, come on over to the Warspite." Tw'eak looked at Spera. "We have something to celebrate."

"I'll get the Andorian ale, then."

Tw'eak pursed her lips, not that Dashii could tell. "Not that kind of celebration, zhi."

"Oh. Okay, then. I'll... be right over."

"Good."

"And you'll forget I mentioned anything ale-related."

"We'll discuss that separately, Lieutenant. Sh'abbas out."

Spera started to giggle to herself. "Zhayra Dashii's in trouble..."

"The possession of such contraband is strictly regulated by Starfleet," Octavia noted.

"You all go ahead if you'd like," Kim said. "Contraband or otherwise, I can't anymore - it's not good for the baby..." She practically gushed as she spoke, then turned to Doc. "Not good for the baby. I get to say that now!"

Doc smiled and nodded, but her happiness did not have the same giddiness to it. Tw'eak gave Doc a quick, confused look, but Doc simply looked away.

Aurora had been uncharacteristically quiet up until this point. "So it's really happening," she observed. "I can't believe it."

"Neither can I," Spera affirmed. "Have you decided on a name yet?"

"Fetus," Doc said flatly. "For now. Until we're absolutely certain this is viable."

"You don't need to worry, Spera - Esperanza is already taken," Kim noted. "We'll call her something else."

"Let's not rush to conclusions," Doc disagreed, her hand resting on her tricorder instinctively.

Kim put her arms around Doc. "Darling, I'm getting the best medical care in the quadrant here, with two of the best doctors in Starfleet at my bedside, one of whom..." She looked up at the group. "Well, never mind my bedside. One of whom loves me with all of her stubborn heart."

"And who doesn't think you should even be out of bed right now," Doc added, smiling softly. "Can I please get you back to our quarters?"

"Oh... all right. It seemed like the admiral had something fun in mind."

"Just a toast to the mom-to-be," Tw'eak replied.

"Oh, let's please stay for that, Shirl. Tw'eak has people coming all the way from other ships for it, and it's for us. Please?"

Doc looked down, relenting. "There's no keeping you away from a social occasion, is there."

Kim shook her long red hair back over her shoulder as she sat at the conference table. "I've always been the more extroverted member of this partnership, haven't I."

"So you'll be staying aboard ship for the duration?" Bianca asked as she and Aurora took seats on the opposite side of the table.

Doc nodded. "We'll probably transfer her over to the Silhouette once she's alright to move."

"The baby will be in school by then, if Shirley has her way," Kim joked.

"Oh, stop." Doc looked up at Tw'eak. "Should've known the quarters on the Silhouette would be like phone booths. Just didn't expect that to be true of the sickbay, too."

"If you'd like, I can arrange to transfer you back over to the Warspite."

"No, no, that won't be necessary. It's Soltar's sickbay now."

"I would be amenable to making such an exchange," Octavia noted. "It would be preferable to have a doctor with prior experience with my Borg implants aboard."

"And we miss having you around for coffee," Aurora added.

Doc mused it over for a bit. "I don't know..." She looked up at Kim.

"Let's do it, Shirl."

Doc looked up at Tw'eak. "You'll have to be extra good."

"I promise," Tw'eak said, raising a hand in a mock oath.

The door opened, admitting Lini, Dashii, Wren and Kit. "Most of you know Captain Kit McQueen, my flag officer, and my sister Dashii. This is Lini, our lieutenant at tactical, and our intelligence officer, Iffy Wren."

"Hello," Lini said.

"Hi," Wren acknowledged. "I think we've met before," she said to Doc.

"Yes, we have. Always nice to see another customer up and about." She pointed out Wren to Kim. "See that? You, in three months. Just like that."

Kim smiled. "I'm familiar with the phases of pregnancy, Doctor, thank you."

Wren sat down at the table across from Kim. "Oh, are you expecting as well?"

Tw'eak placed a hand on Wren's shoulder. "That's what I asked you all over here for. I thought it might be appropriate, given that we're expecting two babies, no matter what you may think" - here Tw'eak gave a mischievous look to Doc - "that we should celebrate it together, as friends and as family."

"I like that," Kim said. Doc merely sat down by her side, saying nothing.

"Yeah! I like that, too!" Aurora exclaimed. "I'll go get some stuff for that!" She dashed off to the replicator at the far end of the room.

"I will assist," Octavia said, following.

Lini stepped up to Tw'eak with a look of curiosity. "Is that... katheka I smell?"

"It is. We brought quite a bit aboard before we left port. Enough to last a while."

"Great, I haven't had a good cup of katheka in so long."

"Replicated katheka is terrible," Tw'eak acknowledged. "That's why we planned ahead."

"Okay, good. Nobody else I knew really appreciated the stuff, but I'm glad it's not just me. Could I have some?"

"Help yourself." Tw'eak smiled as the young lieutenant strode by, and looked over at her sister, who had sidled along the wall rather than sitting down. "How about you?"

"She's having Spera?"

"Yeah. Sort of." It was easier, Tw'eak figured, than explaining in detail.

"That's good. I'm... glad it worked."

Tw'eak inclined her head slightly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Dashii said quickly. "Really, shi. Nothing."

"Alright. If you'd rather-"

"Yeah." Dashii looked the other way.

Tw'eak nodded. "Okay." She stood silently along her sister for a moment, watching Wren pour Kim and Doc a drink from the pot on the table while Lini made a beeline for the katheka, followed closely by Spera, with whom she chatted excitedly. Kit McQueen got herself a cup of coffee, and passed the milk to Bianca, while at the replicator, Aurora and Octavia busily argued over what to replicate. "You want anything?" Tw'eak asked after a few seconds.

"No," Dashii replied. "I should get back."

"Back where?"

"Silhouette. Got stuff I should do."

"Dashichal..."

"Don't." Dashii's tone was quiet, but firm. "Really."

Tw'eak looked towards the door. "Look, come outside with me for a second."

"Why?"

"Just... please." She urged Dashii towards the door with a pleading look, and Dashii shook her head, her hair dancing about her head as she did. Tw'eak took a few steps towards the exit, and after a hesitant moment, Dashii followed. In the alcove outside, just short of being visible to the bridge crew, Tw'eak turned to her sister. "Tell me," she whispered.

Dashii kept her tone down. "I feel really stupid, I guess. I don't know. I didn't think it'd work."

"Spera?"

"Yeah. The baby, I mean. I really hoped she wouldn't be able to do it."

"If anyone can make it work, it's Doc."

"Yeah, yeah." Dashii looked down. "It's not because of me, right?"

"Not at all. You were there."

"It's just... I'm worried, Twaiheak."

"About what?"

"I shouldn't even be bothering you with this, I mean, I know you can't even-" Dashii caught herself, and shook her head. "Uzaveh's name. I can't even get it out."

"Is it about me?"

"No, me... you know. Our way."

"Being Whole, you mean."

"Yeah. What happens if I can't?"

Tw'eak was stunned. She was the one who would typically say that. "What do you mean?"

Dashii looked desperately at her sister. "You heard what Doc said. About what happened to me."

"While you were captive on Nimbus?"

"Yes. If I'm too... damaged, down there, to carry this baby, what makes her think I'll ever be able to again?"

"Dashichal-"

"And how will I ever be Whole again? It's like the Infinite is punishing me for leaving my bond group to go after Qaz."

"Look, I'm hardly an expert on this stuff, zhi. On any of it."

"But that's what scares me. That one day I'll go home, and be with them all again, and they'll be so excited because it'll be time... and nothing. Because of me."

"You'd hardly be the first Andorian to come back ...wounded in some way. Besides, you've had time to heal. Things could be better now. You don't know."

"But I did this to myself. That's what I can't get over."

"You- I seem to be saying this a lot today, I don't need any details, but I'm struggling to see how you did any of this to yourself."

"Isn't it obvious?"

Tw'eak nodded. "In a way, yeah. I felt the same way when I lost my arm."

"That's hardly the same thing."

"Hear me out. I made a mistake. I led my team down an uncleared corridor, we got jumped, they had to beam me out in pieces... six months later, I was back on duty, terrified of going down corridors - any corridors. Which made getting around on the Nelson a little difficult, believe me. But I had to work through it." Tw'eak raised a finger, instructively. "Note that I say, work through it. Not, get over it."

"But how do I do that?"

"The ship's counselor might be a good start."

"We don't have one."

Tw'eak looked startled. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. There's one on the Turing, a Lieutenant Nequi, I think?"

"Maybe we'll use him, then."

"Her," Dashii corrected.

"Her," Tw'eak repeated. "I should probably go see her myself." She leaned back. "Having the task force locked down like this has been really hard on me. I'm worried the stress of all this Iconian stuff is getting to me."

Dashii chuckled. "I'm not surprised to hear that. It's a hell of a lot to-"

"Ma'am?" Tw'eak turned to see Oulius standing in the alcove entryway. "Everything all right?"

"Yes. Sibling stuff." Tw'eak smiled at Oulius, acknowledging what Spera had pointed out earlier. He really was an attractive Romulan after all. "You know how it is."

"I do." Oulius smiled and went back to his duty station.

"You were saying?"

"Spera's whole future. Nightmare stuff. It's a hell of a lot to have to accept that it could be our reality, too, if we don't win this."

"It might be even if we do win." Tw'eak shook her head. "She's so well put-together. I don't know, I try to imagine how different our lives would've been, growing up somewhere other than Andoria."

"It probably would've been better."

"You think so? We would've been orphans, more than likely."

"No shreya? Not sure I'd mind."

"Dashichal!"

"And, I don't know about you, but Andoria, just the thought of being back there? I always feel so small when I'm there. Like everyone thinks I'm still seven years old."

"I know what you mean," Tw'eak replied, her thoughts drifting to the Wall of Honour, and her own sense of not belonging on her own homeworld.

"Still, you ever talk to Spera? About her timeline?"

"Yeah, all the time."

Dashii crossed her arms. "The kid's never known a life off-ship. She doesn't trust herself to be anyplace that can't run away from its troubles at warp speed. We took the engines offline for a couple hours to calibrate the sensors, and she wanted to order everyone into shuttles in the meantime! While we were in spacedock!"

"That's standard operating procedure where she's from. In case they have to get away."

"But it's insane."

"From our point of view, certainly."

Dashii shook her head sadly. "A kid her age... doesn't know the meaning of fun."

"She's never had time," Tw'eak acknowledged. "Even here - we've been relying on her to give us all this intel on the Iconians when all she really knows to do is get away."

"It's not going to be much fun at all once it all starts."

For whatever reason, this gave Tw'eak an idea. "That's it."

"What? Iconians?"

"No, no - a getaway." Tw'eak smiled at Dashii. "We can call it a family vacation."

"Uzaveh's name," Dashii muttered. "Remember that time we all went to the Northern Wastes?"

"Please don't remind me."

"And Sassil went off on her own to try and find the Aenar?"

"I said-"

"She had burns from ice bores for months afterwards! It's funny now, but at the time, it was probably lots more serious."

"Yeah," Tw'eak recalled. "Zhavey had to sit up with her all night for a couple days, tending those burns."

"Because shreya had to get back to work the very next day, and - do you remember, thavan trying to use the dermal regenerator on them?" Dashii did a crude imitation of a thaan-male voice. " 'Trust me, Tri, I'm a Marine, we do all our own first aid...' And Sassil screaming - remember?"

"Our family vacations were always awful, but that was easily the worst time we ever had. We didn't even catch anything."

"I thought I caught a frost vole?"

"Finding it eating your rations when you wake up is not 'catching' it." Tw'eak smiled. "But really, though - we'll go someplace nice. Just to get away."

Dashii frowned. "Getting away was what caused me all these problems to start with."

"I understand that, but this time we'll fill out the paperwork ahead of time, and we'll go together -someplace safe. Risa, maybe?"

"Risa?" Dashii's grim expression was replaced by a fonder one. "Really?"

"Why 'really?'? Do you know someplace better?"

"It's just... a bit too obvious, isn't it? Almost cliche to get away to Risa."

"Of course it is. I was only offering unless we could think of someplace better."

"No, no, that's the thing - it's Lohlunat festival time again."

"The what?"

Dashii laughed. "Honestly, sometimes, Twaiheak. The Lohlunat festival, on Risa, is a celebration - way better than your lame 'celebration' in there."

"So we're going to take Spera to Risa, then? That's your plan."

"Well? I don't know. New Romulus is a mess-"

"Keep your voice down, Oulius is right there."

"Ooh, I know! Let's see if Sassil can book us in someplace on Qo'noS! We can go to the opera!"

Tw'eak was unimpressed. "So, Risa, then."

"You don't want to take her to Bajor?"

"I would love to - you know how much I love Bajor. But think about it. We have to convince her to go - and Risa would be a fairly low-priority target for a planet-killer."

"Right. Good point." Dashii raised a hand to her face, touching her chin. "So I can teach her how to party while we're there, but what are you going to do?"

"No, no - invite your bond group."

"What the hell?" Dashii was suddenly fierce. "Why them?"

"We all need this. I can make the arrangements for the ones that are in service-"

"Twaiheak, wait. Is this because of what I said before?"

"Partly. But also because... well... they need to get to know you. The real you. And on Risa, you're more likely to be at ease."

"I'm more likely to be drunk, you mean."

"No! No. Relaxed. They need you to be sincere with them. Don't they have something on Risa about the importance of being sincere and pleased with all things, even yourself?"

"I don't know, I mostly go there to party."

Tw'eak smiled. "Well... invite them along. You'll never really feel connected to them otherwise."

"You're serious."

"And I'll ask Lini to come along - she and Spera can enjoy themselves."

"Wait, Twaiheak - you're serious."

"Don't you think it's a good idea?"

"No, I don't. It'd be like inviting shreya along." Dashii gave Tw'eak a lethally unimpressed expression. "You are NOT inviting her."

"No!" Tw'eak felt herself become exasperated. "Look, let's just... can we talk more about this later, maybe?"

"Sure. They're probably wondering where we went anyway." Dashii turned back towards the doorway, then spun back to Tw'eak again. "But I swear, if shreya turns up on Risa while we're there-"

"Dashichal!" Tw'eak burst into laughter. "Absolutely not!" They went back into the conference room together.


	54. Part IV, Chapter 3

"Risa!" Aurora looked like she had just won the lottery - not that such things existed anymore in the Federation. "Oh, that's so exciting!"

"It's just an idea I had," Tw'eak insisted. She hadn't expected Dashii to ask Spera about it in front of everyone. Now, the secret was out.

"I think it's a lovely idea," Kim said, looking over at Doc. "You could use a little vacation time yourself."

Doc was her typical self in reply, indignant in a playful sort of way. "I just got my duty posting reassigned to support my pregnant wife and you want me to just jet off to Risa?"

"One doesn't jet off to Risa, dear. It's its own planet."

"Sorry. Warp off, then."

"But you can jet once you get to Risa," Bianca helpfully advised. "The atmospheric conditions there are such that you can use floaters. They're essentially jetpacks. One of the few places in the Federation where the technology's usable on a consistent basis. I'd love to try that some day, actually."

"Oh, me too!" Aurora exclaimed. "That sounds so exciting!"

"My favourite part's the beach," Dashii said after a moment. "I don't know... so many drinks, so much to do... sand castles, swimming, even just lying around on a deck chair and relaxing..."

"That sounds really exciting too!" Aurora said.

"Commander," Octavia said flatly, "Are you aware that you have used the word 'exciting' as a descriptive term continually for the past six minutes?"

"Well, it is!"

"I fail to comprehend how lying on a deck chair can be 'exciting'. The very concept is antithetical to excitement."

"I don't know... but I never get to do it!"

"So she's excited," Bianca said, concluding the sentence.

"Uh... yeah!" Aurora affirmed.

Tw'eak looked over at Spera. "So why don't you look very... excited." She glanced over at Octavia with a smirk as she said the last word.

"I don't think it's a good idea, that's all." Spera's expression radiated anxiety. "I mean... it's not really safe, is it?"

"It's safer than most places in the Federation," Dashii replied.

"And it's within Federation borders," Tw'eak added, "so regulations are in effect."

"And we'd be at an established resort area," Dashii continued, "with everything we need to relax and enjoy ourselves."

Spera remained unconvinced. "It's still... I don't know, you think it's a good idea?"

Aurora waved her hands at Spera. "I think it's a good idea!"

"Don't let that be reason enough to stop you," Doc quipped.

"Everyone's being so mean about this. I just really want to go!"

"They're not being mean, Aurora," Bianca explained. "You're just being... really juvenile about this."

"I am NOT," Aurora replied.

Bianca nodded. "Yeah, you are."

"Fine, then." Aurora turned the other way.

"Now you're pouting," Bianca couldn't help pointing out.

Surprisingly, Aurora said nothing.

"Now you're ignoring me," Bianca concluded. "Great." She looked away from her sister. "Admiral, I'd like to respectfully request permission for my sister to join your group."

Aurora looked over at her sister, surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. If it keeps us from fighting for a few days, I'll help you pack."

"I can pack just fine by myself!"

Tw'eak closed her eyes, raising a hand to adjudicate. "Nobody's going anywhere. Not yet." She looked over to Spera. "It's your call."

"I don't know, Shreya. I mean, it's really nice of you and zhayra Dashii, and I would like to go, but... maybe just on the holodeck instead?"

"You're that afraid of going ashore?" Dashii's tone had a sort of sadness to it. "We'll help, believe me."

Spera took a long blink and a deep breath. "It's not that simple. I just don't really like planets. I like the little differences they all have, like their gravitation and their climate and things like that, but I don't want to go anywhere on an open-ended basis, whether that's a planet or a space station or wherever."

Tw'eak considered for a moment, nodding, her face grim. She turned to Octavia. "So what are you doing for the next week or so?"

"On a personal level, or as commander of this starship?"

"Both."

"Warspite is currently awaiting orders. I personally had intended to tend to my roses. Their peak timing for pruning will occur within the next thirty-six hours."

"Lots of flowers on Risa," Dashii said.

"I am aware of the chronicled specimens of Risian floral arrangements, thank you."

"So that's what we'll do," Tw'eak decided. "We'll take Warspite to Risa."

"Won't that be against regulations?" Kim asked.

"Not to my knowledge. Warspite's part of my task force. The task force isn't going anywhere. So we detach Warspite from the task force, at least, on the big board at Starfleet Command, and we go to Risa."

"Under what authority?" Octavia asked.

"Mine. But I'll be on leave."

"Very well."

"Assuming Spera decides she wants to go."

Spera looked around the group - Doc avoided looking back at her, and after a moment, so did Kim. Aurora's face held a pleading expression, which only faded slightly as she darted a dirty look to Bianca, who had hit her in the leg to try to distract her. Octavia looked her usual impassive self, while Dashii and Tw'eak both wore expressions of concern, of the only-want-the-best-for-you variety.

"I would feel better if we had a shuttlecraft standing by."

Aurora let out a frustrated sigh, but Tw'eak raised a hand. "We'll go one better." Tw'eak looked over at Octavia. "Nobody's really had shore leave aboard lately, have they?"

"Not as such, no - we were maintained at a state of continual readiness while aboard Earth Spacedock. We only issued short-term passes to crew - forty-eight hours being their typical duration."

"So there we have it." She looked at the group, her antennae wide, her attitude pleased. "Warspite will head to Risa for a few well-earned days off." Tw'eak looked back to Spera. "And I'll arrange for Lini to beam over and join us."

Lini looked up from where she had been quietly standing at the back of the room. "Me?"

"Yeah. You."

Lini shook her head. "No, honestly, Admiral, I... I don't like Risa. It's too warm. Besides, I have a lot to learn about being a tactical officer, and Captain McQueen was going to give me some simulations to run."

Kit smiled. "Which is why I won't be coming either - I've got a few thousand things still to do before we're cleared for operations. Sounds fun, though."

There was the buzz of a notification. "Admiral?" Oulius' voice was audible through the communicator.

"Go ahead, Subcommander."

"We have Admiral Quinn on subspace."

Tw'eak looked up at Spera, then at Dashii, surprised. "Good. I'll be right out." Tw'eak smiled at Octavia. "I think I'd better take this call."

"Of course." Octavia stood up. "We will return to our respective duty stations in the meantime." She considered for a moment. "Perhaps you would rather use the ready room?"

"I could do that." Tw'eak stood. "Saves you all the trouble of having to clear out, anyway."

"We're not going anywhere," Aurora said, her face wearing a huge grin. "We've got a vacation to plan!"

There was a sort of general bubbliness among the crew present, save for Octavia, who remained standing and left the room, and Spera, who got up from her chair. "If you don't mind, Shreya, I'd like to hear what the admiral has to say."

"Certainly." The two of them followed Octavia onto the bridge, around past the tactical station, and down the ramp into the ready room. Octavia cued the communication function on the terminal at the desk, and Tw'eak adjusted her tunic as she sat down to face Admiral Quinn. "Hello, Admiral."

"Sh'abbas. Good. I was surprised to hear you weren't aboard your flagship."

"Not my current one, no. Silhouette might be my flagship, but I always feel most at home here on Warspite."

"I understand. I remember feeling that way about a few of my old commands, before duty called me to Earth Spacedock."

"I'm hoping you have good news, sir."

"Somewhat. Fleet Admiral Kells is rather insistent on Task Force Silhouette joining the Eighth Fleet under his direct supervision."

"I understand."

"I'm not sure I do. To be honest, Tw'eak, I like the idea of your task force, and its mission, but I can't get him to agree. He's insisting on inspecting every duty station and assignment personally in order to see to it that everything is to Starfleet standard."

Spera began to speak in protest, but Tw'eak raised a finger in her direction without moving her hand. "I understand, sir - I would expect everything to be well above that standard, in fact."

"I think he's just nervous about the possibility of a coup or an insurgency. I don't blame him, but if it sets his mind at ease, then I'm not going to argue."

Tw'eak considered for a moment. "Have we ruled out the possibility of Undine agents being involved, sir?"

"That's a hell of a thing to say."

"I'm just putting it out there, sir. Past experience with infiltration - for the fleet admiral to go from, shall we say, looking the other way with regards to our task force, then making a stubborn effort to make it run a certain way..."

"I see your point. My officers here aren't of the opinion that any further Undine infiltrators are present aboard. I had Commander E'genn look over the entire spacedock crew manifest from top to bottom, and he assures me we're clear."

"I don't mean to cast any aspersions, sir, rather meaning that the Undine would love nothing more than to see our efforts undermined."

"In the case of your counterpart, the Counter-Command Task Force, I could see this being true, as it's largely devoted to research and understanding of the Undine, not the Iconians. But your entire mission brief takes it in a different direction." Quinn adjusted himself in his chair. "Which is the other reason - the main reason - I wanted to talk to you."

"Sir?"

"Proconsul D'Tan has been in contact. He's asked for Federation representatives who have a history of good relations with the Republic to join him and his research teams on mol'Rihan, specifically at the site of the gateway you uncovered late last year."

Tw'eak nodded. "I remember it well, sir."

"He's also invited a delegation from the Klingon side - I understand Ambassador Worf will be present."

"It'll be an honour to meet him."

"Two of our ships have already arrived in orbit. Both were requested by name as their respective captains have proven themselves to be friends to the Republic, much as you have. Those two ships are the Enterprise, of course, and the Armstrong. You know both their commanders, I understand."

Tw'eak's antennae moved about a bit at the sounds of the names of the starships. "Indeed. Captain Shon and I have known each other for years, and Captain Dazz was one of my bridge officers aboard the Bonaventure before she was called to command."

Quinn nodded. "And is proving to be one of our most capable up-and-coming officers. She made the difference in a fleet action near Starbase 234 just a few weeks ago - I'm sure you read about that in the news service."

"Can't say I have, sir. I'll have to look it up."

"I'm surprised to hear that. Captain Dazz made quite an impression - with her admiral's ship disabled, she took command of the task force and organized things very well. What might've resulted in a direct assault on the starbase instead became a well-organized fighting retreat because of her. The Tholians can be a difficult adversary. But we didn't lose a single vessel - and they lost eleven."

"Brilliant news. I'll commend her for it when I see her." Tw'eak looked up towards Octavia. "I should note that I had indicated to Captain Eight of Twelve that she would be free to take her ship to Risa for a week of shore leave."

"If it's something you had agreed to prior to this conversation, then they should proceed as you've indicated."

"I see." Tw'eak looked up at Spera, who was nodding. She then put her hands together and mouthed the word, 'shuttle' at Tw'eak, thrusting her hands forward in a vaguely shuttle-like shape. "I can take a shuttle."

"If you'd like. I might be more comfortable with having a starship escort me, but I'm so rarely away from Earth these days. A week on Risa, right about now? Sounds lovely."

"I'm just thinking that if Enterprise and Armstrong are already there, no need for Warspite, too."

"Good point. We don't want the Klingons thinking we're trying to open up another front."

"Are we, sir?"

"Not in the slightest. We're holding, even gaining ground in certain sectors. At this point our strategy is to try to defend wherever we need to, but to hope the diplomats can finally forge a solution. Of course, the Klingons tend to fight hardest when the odds are turning against them, and even if the Empire capitulated tomorrow, we'd have rogue units and squadrons after us for years to come. They organize well when there's war, but those same warriors aren't nearly as committed to keeping the peace."

"I know the type." Tw'eak looked over at Spera. "So when do we leave?"

" 'We'?" Quinn asked.

"I'm sure you're aware that our resident expert on the Iconians is one Commander Esperanza de Salaberry." Spera, for her part, expressed surprise on her face.

"Oh, of course. You'll want her to come along with you."

Spera raised both hands, mouthing 'No'. "Yes, please."

"I don't see that being a problem. As you say, we have two ships' worth of officers overhead. One more won't make that much of a difference."

"Thank you, sir. We'll make arrangements to get underway immediately."

"I appreciate that. Good luck. Quinn out."

Spera sunk back against a chair, defeated. Octavia spoke first. "I will also make arrangements as requested. With your permission, Admiral, I should prefer to remain onboard."

"Take a few hours down on Risa for me, will you? Go see those flowers Dashii was talking about."

Octavia nodded. "Very well."

"What about you?"

Spera looked stricken. "I never want to see one of those damned gateways again."

"This is our big chance to learn how they work."

"Well, take zhayra Dashii, then."

"She wouldn't know where to start."

"Neither would I," Spera noted, correctly.

"I'd rather you came along. Gets you off of Risa."

"Trading one planet for another is hardly a good trade."

"You get to bring your own shuttlecraft."

"I don't... look, I have a terrible premonition. I had it before, too."

"About Risa?"

"About something. I don't really know what. I've never been to mol'Rihan - it fell fairly early on."

"That gateway might have something to do with that. If so, we owe it to the Romulans to find out how it works, keep them from using it against us. They lost one homeworld, the least we can do is keep it from being two."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Shreya, but I'm not convinced anything we do is going to keep that from happening."

Tw'eak sat back, frustrated. "Then stay aboard Warspite. Go to Risa. Eat, drink, be merry..."

"...for tomorrow, we die," Octavia said, completing the phrase.

Tw'eak stared, astonished, at her friend. "What?"

"Were you not familiar with the saying?"

"I... never mind." Tw'eak looked back to Spera. "Well?"

Spera gritted her teeth, resigned to the outcome. "I don't want to let you down."

"You won't either way. But we'll be a day, two at most, before we join up with Warspite and it'll be cold drinks on a hot beach for the both of us."

"I don't understand how you can find that appealing. Risa has a bit of a reputation for being... you know, that sort of place"

"Yeah, it does, but it doesn't have to be. I've been a couple times. It was nothing special - waves, beach, trees, little huts... not much to do. If I'd wanted it to be romantic I suppose it could've been, but I'm not sure it would've had the kind of meaning I would've wanted." She looked over to Octavia as she stood up and walked to Spera's side. "Who knows, any one of us could meet someone while we're there. Maybe it's a good kind of premonition you're getting."

Spera shuffled her feet. "No, no... I have these premonitions from time to time. Then bad stuff comes soon after. They're not often, but they aren't usually good omens. The last one I had, we lost three ships not an hour later."

"I'll tell you what," Tw'eak said with a smile. "I'm certain you're wrong this time."

"Really."

"Really! And with Octavia as my witness... when we get back to Risa, in one piece, without much of a story to tell, the whole universe exactly as we left it, well, when that happens..." Tw'eak shrugged slightly, then pointed at Spera and grinned. "You're buying."

* * *

The shuttlecraft Hypatia had left the Silhouette about an hour earlier, making its way at warp speed towards mol'Rihan, otherwise known as New Romulus. The option to use the quantum slipstream drive had been available, but Tw'eak had required a little extra time in order to contact the members of Dashii's bond group, or their commanding officers, in order to arrange for them to meet her on Risa. Her message to them had been simple - Dashii had hoped to meet them there to talk and spend time together, but lacked the authority to make it happen herself. That was where Tw'eak had entered into the equation. She had intentionally avoided mentioning how the whole thing had been her idea, not Dashii's.

At the helm, Spera monitored the shuttle's course and speed. Tw'eak sat next to her. "One more to contact. The Sarissa."

Tw'eak tapped at the console and input the communications transponder codes that would connect the subspace relay network to both the Hypatia and the Sarissa. After a few moments, the sight of a broad-shouldered human captain, bald, with a great nose set within a head that appeared almost cylindrical rather than round, came onto Tw'eak's viewer. "Captain Hogan Brannigan. How may I assist?"

"I'm Vice Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas, Eighth Fleet." This pretense had been Tw'eak's idea of a joke - Fleet Admiral Kells wanted her task force to be part of the Eighth Fleet, after all.

"Hello, Admiral. How may I assist?"

"One of your crewmembers is a... Lieutenant Commander Shorban Th'lanir?"

"My chief medical officer, in fact."

Tw'eak nodded. She remembered that Shorban was a doctor. "I'd like to arrange passage for him to Risa."

"Well now... lucky Shorban." Brannigan shook his head. "I'm afraid he won't be willing to go."

"May I ask why?"

"Surely I don't need to explain in detail. We're at war. The Sarissa has just taken on a contingent of Starfleet Marines in need of medical evacuation from the Trimble system. As it happens, we're en route to rendez-vous with a hospital ship in the Tazi system, which is fairly close to Risa, but I know Shorban."

"You can let him know that it's a family matter, rather than strictly a recreational stop-over, which I'm hopeful that he can attend. My sister is one of his bond mates, and she's currently recovering from an ordeal which placed her in the captivity of the Orion Syndicate."

"I see." Brannigan considered for a moment, then tapped his commbadge. "Brannigan to Th'lanir."

"Yes, sir?" Tw'eak heard Shorban respond.

"There's a vice admiral who'd like to talk to you. She'll be standing by on subspace."

"I'm afraid I'm in the middle of an operation at the moment, sir. The vice admiral will have to wait."

"Something about your bond group. She's calling on behalf of her sister."

There was a long silence. Brannigan looked uncomfortably at Tw'eak.

Tw'eak merely smiled politely. The screen switched over to a harried-looking Andorian in a surgical jumpsuit, his white hair ever so slightly out of place as he sat down. "Admiral."

"Hello, Shorban."

"Twaiheak Sh'abbas." Shorban gave a sigh. "I haven't seen you in years."

"Yes, I know. I'm almost surprised you recognized me."

"You know how it is when you're... anyway, it's been a long day. The captain said you wanted to talk."

"Yes." Tw'eak looked for the words to say. "Dashichal-"

"What's she done this time?" Tw'eak blinked. "I'm not sure I follow you."

"There are only three reasons I can think of that you'd contact me. She's dead, she's in the stockade, or she's abandoned her bond. So, which is it?"

Tw'eak smiled, attempting to remain diplomatic. "None of the above, as it turns out. She's had an incident during her course of service. It's not really my place to provide too many details, but she was hoping to have a conversation with all of you."

"A conversation."

"Yes. I... thought it might be nice for all of you to meet on Risa, rather than the homeworld."

"You want me to go to Risa, to meet with my bond group?"

"That's right." Shorban leaned back in his chair. "Are you ordering me to go?"

"No, but I've already spoken to Sh'rimta and Phollrem, and they're willing to attend."

"Neither of them are chief medical officer onboard a starship, are they?" Tw'eak nodded, struggling to maintain her composure. "So the captain informed me. You must be proud."

"Proud?" Shorban looked over his shoulder. "I don't have time to be proud."

"I can understand that. It must be hard on you."

"And here comes the part where you tell me I'd be better off on Risa for a few days."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes, and kept her tone clipped, precise. "It would appear there's no point in trying to tell you anything. I'll have to let Dashii know that three out of four is the best she can expect. Thank you for your time."

"Now - hey, wait a second. I didn't say I wasn't going."

Tw'eak merely stared back at Shorban.

"You're clearly looking for me to go, so... I'll go."

"Your attendance will serve an important part in Dashii's recovery from her incident."

Shorban's tone changed. "So it wasn't that kind of incident, then."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Never mind... you already said you wouldn't be providing details, so I won't ask. Guess I'll have to go find out, then." Shorban offered a half-smile. "Alright."

Tw'eak's tone remained entirely business-oriented. "I'll request that Captain Brannigan arrange your leave to commence as soon as you're ready. Once you've arrived in-system, please contact the USS Warspite for details. Dashii will either be aboard or down on Risa. They'll know how best to contact her."

"Right." Shorban looked up. "I had thought Dashii was aboard the Majestic."

"She was, prior to the incident in question."

"I see." Shorban nodded. "Must have been one hell of an 'incident'. I'll get on my way, then."

"I appreciate your attention to the matter." Tw'eak gave a brief nod. "Sh'abbas out." The communication ended, she lowered her head and took a deep breath. "Uzaveh's name, he can be frustrating."

"What's his problem?" Spera said angrily.

"He comes from one of those families on the homeworld that make people want to leave. They have relations involved in every aspect, they served the Imperial Guard since before we knew there were Vulcans out there... and my shreya made absolutely sure that we bonded with as many of them as we could."

"So that's what his problem was?"

"He's always looked down on Dashii. On all of us, really. I'm sure it pained him no end to have to be contacted by an in-law who outranks him."

"I feel sorry for his patients."

"Oh, I don't doubt he's totally different with his patients, probably has a fantastic bedside manner, if that's anything to go by." Tw'eak chuckled. "At least there are Starfleet competencies to worry about, in that regard."

Spera gave a little laugh. "I thought that was an Earth cliche, anyway..."

"What's that?"

"About marrying a doctor."

Tw'eak smiled. "He was just a medical cadet at that point. But yeah, I see your point." She sat back in her chair. "I called him last for good reason."

"Yeah, the other two conversations you had were far more pleasant." Spera shrugged. "Sorry, there was no way not to overhear."

"No, it's fine. They're your family, too, even if only by bond." Tw'eak looked up. "Sh'rimta is probably the tallest Andorian I've ever met. His family are weapons makers, they've been forging ushaan-tor blades and other weapons for centuries. He's an armoury officer."

"Yeah, I could tell."

"Very handsome, too. We've had a few sparring sessions from time to time... he's got an incredible reach. Comes with the height, I guess. And Phollrem... I like Phollrem quite a bit. Great sense of humour. She serves the Wall of Honour, just as my charan does."

"And her family have been doing that for centuries, too?"

"No, not at all. They're merchants - very capable merchants, too. They must own fifty freighters. Maybe more. But Phollrem wanted to give something more, and so she volunteered to serve at the Wall."

"That's impressive."

"Oh, definitely. You have to be the best of the best to work at the Wall. It's no joke, either - you have to be more than just a tour guide and a groundskeeper. It's the most sacred space to Andorians. It's incredibly hard to rate that detail."

"But your charan did."

"Yeah. And he has to earn his place, again, once every rainy season. It's like special forces crossed with being a history professor, with a bit of advanced botany and hospitality worked in."

Spera nodded. "Yeah, I... I know." She gave a bit of a sniff and looked forward again. "You told me about it."

"I did?"

"Yeah, about how you'd always wanted to go back to the Wall, either as one of its Heroes or like your charan did. After they destroyed Andoria, that was the hardest thing you had to deal with, the fact that it was just... gone."

Tw'eak nodded. "I would struggle with that, definitely."

"Anyway, I..." Spera's voice was a mere whisper. "I don't know if I have any place on Andoria, or even hearing about Andoria."

"Why would you say that?" Tw'eak leaned in. "Because of your human side?"

"No... the other side."

Tw'eak gave a slight shake of the head. "I don't follow."

"You know what I mean. Like it or not, I'm part Undine."

"No, you're not."

Spera let her shoulders flop back against the chair. "I am so, Shreya. I can move things with my mind, I can... I can make people think I'm not there, or that I look like someone else entirely... just like the Undine do."

"You can't do this to yourself."

"What's part of me is what destroys Andoria. And Earth, eventually, for that matter. And all of this..."

"Spera- stop."

Spera had stopped, but she raised a hand to her face. Unable to keep herself from crying, she turned away from Tw'eak. The feel of her mother's hand on her shoulder made her bolt rearward. "There's really nowhere to hide from your feelings," Tw'eak said after a moment. "Just let it out."

"But- damn it... damn it, damn it!" Spera's antennae began to glow slightly. At first, Tw'eak thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she realized her own antennae could sense it as well. Spera's eyes and head took on the same ambient glow. "Don't look at me!" she shouted.

"I - okay." Tw'eak duly complied, despite her fear, and looked out through the forward bulkhead. She then checked the heading and course of the shuttle, and the sensor readout - just passing the Jouret system, nothing exciting going on there; at two o'clock, the Azure nebula, coming up on the right...

Spera returned to her seat. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

"It's all right. What... do you want to talk about that?"

Spera cleared her throat and sat up. In a manner much like Tw'eak, she sharply tugged on her uniform tunic to adjust it. "When my emotional control starts to weaken, I start to see it. Around my hands, or in my field of vision... but it's always there."

"It's telekinetic energy, I'm guessing?"

"Psionic energy, just generally. I'm not telepathic, it's... it's different."

"And you're frightened of it?"

"Yes. I've seen what it can do." Spera adjusted her hair, her antennae angling downwards as she spoke. "It usually comes on as a defense mechanism. I nearly killed a friend of mine one time - I was very young, and she and I were out on the ship somewhere when some kids started picking on us. Their words really hurt, and I... I started to glow. So they started in on that, too - and then she reached out to try and pat me on the back, and I..." Spera's mouth hung open for a minute. "I don't remember what happened - she was knocked back and the whole corridor was glowing. Those other kids, they... they got the hell out of there. But I didn't mean for it to happen."

"Was she hurt?"

"Yeah. Broke her arm, her collarbone... We weren't friends anymore after that."

Tw'eak pursed her lips. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"Same reason you don't tell people about your syndrome. Shame, fear... embarrassment. I don't know."

"You don't have to worry about that with me," Tw'eak said. Instinctively, she reached to put a hand on Spera's shoulder. "Is it okay if I-?"

"Yeah. Should be fine now." Spera reached up and put her hand on Tw'eak's elbow. "See?"

Tw'eak smiled. "Usually when I lose my control I just throw things," she quipped.

"I know all about that," Spera said with a chuckle, before bringing a hand to her face again, this time to muffle laughter. "And then - oh, my God, it was so embarrassing. This one time - I really shouldn't tell you this."

"Not again."

"Well... um... before, I never would've mentioned this- like, in my time, you know? To my shreya? Not the sort of thing I would've told her, anyway."

"I follow you."

"There was this boy and he really liked me, and ... well, you know, we ... anyway, it kind of threw him across the room, too."

"While you were-?"

Spera gave a little smile. "Yeah, I got a little too involved."

Tw'eak's eyes opened wide. "Bet he didn't see that coming."

"No, not at all. Once he came to, he thought it was awesome. Of course, he took credit for making it happen, and then he went and told a few of his friends, who told everyone..." Spera shook her head. "I would've just left the fleet if there had been anywhere to go, I was so ashamed. Even my teachers found out about it."

The system indicator

\began to flash, its associated alarm sounding. "Come on, we're about to enter the Dewa system. We'll talk more about this later - but for right now, just..." Tw'eak put her hand on Spera's. "You don't have to be ashamed anymore."

"Really? I always thought you were."

"She might have been, but that's her problem. I'm not her." Tw'eak's eyes gave a slight sparkle as she smiled at Spera. "As you keep reminding me. Let's just focus on that."

"Okay," Spera replied. She reached for the console controls and began the approach to mol'Rihan, and the many starships that hung about in its orbit. "We are now on final approach to mol'Rihan - and local traffic command has control." Spera then nearly leapt out of her seat and gave Tw'eak an enormous hug. "Thanks, Shreya."

"No need to thank me," Tw'eak said, returning the embrace. She smiled as Spera returned to her seat. "And you don't need to be afraid of your emotions all the time. Something the Vulcans taught me - don't fear them, don't be frustrated by them... understand them. Accept them. Only then can you really regulate them."

"I'll... I'll try that. Thanks."

The shuttle continued its descent through the atmosphere of New Romulus, its shields glowing red, purple, and shades of blue and yellow across the forward viewport. "Come on," Tw'eak said to Spera. "We better get our EV suits on."

"EV suits? The radiation's that bad?"

"Not exactly - the Dewan ruins we're going to are deep underground. The pressure was pretty intense last time I was there, as was the heat. And the Tholians. But they've since been... evicted, shall we say."

"I'll get suited up," Spera said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing New Romulus for the first time."

"We can stop a couple places along the way. Wait'll you see the size of the nanov under the waterfall near the staging area. Fascinating creatures... the whole planet is fascinating, really. I wish we had more time there, though."

"I'm sure we'll make good use of the time we get." Spera went to the back of the craft and brought out two EV suits from their overhead storage. "Here you go." Tw'eak grabbed an EV suit out of midair and, putting it on, watched the glowing iridescence against the viewport as the shuttle came in to land. She thought about Spera, the similar effect dancing along her skin, its frightening implications. Even now, after so many hours they had spent together, the younger of the two was proving to be a continual surprise.


	55. Part IV, Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** The events of "Sphere of Influence", a Star Trek Online mission go here. I'm not going to re-write the whole thing and repeat someone else's dialogue word for word. It was a long mission, the unquestionable turning point of the Star Trek Online universe since it introduced all the stuff that made the Delta Quadrant accessible, and brought us that much closer to the Iconian War. If you've played it, you know what I'm talking about - if you haven't, and you're just reading this as a Star Trek story, this might get a bit confusing, but I wouldn't pick up playing Star Trek Online just so you can find out (seriously, don't start if you haven't already). I tried to briefly summarize at the start. It also really helps if you've read Bonaventure, the predecessor to this particular fanfic. Again, I tried to summarize a bit, in the event you haven't. Cheers. And as always, thank you for reading.

* * *

The bridge of the Enterprise-F was an enormous, truly unbelievable sight. Tw'eak had never even heard of a bridge that required a specific multiple-deck arrangement, but with a nearly-complete spherical view around the ship, coupled with a transporter pad built right in behind the captain's chair, the Odyssey class bridge was almost a ship unto itself. Indeed, the vessel to which it belonged was easily the most massive in the Federation, a class above the Sovereign-class and Avenger-class cruisers that Tw'eak was accustomed to serving aboard. There was a sort of embarrassment she felt at being here. After all, this was Va'kel Shon's bridge, not hers. Even if she outranked him, these were his crew members. This was his place.

Seventy-two hours had elapsed since the shuttle had landed on New Romulus. In that time, the activation of the gateway located deep underground had created unforeseen seismic activity, the instability of which had forced those in the subterranean chamber through the same gateway as their only method of surviving. To get back had cost them thirteen lives, nearly also counting that of Captain Shon, who had been experimented upon by a race known as the Solanae during their captivity. Tw'eak and Worf had been able to act quickly, overcoming automated defenses in order to liberate the captives and lead them to another gateway. The process of activating that gateway had unintentionally brought the entire Iconian gateway network online, including the interplanetary gateways, each the size of a small moon, one of which had resided in secret in the Jouret system, concealed in subspace from all forms of sensors until just a few hours ago. That huge gateway now hung in space around Jouret IV, although from Tw'eak's position forward, she could barely see it. This was fine by her - she knew enough to say it was still there, its incredible mass of working components creating a link large enough for the massive craft, their only means of returning home, which they had piloted in its defense against the Elachi to pass through it.

Tw'eak had spent the past few days at the mercy of the unintended consequence. To be back aboard a Starfleet vessel - especially after having been forced to suddenly use one of the Solanae's own ships in a holding action against an Elachi task force - was a welcome relief. The de-brief via subspace that had followed with Admiral Quinn, Proconsul D'Tan of the Romulan Republic, and Admiral Chakotay of Starfleet Intelligence, had proven exhausting for Captain Shon, Captain Birmal Dazz of the USS Armstrong, Subadmiral Konsab of the Republic warbird Vincero, and for Tw'eak as well. With Admiral Tuvok and the USS Voyager arriving in-system to meet with the group of them, Tw'eak's Risian vacation had been put on hold - yet again - and she leaned against a railing along the viewport in the forward observation lounge, tired yet worried. Down the ramp came Dazz and Konsab.

"Thank you again for all you've done, Admiral," Konsab began. "It was unfortunate that we couldn't all make it back."

Tw'eak looked up, offering a wan smile. "Least I could do." She looked over at Dazz. "You all right?"

"I think so. You and Ambassador Worf were able to retrieve us from that holding cell before they took us away. We were lucky, I guess."

Tw'eak nodded. "It was a day of mixed fortunes, you could say."

Konsab looked in the direction of the gateway. "Now the work can begin to truly understand what these things are, and how we use them."

"What do you know so far?"

"Very little. The head researcher, A'dranna, is an old friend. I'll see what she can tell me in a few days' time and let you know. I doubt it'll be much. We're clearly dealing with technology much, much further advanced than our own."

"I know. The presence of - the fact that it was here the whole time is simply extraordinary."

Konsab placed a hand to his shoulder. "You know, I should really get this looked at. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it's annoying."

"You should have time before Admiral Kererek arrives. Even then, I'd imagine he'll have more questions for you about the Republic's involvement in all of this rather than the actual event."

"No doubt. If you'll excuse me."

Konsab went back the way he came, leaving Dazz and Tw'eak on the observation deck together. "Looks like we went and did it again," Dazz said with a smile.

"This is why they transferred you to command, isn't it? To keep us from getting into trouble together."

Dazz laughed. "I didn't get a chance to tell you, last time I saw you, how much I appreciated everything you've done for me."

"Last time you saw me... on Nimbus?"

"It hardly seemed the time." Dazz looked out into space. "I grew up on my daddy's freighter, and I remember, being a little girl, looking up at him, looking up to him. He and my mother... they had something special together, and the whole crew knew it. Nobody aboard even dared show any disrespect. They didn't have anything but the highest respect for both of them. And I remember thinking to myself how, if I could command that kind of respect... if I could earn the trust and the admiration of not just my crew, but everyone I dealt with, from one day to the next, one system to the next... that was a better form of security than the most resilient shield or weapons array."

"Good policy."

"But being in Starfleet, I've seen that there's another side of that respect. Good intentions only get you so far - that respect? it's a commodity, it can be earned, but sometimes it can be bought and sold, too. It's just as important to be able to back it up - to have the shields, the weapons, along with the respect."

"That's always been Starfleet's way - they're only there as a last resort, for defense only. Seems hard to believe, given how often we have to use them."

"But we're not afraid to use them." Dazz pointed forward, into the stars. "Whoever's out there, on the other side of this gateway, I don't care if it's Elachi or Iconians or Undine or whoever... they only know force. They only know how to fight. They won't ever command the respect we do."

"There's no honour in their ways, in other words."

"Exactly. It's why I respect the Klingons - I don't want them in charge, and I definitely don't want Orions or Nausicaans in charge, but I can respect that at least the Klingons have a code they follow. They're warriors, not conquerors."

Tw'eak considered that point. "Well, they are conquerors. Let's not pretend otherwise."

"No, but you know what I mean. They don't snatch people away in the night. There are Klingons like Ambassador Worf, like Captain Koren, whom we know, whom we respect. Even the Romulans - same thing." Dazz raised her hand towards the viewport again. "The Elachi? The Borg, for that matter? They only command our fear. That's why we'll defeat them. Same with the Iconians, I'm betting."

Tw'eak chuckled to herself. "You're pretty confident, given that we haven't seen what they can even do."

"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I am." Dazz glanced over at Tw'eak. "If all they've got is fear, though, well... we won't be afraid of them forever. That's when the tide turns. That's when we begin to prevail."

Tw'eak nodded. "You're probably right." She looked at Dazz. "Do you think you command that kind of respect on your ship?"

"I know I do," Dazz replied. "I see it every day. Same as you do."

Tw'eak shrugged, her eyes falling. "I don't know."

"Yeah, you do. Where else do you think I learned how?" Dazz shook her head. "Do you remember that one time, back on the Bonaventure... we were just about to go into combat against... I don't remember who. Doesn't matter. We were on an intercept course, though, and you just casually went over to get a glass of ice water, asked us all if any of us wanted some."

"Yeah," Tw'eak said, smiling at the memory. "I remember that."

"Like I said... where else do you think I learned how?"

Tw'eak looked up at Dazz appreciatively. Dazz gave her a huge smile, which she returned with a laugh.

"I'm gonna go get a quick drink. You want anything?"

Tw'eak snickered. "You're doing that on purpose, aren't you."

"No, no! Just a coincidence. We just spent three and a half hours talking to every admiral on Earth Spacedock. I could use a drink."

"Thanks, I'm okay."

"Alright." Dazz turned and walked up the ramp, right past Captain Shon, who walked over to stand just behind Tw'eak, who was leaning against the rail at the window.

"Captain."

"Admiral." Shon looked down. "I admit, I was surprised to see you again. It's been a while."

"Yeah, almost a year." Tw'eak looked down. "I... almost kissed you."

"I remember." Shon took a half-step closer to Tw'eak, his voice lowering to a whisper. "It's good to see you again."

"You, too. How are you feeling?"

"Better. Alive - thanks to you, I'm informed."

Tw'eak shrugged. "As I was telling the subadmiral, it was the least I could do."

"Dr. Savel tells me that I'll be in peak condition in a matter of days. Considering what happened, I'm rather astonished."

"I don't much understand it, either." During his captivity, the aliens had severed and re-attached one of Shon's antennae, and his left arm. His lymphatic system had nearly been destroyed, and his heart had stopped. Using the barest of knowledge, Tw'eak had used a medical tricorder to reverse the damage to his cardiovascular system, and purged his lymph nodes. The rest would take time to fully recover.

Shon held up his left arm. "It still tingles a bit. I'm not sure if that's going to be normal."

Tw'eak held up her right, bio-synthetic arm, holding its elbow with her left hand. "You get used to it, in my experience."

"That's right." Shon nodded, lowering his arm. He looked over his shoulder. "They didn't get to anyone else."

"Just Commander Maiek. We didn't give them much time."

Shon laughed. "How many of us can claim to have battled through an alien installation - on a Dyson sphere, no less - alongside Ambassador Worf?"

"You can, surely."

"I'm not sure I was much help."

"You don't have to be. You're the captain of the Enterprise. That alone was enough to get those young ensigns to keep calm."

"And the presence of a vice admiral didn't have-"

"It probably did the opposite."

"I wonder sometimes. You and I had a very similar career path until I took this posting."

"Would you have passed up the Enterprise for a set of these?" Tw'eak tapped her rank insigna on her uniform's collar. "Somehow I don't think so."

"You're right. I wouldn't trade this for anything." Shon took a step forward and leaned against the railing. "That other Andorian who came with us... she's your daughter?"

"Yeah. It's not what you think, though." Tw'eak took a deep breath. "There's a future timeline out there where I marry a human, we have a daughter, and after I die, she comes back to prevent the Undine and Iconians from taking over the universe."

"You don't know what happens to me, by chance..."

"I don't know if that violates the Temporal Prime Directive or what."

"Yeah, probably." Shon laughed.

"How have you been holding up, Va'Kel?"

"I don't know." He inhaled sharply. "I really don't. Most days I just go along with the duty rotation. I'm here, but I don't feel anything. I spend a lot of time listening, trying... trying to just not think about anything beyond the now."

"I think I've been doing about the same. I spend a lot of time - this is going to sound stupid, but... I spend my spare time worrying."

"Yeah, sounds familiar. It's a hobby of mine, too."

"Right? Even stuff I can't possibly affect. It's a galaxy away - like I'm trying to manipulate events through applied anxiety."

Shon laughed. "I like that. If you had any telepathic ability at all, it might be credible, but..." He tapped his right antenna. "These things don't reach that far."

"No, they're input only, sadly." Tw'eak smiled, then looked into Shon's eyes. "Have you had any further word?"

"About?"

"Vega colony."

Shon shook his head. "Nothing. They're probably gone. Whatever was there, I don't think it's coming back."

Tw'eak lowered her head. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I've made my peace with it, sort of. No, it's more like, I've told myself I've made my peace with it. You know that old saying of our people, though - 'make your woes your deadliest weapons'. "

"Exactly." Tw'eak smiled. "Actually, that was one good thing about Spera's sudden appearance. I found out my sister's still alive."

"Dashichal? Captain Dazz told me about that. I thought she'd survived?"

"She did. I had to go get her out of an Orion prison on Nimbus III, but I meant my shi, Sassil. Spera says she'll be around in our future. Apparently she's first officer on a Klingon ship, serving a Gorn captain. She couldn't take Starfleet service anymore. Too soft."

"Really." Shon chuckled. "She needed a tougher experience?"

"I don't know. She probably just got impatient for promotion and decided to ushaan the captain. She was always a little... old-fashioned like that."

Shon nodded. "Yeah, sounds like it."

Tw'eak turned, putting her back to the window, and leaned against the rail. "I'm sorry we didn't part under better circumstances last time."

"So was I. We showed up just in time, but it was close. You won yourself a Pike Medal of Valour for what you did that day, though."

"You heard about that, eh."

"It was big news."

"So was your taking this command. I was so proud to hear."

"Being given this post was a huge honour. Being the first Andorian to command the flagship of the fleet is a massive responsibility. I won't let our people down."

"I know you won't. We all do."

"It actually helped me a lot to hear that you'd saved your sister - and all those people's kids, too. It gave me hope."

"It did?"

"Yeah - maybe I could rescue my family, too. Starfleet doesn't seem to think so, and I'm not about to launch a rescue operation with the Enterprise deep into Borg space when they might not be there at all."

Tw'eak nodded. "Yeah." The silence hung in the air between them for a moment, and as it did, she raised her arm as if breezing through it, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I'm always here for you, Va'kel."

"I know. I'm glad of it, too." He looked over at her sadly, his arm coming up to touch hers. "Oooh," he protested, straightening his arm. "That's still not quite right."

Tw'eak smiled. "It's funny - last time we saw each other, I was the one in repair."

"That's right. I had to help you up. I remember."

"I find myself thinking about that moment every now and then," Tw'eak said, her hand returning to her side. "Do you ever-"

There was a sudden introduction of a shrieking voice in mid-scream from somewhere up the ramp. Shon looked at Tw'eak, alarmed, and darted towards the bridge. Tw'eak followed quickly behind. They reached the top of the ramp to see three security lieutenants wrestling with a smaller figure. Lieutenant Kyona approached, a female Caitian who was the ship's head of security. "Captain - we've had a bit of an issue on deck three."

"What's going on?"

A long, desperate howl came from the scrum behind Kyona. She turned, as did one of the lieutenants, as the other two hoisted Spera to her feet.

"Uzaveh's name," Tw'eak muttered to herself.

"We found her tampering with an airlock on deck seven. It was a lucky break, actually - she was most of the way through, she might've de-pressurized the whole deck."

"Any idea why?"

Spera continued to inarticulately moan.

"We're not entirely sure, but we had to hit her with phasers. Heavy stun. She put up some sort of psionic shielding, knocked out Ramirez and probably broke Crell's arm."

Shon turned to Tw'eak. "Normally I'd order her to the brig, but since you're here..."

Spera's noise rose in volume, and her eyes began to glow blue.

"Put her down," Tw'eak ordered the lieutenants. When they hesitated, she quickly added, "hurry!"

The two lieutenants each let Spera go, and she sank to her knees, the blue glow rising around her. Kyona and the others drew their phasers, while Tw'eak stepped past Shon and Kyona to kneel in front of Spera. "It's all right," she said, unsure of how best to calm Spera. "It's me, Spera. Come on, let's get you home."

"Spera..." she said, her voice snarling. "No." She looked up at Tw'eak. "I am the Stormbringer. I am the cause of all of this. You must destroy me!"

"No," Tw'eak said, her face a mess of anguish and astonishment. "No, never. You're my child. And I love you."

The coruscating energy around Spera was intensifying. Tw'eak could feel it, like rising static electricity. "But I brought all this," Spera groaned. "The storm is rising, because of me." She looked up at Tw'eak, her eyes wild. "Because of me!"

Tw'eak looked back at Shon. "Get a level three containment field around the two of us." She looked up at Kyona. "You'd better get clear."

"What's your plan?" Shon asked.

"Just do it." She glanced back to Shon, tears in her eyes. "Please. Hurry."

Shon waved Kyona back, and looked over to the bridge. "Jirelle?"

From the operations console, her own telepathic sense being overwhelmed, Lieutenant Jirelle Kav complied. "Level three field... now."

Around Tw'eak and Spera, a protective dome of energy appeared. Without any other idea what to do, she reached out to Spera and put both arms around her. In an instant, she felt the energy begin to push her off, but she clung harder to Spera, the joints of her bio-synthetic arm starting to shake with the additional energies at work in their servo-mechanisms. But Tw'eak didn't care. She leaned closer, well aware of the risks, and held her daughter as close as she could. Spera began to raise her arms to embrace Tw'eak, and as she did, the complete despair which had consumed her no longer manifested itself psionically, but emotionally. Spera broke down, howling, sobbing, in her mother's arms, her body limp in Tw'eak's embrace.

"Call Commander Matthias please," Shon said to Kyona, referring to his ship's counsellor. "And let's get these two to her office."

"I'll see to it," Kyona said.

"On second thought... let me handle it." Shon looked over his bridge. "Just... carry on as you were. Let me know when Voyager arrives in-system."

Shon knelt at Spera's side, he and Tw'eak together bringing the young girl to her feet. "Thank you," Tw'eak said quietly. She looked over to see Birmal Dazz holding a mug, with a look of absolute astonishment on her face. She held a hand out to Tw'eak, palm out, her expression shifting to sympathy. Tw'eak merely nodded.

"You have the bridge, Lieutenant," Shon said, as he and Tw'eak carried Spera to the adjacent turbolift.

* * *

Several anxious hours had elapsed. Tw'eak had discussed the gateway and its presence in the Jouret system with Admiral Tuvok, who intended to spearhead a task force to explore the Dyson sphere which lay beyond the gateway. If Tw'eak was honest with herself, she had barely been able to conduct the interview, relying upon Captain Dazz to do much of the talking. Her thoughts had been with Spera, her daughter's troubles apparently far greater than she had previously realized. Now, in the quiet of the evening aboard ship, Tw'eak sat alone in the quarters she would otherwise have shared with Spera, watching the renowned starship Voyager as it floated in space some few hundred kilometres away. There was a chime at the door. "Come in," she said.

The door opened, admitting Va'kel Shon into the room. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

Tw'eak stood up and adjusted her uniform tunic. "No, I - hadn't even changed yet."

"Doctor Savel has advised me that Spera's been sedated for the time being. She had a good talk with Phillipa beforehand."

"She was trying to kill herself."

"According to Kyona, she had attempted to discharge a phaser. This was what had triggered the security alert initially. When Lieutenant Ramirez went to check, he found her halfway through re-cycling the airlock on that deck."

Tw'eak shook her head and lowered herself back into her chair. "And just like that."

She indicated a chair opposite, and Shon sat down. "No, at that point I'm pretty sure the sensors would've detected it, and she would've been beamed to sickbay. Jirelle would know better than I. Either way, it's... pretty hard to kill yourself aboard a starship."

"There are enough things out here waiting to kill us, it seems - good of Starfleet to engineer these ships not to help out in that regard."

Shon chuckled. "Exactly." "Did your counselor tell you anything more?"

"It wasn't really my place to ask. All she told me was that it was ...illuminating."

"No doubt." Tw'eak looked out into space."Something about that gateway triggered this in her. We're overdue for a vacation on Risa."

"Probably a good idea, after all this, to get away from it for a while."

"Yeah. Still, not sure now - it'd be easy to drown out there."

"I don't know," Shon said, glancing outward at the stars. "I'm not really much for swimming. Always preferred ice to water."

"Yeah." Tw'eak sat silently for a moment, not really sure what to say.

Her lack of response gave Shon an opening. "You know, I can't remember the last time that the Enterprise and the Voyager were in the same system at the same time. It's kind of a rare occurrence." He chuckled. "Maybe the starship Defiant will de-cloak right over there."

Tw'eak gave Shon a wry look. "You don't really think that."

"You never know. That's how cloaking devices work. Back when I was captain of the Belfast, it was a common dinner-time discussion for us to consider the relative merits and risks of having one onboard. Do you know that the Defiant, during the Dominion War, had a Romulan duty officer onboard specifically to keep the cloaking device's presence legitimate?"

"Really."

"Yeah. The Treaty of Algeron was still in force at that time. Now, you can get a cloaking device for a Starfleet ship if you really want one, but they're not all that common. I guess a lot of captains prefer not to have to sneak around to get things done."

Tw'eak thought about Task Force Silhouette for a moment, and how profoundly un-Starfleet the concept of it really did sound. Of course, its existence remained classified, and discussing it, even with an old friend, was prohibited. "I know I don't," she said after a moment's consideration.

Shon stood up. "Anyway, I just came by to see how you were doing."

Tw'eak's thoughts drifted back towards Spera. "She called herself the Stormbringer." She looked up at Shon. "You know what that means."

Shon sank back into his seat. "I know the legend, yeah. It was a story we used to tell around the campfire... a demon-spirit in the body of a young maiden... 'and the very sight of her face can mean death to whole clans yet unborn...' There are similar concepts in a few mythologies."

"It's more than that. Your family must not have been very religious."

"Not particularly, no."

Tw'eak shook her head. "They weren't just stories for us. My charan was - still is - deeply religious. The Stormbringer comes as the vanguard of the Final Darkness. Her arrival means the end of all things isn't far behind."

"That's right. I had forgotten about that. It just... once you understand that it's a star at the centre of our home system, and not the throne of the Infinite, it more or less takes belief out of the equation and just becomes a story."

"Not for Spera, clearly."

"No, I can imagine." Shon looked towards the door. "If she's having these delusions based upon Andorian mythology, then I'd best let Phillipa know. It'll be helpful in organizing a course of treatment."

"Is there any rush?" Tw'eak said plainly. "She's sedated right now."

"Right." Shon leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry, I just... I'm kind of nervous at the moment."

"Because of me?"

"Because of... yes." Shon took a breath and lowered his head. "What you said before - that you find yourself thinking about that moment we shared, on your ship..." Shon looked up again. "I do, too."

Tw'eak sat forward. "Really?"

"Yeah. But it just... doesn't feel right. Doesn't feel proper, I mean."

"Because of them."

Shon's head lowered again, his antennae angling inwards. "Exactly." He stood up suddenly, talking quickly. "Anyway, I really don't feel it's appropriate for me to stay too much longer."

Tw'eak stood as well, taking his hand in hers as she did. The memory of his fate in the future from which Spera had come - dead in an attempted assault on an Undine planet-killer over Qo'noS - ran through her mind, as did the thought that they might never, ever have a chance like this again. "Va'kel, stop." He did, and she positioned herself to stand before him, then took his other hand. "Look, whatever we have here between us, whether it's just friendship or... whatever, I don't want you to think for a moment that I'm not going to respect your bond first and foremost."

"No, I know that." Shon looked past Tw'eak, towards the door, so she re-positioned herself, spinning him around as she did so, putting his back towards the door, looking right into his eyes.

"You told me before that you always knew my feelings."

"I guessed."

"Do you want me to feel that way?"

Shon tucked his chin into his chest, his antennae nearly touching Tw'eak's nose. "I did. But I made a commitment. My family mean - meant everything to me."

Tw'eak felt herself start to laugh. It came on lightly at first, then she felt it rising. Shon looked up at her with surprise. "You don't.. you don't understand at all."

Shon tilted his head slightly. "What?"

"Your sense of honour, your commitment to duty... your devotion to your family... it's so much of the reason I felt the way I did... the way I do." She took a small step closer. "You're everything a girl could want."

"I wish I felt differently," Shon said softly. "I can't get over the idea that feeling this way is a betrayal."

"You said before that you'd been ready to let them go."

"And I don't know if I meant it."

"Maybe the best way to let them go is by having someone else to hold onto." She took Shon's hands, still in hers, and held them to her waist. "I'm not saying we have to do anything, I don't have any particular expectations. But if you want to explore those feelings, to find out... more, I'm willing to help."

Shon felt Tw'eak's hips under his hands, but did not let go. "Aren't you worried about Spera?"

"Yeah, but she's under sedation, right? I thought you were supposed to take advantage of the moments while the kids are asleep..."

Shon looked directly into Tw'eak's eyes, his a look not of romance, but concern. "I should probably tell you that I'm not really sure I'm ready for any kind of a new relationship or anything, at least, not yet."

Tw'eak gave a little laugh. "Tonight, this is about you... and me. If 'us' happens later, or not, let's just... like you said before. Let's not think about anything beyond how we spend right now. It'll be a nice change for both of us, I think."

Shon looked into Tw'eak's eyes, then off into the room for a moment. He took his hand slowly from Tw'eak's side, but not for a reason she expected. "Shon to bridge."

Kyona's voice responded. "Go ahead, captain."

"I'm going to be unavailable for a couple hours."

"Very well. I'll advise Commander Winters."

"Thank you. Shon out."

Shon clutched Tw'eak to his body and pulled her into a kiss. The two of them remained in that embrace for a few passionate moments before Tw'eak once again took Shon by the hand. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"No," he replied. "Gotta be honest with you."

Tw'eak nodded. "I understand." She turned to face him again. "I can't believe this is real."

"You've wanted this for a long time."

She gave him a sarcastic look. "And I was the only one of us who did?" She stepped in close, and said softly, "You don't have to worry. You can just relax. It's simple. You and I, here, tonight... nothing has to happen. But I gotta say, Captain Shon, I would really, _really_ like it if it did."

Her smile, the hand he held, led him slowly into the next room, where, after a few moments of uncertainty, he brought her close and gently tugged at her uniform tunic. Within moments, they began making love, without hurry, and remained in each other's embrace well into the night.

* * *

In the corridor the following day, Captain Shon, once again fully in uniform, stood at Tw'eak's doorway.

Tw'eak opened the door, also in uniform. "Good morning," she said casually, as though nothing had happened the night before.

"Good morning. I thought maybe some breakfast might be in order."

Tw'eak stepped out of her quarters. "Excellent idea. Where did you have in mind?"

"My ready room? Commander Konsab and Captain Dazz will be joining us."

Tw'eak nodded. "Very well."

As Shon and Tw'eak moved towards the nearest turbolift, the urge to reach out and take his hand - among other urges coursing through her - was overwhelming, but she knew exactly what he was doing. She nodded peremptorily at a passing ensign, then they reached the turbolift alcove. Shon summoned the lift once they reached the door.

"How'd you sleep?" she asked quietly.

Shon checked over his shoulder before he said anything. "Better than I have in months."

Tw'eak made a seductive chuckle. "Good..."

The door opened, and a lieutenant stepped out. Shon gave a nod in passing, then they stepped inside. Together again, Tw'eak thought to herself. "Bridge," Shon requested, and the turbolift complied.

"I wish you could've stayed," Tw'eak said after a moment.

"Yeah, me too," he agreed. "But it would've complicated everything. In a way, I'm glad I left. Gave me time to think."

This concerned Tw'eak slightly. "About what?"

"I'm... okay... with what happened."

"I hope it was better than just 'okay', Va'kel."

"Obviously, it was." Shon ran his hand across the closely-shaven side of his head. "That's not what I meant. I meant that I could look at myself in the mirror this morning. It was good to see."

"Yeah, you are pretty handsome, aren't you." Tw'eak raised her chin slightly, half-expecting a kiss.

The turbolift stopped, and the door opened, admitting Birmal Dazz. "Morning," she said quickly, stepping inside with her back to the two of them. The turbolift resumed, and she stood there for a moment, then sharply looked back. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Tw'eak said quickly, tucking her head down, looking straight at the door, expression fixed in place.

"I don't believe you," Dazz said. "What's wrong?"

Shon stepped into the breach. "Admiral Sh'abbas' daughter had a bit of an episode last evening. She's currently under the care of our ship's counselor."

"Oh, dear." Dazz looked at Tw'eak, who was still giddy with her feelings for Shon. Dazz, however, wore a look of supreme concern. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Tw'eak replied. It was a hard emotional shift to make, from smitten to solemn. "She'll be alright - and she's getting excellent care."

"Exactly. Commander Matthias is a fantastic counselor. If there's anyone who can help, it's her."

The doors opened, and admitted them onto the bridge. Dazz still wore a peculiar look, as though she didn't quite believe them. At the centre of the bridge stood Commander Konsab. She walked out to him. Tw'eak quickly tugged at Shon's uniform sleeve cuff. "We'll talk later?"

"Sure," he said. They went together to Konsab and, after a few brief greetings, adjourned to the captain's ready room together for a quick breakfast.


	56. Part IV, Chapter 5

The breakfast concluded, an ensign from the hospitality section of the vessel cleared away the plates and other remnants of the meal as Captain Shon and guests leaned back in their chairs.

"This changes everything," Captain Dazz said after a few moments. "Doesn't it."

Tw'eak looked nervously at Shon. "What do you mean?" Shon asked.

"What's happened, I mean. This opens up a whole range of new opportunities - and dangers, I suppose. If we can only understand them better."

Tw'eak's anxiety reduced sharply. "The gateways, you mean."

"Yes. If we can sort out how they're engineered, how they work, what they're for, how to prevent them from being used against us, whether or not there are more of them... just think of the potential uses. Like finding another wormhole - only this time, who knows where to."

Commander Konsab nodded. "It would appear that our galaxy just got a little smaller." He looked over at Captain Shon. "I am quite glad you yielded to sense and opted not to destroy it."

"Given your researcher's rather well-reasoned point, and the support she had from Captain Koren, I wasn't about to insist." Shon smiled slightly. "My more... shall we say, Andorian tendencies may yet be vindicated in the long run. You all may find yourself wishing we had destroyed the thing."

Tw'eak sat silently throughout, her thoughts intently upon Spera.

"Admiral?" Dazz said after a moment.

"Sorry."

"Commander Konsab was asking for your opinion."

"About?"

"Whether we should have kept that gateway intact."

"Oh." Tw'eak shook her head slightly. "Certainly."

"Even if it could have Iconians pouring out of it any moment now?" Shon asked. "Or another Dominion, waiting on the other side."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Not Iconians." She closed her eyes and gave a shameful smile. "I... shouldn't say any more. Sorry."

"That's right," Shon noted. "You've got an idea of what happens next, from your daughter."

"Well, not exactly."

Konsab looked confusedly at Tw'eak. "I don't understand."

Dazz explained. "The admiral has a daughter, in the future."

"Not this future," Tw'eak pointed out. "Not anymore, we hope." She looked at Shon, then quickly averted her eyes to Dazz and Konsab in order to avoid being obvious. "That relationship didn't last once she was born."

"And how did that happen?" Konsab raised a hand. "Let me clarify - I understand how the process works."

"Actually, in this case, it wasn't a natural occurrence. Andorians can't easily cross-reproduce with other species because of our four sexes."

Konsab's face recoiled, surprised. "Elements..."

"Yeah." Tw'eak smiled at Shon. "We get that a lot."

"So how did you-" Konsab looked down, embarrassed. "I misspoke. I don't understand the process after all."

Dazz laughed. "I was kind of curious myself."

"I have a very good relationship with my chief medical officer. She's an amazing doctor, very capable with a wide variety of physiologies and bio-technology. When I lost my arm, she oversaw its replacement. I've had plenty of reason to keep her around since then."

"That's the one place you don't want to worry about competent help," Dazz said, pointing. "The sickbay."

"I don't know," Shon joked. "The engine room is kind of important."

"True. But Starfleet usually makes sure of good help in there."

Konsab nodded, then looked back to Tw'eak. "So she was able to make this happen?"

"Yes. I may not have carried her to term - again, that's not me, that's in another timeline - but genetically, I'm her mother, she's half human, half Andorian."

Dazz pointed again, asking, "So how did she make those fireworks come out of her last night?"

"Sorry?"

"What happened on the bridge. I've never seen anything like it."

"I clearly missed something," Konsab added.

Tw'eak tucked her head down a bit. "It's... complicated."

"I was wondering about this myself," Shon said. "I think we can rely upon the integrity of the captains' honour in this matter."

Dazz and Konsab nodded, leading Tw'eak to begin to explain, carefully. "About a year ago, I was nearly replaced by an Undine. It was a near-run thing. It was... in my mind for a while there. Long enough to leave a resonance of some kind. And that carried itself through into Spera." Tw'eak adjusted her uniform tunic, looking over her audience. "She only told me about it while we were on the way to mol'Rihan. She's not dangerous - not to us, anyway."

"Are you sure about that?" Dazz asked.

"I can understand that you trust her," Shon agreed. "But she did injure several of my security people."

"I know. But we've discussed why." Tw'eak looked to Dazz and Konsab. "She's in sickbay right now - I'd rather not have to get into that, too."

Dazz nodded. "Understood."

Tw'eak let out a sigh. "Well. This has all been... splendid. Thank you, Captain - and my thanks to your people downstairs, as it were." She gave a smile over towards the ensign on duty, who nodded appreciatively.

As she rose, so did the company at the table. "Glad you could join us," Shon said.

"Indeed," Konsab added. "Good to see you again - we met under less than ideal circumstances on Nimbus not long ago, I'm not sure if you recall."

Tw'eak laughed sheepishly. "I was hoping you hadn't. Went through hell because of that day." She looked up at Dazz. "Was glad to have the help of old friends."

"Always," Dazz replied, smiling. "Just say the word, Admiral."

"I must be going myself," Konsab said. "There's a huge alien spacecraft out there which I have orders to take to the flotilla for further analysis."

"Do you require any assistance?" Shon asked. "Perhaps an escort?"

"No, thank you. I've been in contact with Commander Jarok aboard the Lleiset - she's agreed to transfer over a skeleton crew and accompany us all the way home."

"Glad to hear it."

Dazz took a brief moment to wipe her mouth one last time. "My compliments also," she said to the hospitality ensign, receiving yet another nod from him for doing so. "Suppose I'd better get back to my own ship as well."

"Thank you all for coming," Shon said. "I don't often get a chance to entertain, as it happens." He looked over at Tw'eak. "Please let your daughter know there's no hard feelings from my end."

"That's good of you, but I don't want anyone to suggest that the admiral's daughter gets an easier time of it than anyone else."

"It's nothing of the sort. I doubt she was much in control of herself at the time. It's easily overlooked."

Tw'eak closed her eyes, thankful that Shon understood. "I owe you one."

"Two," Shon indicated his hand, which bore two raised fingers. "You still owe me one for that rescue back when you were commanding the Bonaventure."

"Oh, let that one go," Dazz joked. "That was so long ago now... I was still a lieutenant, for heaven's sakes."

Konsab took a quick step backwards. "This is an internal Starfleet matter," he quipped. "I'd best leave you all to settle it out."

"I'll walk you down to the transporter room," Dazz said. "Thank you all again."

Konsab and Dazz turned to leave, and Shon gave a nod to the hospitality ensign, who took the hint and followed. Before he left, Shon made a point of asking, loudly enough for the ensign to hear, "Will there be anything further today, Admiral?"

"No," Tw'eak said, watching the ensign's back as he left. "I believe we've discharged our responsibilities to the Republic and-" The door closed. "-you're really not going to press charges?"

"She needs help more than she needs the inside of a brig. Besides, if I have Kyona take her into custody, I can't be sure they'll get her there without casualties."

Tw'eak sighed. "This... it was all so much easier when I was on my way to Risa. No gateway, none of this other stuff... Uzaveh's name, Va'kel. What am I going to do?"

"I don't know," Shon replied. "Talking to Commander Matthias might not be such a bad idea yourself."

"Does she have a family group rate or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous. She's been incredibly helpful to me over these past few months."

Tw'eak looked over her shoulder at the door, instinctively. "Are you.. going to tell her about last night?"

"Probably not a good idea."

"No, probably not."

"After all, you are a vice admiral. And the Enterprise could be allocated to your task force at some point."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Not likely with the task force I'll be heading up, but it would be awkward, admittedly."

"You know what I mean."

"I wouldn't mind having you under my command again at some point," Tw'eak joked.

"I wasn't under your command at the time. Although I think you're letting the idea of outranking me go to your head."

Tw'eak ran her hand along Shon's upper arm. "That wasn't what I meant."

Shon gave Tw'eak's hand a look of surprise. "I... see."

"You..." Tw'eak lowered her hand. "Yeah, I do too, then."

"Don't misunderstand - I really appreciated our evening together."

Tw'eak took a half-step back, a sense of rejection sinking in. "No, no - no explanation needed."

"I'm still trying to make sense of it all. I never really thought we'd go through with it."

"Yeah," she replied, looking down.

"I hope you know that it felt right at the time. I wouldn't have otherwise."

Tw'eak willed her antennae to suddenly become ornamental. She knew they were conveying her disappointment - she knew he could tell he was breaking her heart, and it wasn't what she wanted to happen at all.

"I am a little worried about one thing."

"What's that."

"Well, two things. I was amazed that you were even in the mood for my company, if you will, last evening. Why did you ask me to stay?"

Once again, the dread of knowing Shon's fate in Spera's future came over Tw'eak, and she felt the urge to say something. "I just... thought we had the chance. Might as well take it."

"For a reason."

"No, not really. Well, sort of." Tw'eak looked up at Shon. "When Spera showed up like she did, her father and I were like two kids in love. All of a sudden, we find out we're going to be parents... and that we'll have a daughter shortly before the Final Darkness."

"But you survived into that future. You raised her."

"Alone - there, as now, it seems, I was the only parent she ever knew. In that future, it was because her father died at some point. In this time, it's because her father saw a lot more commitment than he was ready for, and off he went." She took a deep breath. "So for once I just wanted to pretend... I don't know... I wanted to believe that none of it was about to happen. I wanted it to be you, and me, both just leaving all that everything-else on the other side of the blast doors for a couple of hours." She looked at Shon. "No agenda, no purpose other than that. It was an amazing experience. It was a welcome distraction. And... if you want to pretend it never happened, I will fully understand."

Shon stirred for a moment, uncertain of how to respond. "I wouldn't go that far."

"No, no, it's okay. Our little timeline, you could call it. We wake up this morning, and poof - normal service resumed. You get back to your ship, and I get back to my family."

"Look, I... I wouldn't want that to be the case. Not ever."

"You're sure."

"I'm not ashamed, or too proud, to admit that I care for you. I have for years. But I don't know that you, or I, or this time, are really all right for more than that. Not... not until we're both certain about it."

Tw'eak considered, and nodded. "I see your point."

"You've got Spera to worry about, your task force, your mission. I've got this ship of mine, and her crew, but also my own recovery, to worry about. We both have whatever comes next - whether it's what comes in Spera's timeline or otherwise - to worry us. Maybe one day, when things are a bit more settled, we'll find our way together again. But too much is at stake here."

Tw'eak smiled, closing her eyes at her recollection of words he'd said long ago. "You know, there was a time when it was you standing in my ready room."

"That's right, I remember."

"As I recall, you said that when you faced the storm, you didn't want anyone standing alone, watching for you, to see if you came through."

"Exactly - which is why I-"

Tw'eak shook her head and raised a hand. "You don't get it, do you." Shon went silent and she touched his cheek. "No matter what the storm brings, I... I will be out there, watching for you. The same way I know you've been watching over me."

Shon remained silent, his eyes softening, the corners of his mouth rising in a slight, warm smile.

"Maybe we won't face the storm together. But I fully intend to make it through whatever comes, alive. And when I do... well, you'd better be standing tall on the other side, mister." She laughed. "Or else."

Shon laughed. "Is that an order?"

Tw'eak grinned. "You better believe it." She reached over, pulling herself close to Shon, and gave him a farewell kiss. "I'll be thinking about you."

Shon nodded. "Same here."

"You'll get in touch every now and then, won't you?"

Shon put his arms around her and gave her a kiss of his own, then added, "Sure will. You too."

Tw'eak released from his embrace, then backed towards the door. "I can't promise I'll be able to say much. Classified missions, clandestine stuff, you know how it is."

"Actually, I don't. But good luck, and may the Light watch over you."

"Over us," Tw'eak said as she reached the door, then added, "Over us all." She stopped short, adjusted her tunic and her hair slightly. "How do I look?"

"Professional. Admiral." Shon waited a moment, then added, "do you want me to salute you out?"

"What?"

"You know, for appearance's sake."

"Don't you dare. I'll lose it." Tw'eak smiled, taking one long look at the captain of the Enterprise, her friend and sometime lover, Va'kel Shon. For his part, Shon seemed to be doing much the same to her. "You take care of yourself."

"You too, Twaiheak."

Restored to her usual attitude, Tw'eak turned and left, her stride and bearing betraying no sign whatsoever of her innermost feelings. For once in her life, despite all the turbulent chaos that seemed to be unravelling the universe around her, she felt a tranquility, a sincere sense of her own purpose, and a certainty in her abilities which she had rarely ever known.

* * *

Spera sat up in her bed in sickbay as Tw'eak entered. "Hello, Shreya," she said as Tw'eak came to her bedside.

"Still here, I see."

"I had a bit of a reaction to the sedative. Nothing major, just... anyway, they want me to stay here for a couple more hours."

"Right." Tw'eak looked around. "They don't really make accommodation for visitors in a sickbay, do they."

"Not really." Spera pulled her legs up and sat in a sort of fetal position. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize to me."

"I should apologize to Captain Shon."

"No need for that, either. He's assured me that all's forgiven."

Spera looked over at Tw'eak. "You didn't arrange that for me, did you?"

Tw'eak chuckled. "I knew you would ask, and no, he insisted that this be about recovery, not punishment."

"I had a really good talk with Commander Matthias about that. I really hope I didn't ruin everything."

"Would it help to explain to me what you were thinking, or feeling?"

"It just... I had it all sorted out, before I came back. I was going to stop it all from happening. These gateways, they're the first step. I don't know what they're for, but we were instructed to avoid them. They weren't worth the trouble. I remembered that when we came out the other side, during the fight against the Elachi - that it was all happening again."

"But that's just one event along the chain."

"It's not like I know which events are going to be the ones that trigger the final change, or that events might not re-occur because of what I do, instead. I wish I had a better way of knowing which events would cause which changes. But I can't say for sure."

"Blaming yourself for this isn't the answer, either."

"I don't know."

Tw'eak nodded. "So let's make the presumption that this is, really, all your fault. All of it."

Spera squirmed a bit. "I... okay."

"Explain how that gateway got there. Clearly, you put it there."

"No, I didn't."

"Oh." Tw'eak maintained a gently interrogative tone. "Then you made it re-appear."

"That was you and Ambassador Worf - unintentionally, of course."

"Right. But then clearly the Iconians will take full advantage of our error. Or maybe the Undine. Either way, those distress calls we're getting from all those exploding planets - again, it's your fault."

Spera looked startled. "There were distress calls? From where?"

"The far side of absolutely nowhere." Tw'eak's no-nonsense tone dissolved into a fierce grin.

A long breath out, and then Spera spoke. "You really scared me for a minute."

Tw'eak leaned back against the adjacent bio-bed. "So you see my point, then."

"It's not all my fault."

"Correct. Whatever happens, there are billions of events, before, during and after, that determine the shape of the timeline." She tapped her chin. "When I took command of the Meitner, after it'd been crippled by the True Way, I sorted out what happened, put a plan in place, kept everyone around me focused, and then we fought back. Saved a lot of lives that way. But it was a situation I shouldn't have allowed to happen in the first place."

Spera swallowed hard. "That's part of what's wrong."

"The Meitner?"

"No-" Spera made a huffing noise. "I love you and everything, but... I look around here and I know it'll happen again. I can't change this timeline alone, and I don't see how anything's going to change in order to stop it. There was a nurse in here earlier, and he was singing this little song to himself. People were talking about their adventures on the holodeck - even the guy whose wrist I broke came over to see if I was alright."

"What's so bad about that?"

"Even over on the Dyson sphere, when we went through the gateway? Everyone was so... calm, so efficient, so positive about everything. Nobody was as scared as they should be."

"You think they should be in a constant state of terror?"

"Shreya, come on. They're oblivious. We need to be so much more... desperate than all of this. I want to yell at people. I want to tell them not to be so wasteful - with their efforts, with their time. All of this is going to come crashing down around them before long, and there's nothing I can do to stop that!" Spera's voice rose, then crackled, as she reached the end of the sentence.

Tw'eak pushed off the bio-bed and put her right arm around Spera. "It's all right."

Spera nudged Tw'eak's arm away with her shoulder. "No, it's not - it's all horrible and nobody else even sees how wrong it is!" She pressed her hands to the sides of her head.

Tw'eak leaned back, looking at her bio-mechanical arm as if it had betrayed her. Then she remembered a sound she had not heard in many years. "Birds."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"The songs of birds. In the early morning."

Spera's face shifted from despair to puzzlement. "What about them?"

Tw'eak held up her right arm. "When I lost my arm, back when I served on the Nelson, for a few weeks Doc had me transferred to a hospital facility on Earth. They had to do some sort of procedure to make sure the arm wasn't rejected by my body, and I was in this place, a small little building. And every morning, before it was light, there were birds, singing. Not just one, either - at least twenty or more, all chirping and squawking and making a terrible noise. I have no idea why... but I hated those birds."

"That would bother me so much - being down there with the birds."

"Of course it would - that's something else we have to work on, your fear of being planetside for longer than a few seconds."

Spera shuddered.

"Anyway," Tw'eak continued, "these birds. One evening I stayed up all night into the morning, in my room. I waited until the birds started making noise, and I crept out into the courtyard to see where they were. One of the doctors saw me, and she was a Trill, a Doctor Nidna. I don't know why, but rather than order me back to my room, she brought me out into the courtyard with her. It was so loud - there were birds in all the trees, so much noise. And she sat down next to me, leaned right over, and told me that the birds were her favourite part of the posting."

"How could she like them?"

"She did. She said that, if they lost a patient, or had a complication with someone's treatment, she felt terrible, such guilt. But the birds, every day, would still sing. Even in the winter - it never got comfortable there, it was really warm out except at night - but there were always birds. Their songs endured forever, no matter what the sentient creatures might be dealing with in the building around them."

Spera nodded. "I see."

"That's how I think you need to see things around here. We clearly, in the future, still made the best of what we had, did we not?"

"Yeah."

"You told me before that there were happy times."

"Yeah, there would be weeks and weeks where we wouldn't have to run, then it'd be awful for a while... then boring again."

"But we still laughed. We still had fun."

"Yeah."

Tw'eak pointed to Spera. "You get what I'm saying."

"Like birds."

"Even if something happened to... I don't know, ninety percent of those birds, the other ten percent would still sing. It's what they do. And, do you know... I mentioned this to Doc, or T'uni, or someone at some point, and they told me that at one point, birds weren't just little flying things. Their evolutionary ancestors were great big feathered beasts - like Gorn, only with long tails and far more predatory."

"Really? No way."

"No, really. At one point, millions of years ago, way before there were Iconians or anyone, there were giant bird creatures. I can't remember what they were called. All different types and sizes. And then their world changed, a lot of them - all the really big ones - they died off, and over time the survivors evolved into birds."

Spera considered the meaning of this whole story. "This is you trying to make me feel better."

"No, actually. This is me trying to remember what those things were called."

"It doesn't matter," Spera replied. "It's working."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She held out her arms and received a hug from Tw'eak. "Thanks, Shreya."

"Don't let it overwhelm you," Tw'eak said as she released from the embrace. "I'm always here for you."

"I know. I guess... I felt like I let you down."

"I'll tell you what. If that happens - not going to say when that happens because it may never happen - but if I'm disappointed by something you do, I'll tell you. Specifically. Okay?"

"You will?"

"I'll summon you to my ...I guess I don't have a ready room anymore, but I'll summon you someplace." Tw'eak drew herself up in mock haughtiness, her voice dramatically enhanced. "And I'll say, 'Spera, my daughter, I am grievously disappointed.' Or something. Unless I'm only a little disappointed. Then I'll say-"

"Please don't make that face again," Spera said, giggling. "You look ridiculous."

"...I do?"

"Yes!" Spera raised a hand. "Don't!"

"Alright. But that's what I'll do."

"Okay."

Tw'eak's voice returned to seriousness. "And we'll get you someone you can talk to - someone who isn't me, someone outside the chain of command." She looked down. "The thought of you... not being around anymore scares the hell out of me."

Spera's laughter came to a crashing halt. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't apologize. But I need to tell you - I realize your worth, even if you don't. You're no Stormbringer, Spera. You're my daughter. Even if you were the Stormbringer, I'd rather have you with me at the Final Darkness than risk facing it without you."

Spera looked up at Tw'eak with teary disbelief in her eyes.

"Yeah, I mean that," Tw'eak said, anticipating her question.

But Spera said nothing more. She simply looked at Tw'eak, nodded, and returned to a position laying down on the bed.

"I'm gonna go back to my quarters for a bit," Tw'eak said after a few moments. "You know how to reach me if you need me."

Spera reached out for Tw'eak. "No," she said. "Stay?"

"I didn't get much rest last night." Tw'eak decided against getting into the reasons why.

"Please," Spera insisted.

"Well... alright." Tw'eak stood up. "But if I'm staying, I'm getting a chair." She walked into the adjacent area, where all the chairs were bolted to the floor. After a few minutes of searching, she finally found a truly tiny portable chair in the chief medical officer's suite near the entrance to the medical lab. When she returned, Spera's eyes were closed, her head resting on her hands. She looked so vulnerable, so child-like to Tw'eak as she rested peacefully, and it made her bite her lip with angst. She put down the chair, found a blanket in a nearby alcove, and covered Spera with it, taking special care to conceal her feet. The thought of a pillow crossed her mind, but that would mean moving Spera's head and risking contact with her delicate antennae, so Tw'eak left well enough alone.

Not really satisfied, but given the sense she had done all she could, Tw'eak settled in as best she could into a chair far too small to be considered comfortable, its back against the bio-bed behind her, and leaned her head back, with her eyes closed, to think a little more about what else she could do for her only daughter.


	57. Part IV, Chapter 6

The Enterprise would remain on station for a few days longer, until the Republic arrived to secure the situation. In the meantime, overdue for their vacation, Tw'eak and Spera had returned to the shuttlecraft Hypatia, and were en route to Risa. Still haunted by the situation that had unfolded during the previous mission, Tw'eak found herself keeping a close eye on Spera, watching for any signs of her being less than okay. It was hard to tell - though it certainly helped, in Tw'eak's mind, to know that her daughter gave off a distinct glow when in moments of emotional distress - as it was something Tw'eak could rarely remember having done previously. She could recall being conscious of her own shreya's emotional state, but that had been less out of concern and more out of simple self-preservation. When her shreya had been around, her state of mind (typically aggravated) had been a good predictor of her next move. But this was hardly the same thing.

"You can stop doing that now," Spera said after a moment.

"What?" Tw'eak looked back to the console.

"Thank you." Spera shrugged, annoyed. "You can set up an intra-ship sensor to monitor for psionic emissions if you'd like."

"I'll do no such thing," Tw'eak replied. "I was just looking at you. Is that so bad?"

"Not at all. But if you're going to do that all the way to Risa-"

"I'm not... damn it, Spera. I was worried, that's all."

"I know." Spera frowned. "You can stop doing that, too."

"No, I can't. I've been trying."

Spera let the silence hang in the air for a moment, then muttered, "...not even worth worrying about."

"You are so."

"You heard that?"

Tw'eak fought to keep her temper in check - Spera's words offended her, even if they were about Spera. "Of course I did. Why would you even say that?"

"Do you know what it's like? To give up like I did? I'm ashamed to even say I gave up, but I did."

"You didn't give up."

"No? What would you call it?"

Tw'eak pondered for a moment. "You went looking for an irrational explanation for something that happened."

"That's it?"

Feeling they had gone over this ground before, Tw'eak shifted focus. "I have to admit, I was impressed with your knowledge of our myths. Very few people know those stories - fewer all the time, it seems."

"I learned them from you," Spera informed Tw'eak. "And you learned them from your charan."

"That's right." Tw'eak softened her tone, then went for it. "So tell me what it's like."

"What?"

"To... do what you did. To give up."

"It's what I imagine it's like to be sucked into space."

Tw'eak shuddered at the recollection and thought of Birmal Dazz. "Is it."

"That was- that was part of the reason the airlock suggested itself to me. I wanted a way to simply make myself disappear. I thought just vanishing out an airlock - and, poof. No more war, no more Undine, no more worries for Shreya... no more lost friends or family. It wouldn't be so bad, I told myself. After all, we all die eventually. Why delay the inevitable?"

Tw'eak sat back, startled, but refusing to give any outward sign of her panic. "I see."

"It's more than that. I mean, it's not like I had a plan or anything, but all of a sudden it became pretty obvious what I needed to do."

"Captain Shon said his security personnel noted an attempted phaser discharge at first."

"Yeah, stupid. We didn't have that system on our ships. It was a waste of good energy to keep the energy weapons from working - if we got boarded, and we always got boarded, it seemed, nobody had time to flick off the switch that said 'weapons safe'. THEIR weapons never had that feature enabled, so..."

"So, the airlock."

"It was the way out. That was what I wanted to believe. The universe would be better without me. And I thought I could get it worked out before anyone noticed."

"You could've depressurized the whole deck."

"The emergency force fields would've kept that from happening."

"How can you be sure?"

Spera sniffed. "I don't really think I cared, but I thought about it. It felt right. No, not right. It felt... justified. I knew I was wrong, but I felt like I had to punish myself, like I had to... finish things." She looked over at Tw'eak. "I'm not entirely convinced that there isn't a monster inside of me, Shreya. I am so scared of what happens if it asserts itself, if I lose my self-control."

"You told me about it before. I've even seen it in action, now. But has it ever... asserted itself, to use your phrase, as a separate personality?"

Spera considered for a moment before responding. "No. No, not that I'm aware of." She thought about it. "I know I can... do things with my mind, but it's always functioned like a hand, never as a second self. Still, it's... it's knowing this all comes to an end, it's knowing that I'll live through that end at your side this time. It's knowing I'm no help to you."

"No help?"

"I don't have any clear sign that my being here has been anything but a distraction."

"That's not true and you know it."

"Well? Maybe by now you would've convinced that fleet admiral to let you have your task force."

"I was needed out there on mol'Rihan, task force or no task force. I was available, as it turned out. so they sent me. Would've happened with or without you, but I don't regret having you along. Rather glad you were there, no matter what you may think." Tw'eak took a deep breath, aware she was becoming aggravated. "Honestly, sometimes. Don't you see? Having you around - as my daughter, as my friend, as companionship - it means so, so much to me. That's not going to change, Undine inside you or otherwise. You could be assimilated by the Borg and indoctrinated by the Iconians and dressed as a Tholian. You'd still be my Spera."

"But I haven't done anything to change-"

"We talked about this before. You're just getting started. We've lots to do."

"So why are we going to Risa, then?"

Exasperated, Tw'eak's eyes darted about in search of an answer. "Training."

"Training? What kind of training?"

"Planetary operations."

"What?" It was Spera's turn to sound exasperated.

"If you can't find yourself comfortably and appreciatively settled on Risa, possibly the safest place in the galaxy, then you'll have to find another task force to sail with against the Iconians. So much of what we're going to have to accomplish will require planetside landing parties - research, intelligence gathering, diplomacy... I need you to shake your planetary phobia and be ready when I call on you. Otherwise, maybe you are the liability you're convinced you are."

"How do you think a planet-sized beach party is going to help me accomplish that?"

"I don't know exactly. But you're going to."

Spera shook her head. "I don't know."

"You'll have to wait and see," Tw'eak said with a smile, concealing her considerable anxiety. Truth be told, she had no idea herself.

Spera took a deep breath. "And what do we do if I have another one of these... triggered episodes while we're on Risa?"

"We'll figure it out when we come to it. I hope it doesn't come to that."

"Honestly, Shreya? Me too. I get to this point where I just feel so overwhelmed, and then the blue shine starts, and I go into this... I don't know, downward spiral. The gravity of it just becomes inescapable and I collapse within the despair. And there's this voice - I don't know what it's the voice of, I've always thought it was the Undine inside me, but I guess it's not... and the way it speaks to me, the things it says, it's so hard on me, it's so... it's impossible to please and it's relentless, and it's exhausting. When it happens, I just want it to end - I just want it all to end." She frowned again. "Seeing that gateway... brought it all back. I couldn't get away from it."

"You know, there is a sort of upside to these triggers."

"Really? What?"

"Sooner or later, you're going to make that difference you need to make - for your own sake. When that happens, and it will happen, the triggers will be less and less obvious. Then we'll know we've succeeded. It's... not really fair to you in the meantime, but it's something, at least."

"You're probably right. Although I'm not sure. There's so much of what's to come."

Tw'eak sniffed. "I'm not scared of it."

"You're not?"

"No. Not a bit. It's why I'm fully intending on getting out and having fun on Risa."

"But - you said before, there's so much to do."

"Of course there is. There always is. We could be at condition green across all four quadrants of the galaxy - the war could end, all the threats, Borg, Elachi, Undine, Iconians... they could all leave us be, forever, and there would still be so much to do, to see, to explore. That's the thing about Starfleet. They keep us busy."

"Yeah, I know. I remember being amazed at just how much there was to do on a starship. And it all works a particular way, all... all happens for a reason. So unlike the rest of the universe..."

"Things are a little more random to our eyes, but to the Infinite, all things are possible."

Spera looked over at her mother, slightly surprised. "You really believe that."

"Always have. I may not have kept up with every little detail of the practices, but the faith itself? I don't think that ever really leaves you - if nothing else, the longing, the hope that it's true, that there really is a Throne from which all is directed... even the bad things in life."

Spera looked down. "I never knew you to be a person of any faith. You usually assumed the worst of everything - people, outcomes, all of it. It usually proved you right."

"My beliefs are... a family secret," Tw'eak said with a laugh in her eye. "Let's leave it at that. How long until we get to Risa?"

"That depends. I could use the quantum slipstream drive-"

"No, thank you. One time, we did that, ended up a hundred years ago, fighting Borg with a Constitution-class starship."

"That doesn't sound like fun."

"Remember that we 'borrowed' this shuttlecraft from Section 31, on an extended loan. Aewon's good at keeping it in top condition, but sooner or later those guys are going to try something, and they'll do it with this shuttle. Not to mention, I'm sure they'll want to repossess it at some point."

"Even though it's from the future?"

Tw'eak gave Spera a stern look. "Let's not tell THEM that, okay?"

"Alright. I'm sure they've already figure it out, I mean-"

An even sterner look from Tw'eak met Spera's statement.

"Alright, alright. We're about twenty minutes out. We should probably hail Warspite."

"Good idea." Tw'eak tapped the comm system and activated a subspace channel to Warspite.

Moments later, Subcommander Oulius appeared on-screen. "Greetings, Admiral."

"How are you, Oulius?"

"Very well, ma'am. All systems nominal, we are holding planetary orbit around Risa. Shore leave parties have beamed down, including most of the senior staff."

"Not you?"

"No, ma'am. Risa is... not really my idea of fun. Lieutenant Aewon and I have things in hand here."

"Very good. Stand by to receive shuttle Hypatia. We should be there in about twenty minutes."

"Understood. Aewon will be happy to see her safely aboard again. Oh, and I understand that Lieutenant Commander Zh'abbas wishes to speak with you, ma'am."

"Right now?"

"No, when you arrive, before you beam down."

"Alright. I could use her advice on what to wear anyway." Tw'eak looked over at Spera. "Gotta look fashionable when you're off-duty."

Spera let herself have a little laugh at her mother's joke.

"No, seriously. Dashii knows that stuff, I'm hopeless. Last thing I'd want to do is turn up in last year's model of swimsuit."

"Right... that's a thing?"

"Never mind - we'll talk to Dashii, get her sorted out, get our clothes picked out and replicated. You'll see."

Oulius cleared his throat. "I should really get back to my duties."

"Oh, right. Sorry, Subcommander. We'll be there shortly. Tell Dashii to hail us if she needs to talk right away."

"Will do. Warspite out."

Spera made a little noise. "I should point out that I never learned how to swim."

"Neither have I. There's a sensor net around the whole planet - falls from height, swimming out too far, actual drowning risk - and just like that, emergency beamout. Still, you don't want to wade out too far. There's plenty to do on dry land anyway."

"I was reading about it. Something called 'jamaharon'?"

"I hope you're not thinking about trying that."

"I don't think I'm ready for it."

Tw'eak nodded. "Yeah, neither am I." She had heard stories, but none of them had appealed to her as a thing she wanted to try.

"I read an article about it on the library computer. Apparently it involves some form of-"

There was a beeping notification on the console. Not a moment too soon, Tw'eak thought to herself. "Just a moment." She activated the communications array, and Dashii's face appeared on the screen. "Hello there."

"When are you getting here?"

"Shortly. Why?"

"I'm not going down there alone."

"You haven't been down?"

"They're all down there!"

Tw'eak looked over to Spera. "Her bond group," she explained. "Zhayra Dashii's a little nervous."

"I am not! I'm just... being careful."

"That's alright. I was just telling Spera we need your help picking out what to wear."

"Typical Twaiheak - as long as it's a duty uniform, she's fine. Anything more sophisticated? Forget it."

Tw'eak arched an eyebrow. "I have my priorities in the proper order, as befits one of my rank."

"Right, you have junior officers to pick out your outfits for you."

"Make sure you come up with something that conceals my neck," Tw'eak noted, pointing to the long-present scar from a kut'luch blade.

"You should really get that looked at. They make dermal regenerators, you know."

"They also make swimsuits. Get on it."

"Alright, fine. Any particular colours you'd like?"

"A dark shade of violet. Nothing too revealing."

Dashii made a face. "Oh."

"I can see you, you know!"

"You're boring! So boring. Fine, be your boring self - how about you, Spera?"

Spera shook her head. "I don't know... what do you think?"

"Red it is."

"I don't know if-"

"See you soon - and you better not throttle down to impulse just to keep me waiting, now."

"Oh, come on, that only happened one time!" Tw'eak protested.

"One time too many. Dashii out."

The screen faded to black, and Tw'eak took a deep breath. "I love my zhi, really, I do."

"There's a story there I don't know. You throttled down to-?"

"She can tell you later." Tw'eak looked up at the navigational display. "Keep those warp engines on until the last possible nanosecond. Wouldn't want to keep her waiting."

* * *

The lush palms and pristine beaches of the resort where Tw'eak and her group were staying came into view as she, Dashii and Spera materialized on the beachfront boardwalk transporter pad. It was an odd place for there to be a transporter pad, until one considered that it also served as one of few places relatively free of sand and salt water. Tw'eak took a breath of the island air, and looked around while the three of them vacated the pad. Suraya Bay was quite a sight to behold.

Small huts peppered the shoreline around the curve of the island, while in the foreground lay a resort building, its covered walkways linking together towards a dance floor in one direction and a marketplace within its halls. Tw'eak looked around the boardwalk, itself linking to multiple identical huts, and appreciated the warmth of her bare shoulders as the sun fell upon them. She wore an artful yet revealing swimsuit, far more subtle than Dashii's rather sparse bikini. Spera, dressed in bright red, looked around with a suspicious eye. "This is our beam-out point, right?"

"If you need to, there's a commbadge fitted-"

"Right in the lining of the swimsuit. I know."

Dashii sighed. "Sand, water, an open bar... oh, it's good to be back on Risa."

"Where did you advise your bond group we'd meet with them?" Tw'eak asked.

Dashii blinked as she put on her sunglasses, lowering them slightly to look at Tw'eak over the edge of the frame. "I didn't."

"But you were-" Tw'eak fought the urge to snarl at her sister. Several pleasantly smiling individuals walked past in each direction along the boardwalk. She turned to face away from them, then squeezed the inner lining of the left side of her swimsuit's fabric. "Sh'abbas to Warspite."

"Warspite, Aewon here."

"Hello Aewon, we seem to have a bit of an issue here."

"How can I assist?"

"Could you contact my sister's bond group for me and let them know of our arrival?"

"Certainly. I've already had contact from one of them, a Doctor Shorban? He's standing by."

"Let him know we've arrived at the Suraya Bay resort."

"I'll transmit the co-ordinates right away, ma'am. Warspite out."

Tw'eak turned to Dashii, who was unimpressed. "Guess who's coming to dinner."

"You could be a little happier."

"And you could've waited until I had at least one glass of wine!"

Tw'eak and Dashii got to arguing with each other, leaving Spera to handle the formalities as three Andorians materialized together on the transporter pad - two male, one much taller than the other and wearing only a pair of swim trunks, the other still in a Starfleet uniform, and another female dressed in a shimmering white shirt and bikini bottoms. "Hello," Spera said. She looked back behind her. "Shreya."

"This is hardly the time for you to get after me about that!" Dashii shouted.

"It's always hardly ever the time with you," Tw'eak replied, managing to keep her voice level.

"Shreya!" Spera said again, yelling.

Tw'eak half-turned to see the sight of Dashii's bond group stepping down from the pad. "Hello!" she said with feigned pleasure. "You showed up faster than we were expecting."

The shan-female, Phollrem, stepped towards Tw'eak and gave her a quick embrace. "Lovely to see you again, Twaiheak."

"Same to you."

Phollrem stepped over towards Dashii. "And you. Look at you." She patted Dashii on the hip. "I've missed you..." She gave Dashii a quick kiss. "You remember these two, of course."

The taller of the two, the chaan-male Sh'rimta, came forward. "I always love seeing my girls together," he said to Dashii and Phollrem.

"Sh'rim!" Dashii reached out with one hand and took Sh'rimta's hand in hers. "Good to see you." He practically knelt down in order to receive her kiss. "Good to see you both."

Sh'rimta nodded to Tw'eak. "Admiral," he said with a smile.

"Please, not here." Tw'eak gave a faux-embarrassed grin.

The group looked back towards the pad, where the fourth member of Dashii's group was standing impatiently. He tugged at his uniform and stepped down. "I hope this isn't going to take long, whatever it is." Shorban offered a quick nod to Tw'eak, then stepped past her towards the boardwalk.

"Hold on, Shorban," Sh'rimta said quietly. He looked over towards Spera. "I'm pretty sure she's here for a reason."

"She is." Tw'eak took Spera by the hand and brought her a step closer. "This is Esperanza. By way of a little time travel... she's my daughter."

"Of course!" Phollrem said with a smile. "I should've known." Her voice took on a tinkly laughing tone. "How wonderful for you, Twaiheak."

"Please, call me Spera," the youngest of the group declared.

Sh'rimta extended his hand. "Welcome to Risa." He shook hands with Spera. "We've reserved a little place down the beach a ways, seemed like a good place for us to go and talk." He indicated a direction, and the group followed Shorban, impatiently outpacing the rest. Tw'eak noted that Dashii held Sh'rimta's hand, and that Phollrem kept an arm around her waist.

"Oh, your charan is going to be so pleased." Phollrem looked over at Tw'eak. "You have taken her to the Wall to see him, haven't you?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "This has been the first spare moment we've had, actually."

"Well, when you get the chance, please do." Phollrem turned to face Spera, who was walking next to Tw'eak, almost directly behind Phollrem. "Her charan and I work together at the Wall of Honour on our homeworld."

"Yes, I know," Spera replied.

"Oh, you've told her about us? How long has she been back?"

"About a month?" Tw'eak asked Spera.

"I don't remember. It's all so different."

"Why'd you come back?" Sh'rimta asked.

"That's a long story," Tw'eak replied on Spera's behalf. "We'll have time to explain everything once we've arrived." She waited a beat and then added, "isn't that right, Dashii."

"Oh - yes, of course." Dashii glanced back over her shoulder, clearly not enjoying the attention she was receiving.

Next to Tw'eak, Spera looked like she was ready to pounce on passersby as they entered the covered walkway. She placed a hand on her daughter's wrist. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, her voice almost timid.

"You don't have to come with us if you don't want."

"No, no... it's alright."

As they passed the marketplace, Tw'eak saw the familiar faces of Octavia and Bianca duBois, both in swimsuits of their own. Bianca wore a full-sized wetsuit, her feet sticking out the bottom of a long purple and teal design, while Octavia had opted for a one-piece swimsuit, her hair brought forward to conceal her Borg eyepiece.

"Hold on, everyone," Tw'eak called out. "Hello there."

"Admiral," Bianca opened.

Tw'eak sighed. "It's a hard habit to break, I understand, but could we stop doing that down here?"

Octavia tilted her head. "Is there some other method by which we should refer to you during this time?"

"I'm on vacation. Please, just here, can we be informal with each other?"

"Very well."

Tw'eak indicated her officers to the group. "This is the chief science officer of the USS Warspite, Lieutenant Commander Bianca duBois, and Warspite's commanding officer, Captain Eight of Twelve. We call her Octavia." Tw'eak looked the other way. "These are Shorban, Sh'rimta and Phollrem, Dashii's bond group."

Pleasantries were exchanged back and forth. "Wow, you all look great," Bianca noted, looking over the three Andorians' outfits.

"I really like your outfit," Spera said to Bianca.

"Thanks," Bianca said, doing a little twirl. "I liked it, so I got it. Aurora said it was silly, but I'm going to be nature-watching way more than I will be beach-bumming."

After a moment of glancing about, Tw'eak looked to Bianca. "Where IS Aurora?"

"Oh, that." Bianca giggled. "We went out on floaters earlier - they're the devices everyone uses to fly around? So fun. I was following a dusk diver, one of the native birds, through the jungle, and of course my sister slams into a tree behind me."

"Oh no! Is she all right?"

"She broke a leg, otherwise cuts and scrapes. She's down at the infirmary right now getting put back together. We just floated on in and they took it from there. She'll be back on it in a day or so. But that's Aurora for you - if there's a way to hurt herself, she'll find it."

"I have advised Doctor Ellington of the situation as well," Octavia informed Tw'eak.

"Good idea." Tw'eak looked to the bond group. "Our chief medical officer is a stickler for making sure every procedure is done right the first time." She looked at Shorban. "Something I'm sure you can appreciate."

Shorban nodded, then looked down the coastline. "Which reminds me, I have a starship to get back to."

Tw'eak's eyes narrowed slightly. "Captain Brannigan has given you seventy-two hours' leave, has he not? Along with much of the Sarissa's crew?"

"Many of whom will injure themselves in like fashion. Which is why I prefer to be aboard my ship," Shorban huffed. "This place is practically the planet of poor choices."

"I don't think they'll use that phrase in the brochures," Sh'rimta said.

Bianca continued. "Anyway, we're on our way up to the caves. I promised the captain I'd show her the bioluminescent plants in there."

"I am somewhat resistant to the concept of using a... 'floater' to get there," Octavia demurred.

"Oh, they're fun!" Phollrem remarked. "And this is one of the few places in the Federation where the air pressure and humidity are consistent enough for them to work!"

"The weather modification network is most effective. The atmospheric conditions preferred by the Collective for the interior of their vessels are also of similar, consistent settings."

The group stood silently for a moment in response. "Well, okay then," Dashii finally said.

"I seem to have made a conversational error, for which I apologize."

Bianca took a step away. "We'll be on our way to those caves now, I think. If you see Doctor Hewson, say hello for us!"

"I didn't know Kim was coming down to Risa."

"Yeah, she couldn't stay away. Doc's really not happy about it. But don't tell her that, okay?"

"Right, have fun!" Tw'eak said in parting.

"See you!"

The bond group had moved on ahead, Shorban in the lead again. Spera resumed her pace down the covered walkway beside Tw'eak. "It was lucky we ran into them," she said to Spera after a moment.

"Why's that?"

"Well, now I know enough to make a point, next time I'm aboard a Borg cube, of bringing my floater along with me." Spera looked over at Tw'eak, surprised. "Well, how else will we find out if she's right?"


	58. Part IV, Chapter 7

The hut at the far end of the beach wasn't a terribly large one, but it was private, facing the ocean on three sides. Both of Risa's suns were on the verge of setting now, and the sunlight streamed a bright purple and yellow through the far window. Tw'eak and Spera stood on either side of the doorway, its open frame matching that of the four windows within. Phollrem and Dashii sat on the central mat, Phollrem's arm around Dashii as she re-told the story of her abduction and captivity on Nimbus. Sh'rimta stood looking out the far window, his reaction having been an angry, vengeful one - directed at the Orions, not at his bondmate. In one of the chairs, Shorban sat calmly listening as Dashii detailed her injuries.

"Hmm... I'd have to give you a more thorough examination, but based on Twaiheak's earlier description, I would presume that your ship's doctor has treated you adequately for such injuries. Given the timeline, I would estimate you're fully recovered physically, if not mentally."

Phollrem put her head on Dashii's shoulder. "I'm so sorry that you had to endure that."

"It was my own fault." Dashii looked up at her sister.

"No, it wasn't," Tw'eak replied.

"Damn right." Sh'rimta looked over his shoulder. "Where the hell was Starfleet?"

Tw'eak explained quickly. "The Orions were able to conceal this entire operation from the Federation, Republic and Empire alike. Even then, they wouldn't run the risk for one person. It turned out otherwise, that there were thousands down there, but we had no way of knowing that."

Sh'rimta went back to looking angrily out the window.

"Which was why I think my friend in Starfleet Intelligence brought that information to me. It had to be a ...rogue operation, as it were. They didn't want to risk it - I did."

"I'm glad they didn't capture you, too," Phollrem said.

"I had an advantage I knew Dashii didn't - I knew the Orions were there." Tw'eak looked at her sister. "They fooled you into thinking someone probably long dead was waiting for you. I would've fallen for it if there had ever been anyone in my life to feel that way about. Instead, they went after you, as bait, to get to me. I don't think they were expecting me to come in after you."

"I'm surprised," Sh'rimta said, turning to face Tw'eak. "Usually during an operation like what you attempted, the Orions will kill the hostage rather than allow them to be rescued."

"It was a lucky break."

"Hey- let's not forget that I'd gotten out of there already," Dashii insisted. "It's nice she came to get me the rest of the way out, but I'd gotten free all on my own, thanks very much."

Tw'eak nodded, grudgingly accepting Dashii's turn of events.

"So what does this mean for our chances of having a family?" Sh'rimta asked, more to Shorban than anything else.

"I'm not really sure," Shorban said. "I didn't even bring a tricorder."

"We can still try, though, right?" Dashii asked.

"Why not?" Phollrem replied.

"I didn't mean right now, I mean-" Dashii looked up at Shorban's detached facial expression, Sh'rimta's look of concern, Phollrem's affectionate touch. "I realize now that going off on my own like that really endangered all of our hopes and dreams, in ways I never appreciated before. I'm a horrible bond mate and I'm really, really sorry."

Phollrem gave Dashii a quick kiss on the cheek. Sh'rimta came forward and patted her on the back of the head, slightly misaligning her hair in the back as he did so. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Dash," he said.

"We love you," Phollrem added.

Tw'eak looked over at Spera. "C'mon." She looked back towards the room. "Spera and I will be on our way now."

Phollrem looked up and smiled. "Thanks for arranging this."

"And thank you for bringing her back to us," Sh'rimta added.

Tw'eak looked over at Shorban, who once again gave a quick nod in reply. This time, however, his face was far more kindly in its expression.

Ushering Spera out, she gave one last look to the group. "Please let me know if there's anything else I can do," she said as she turned and made her way back down the walkway towards the boardwalk that connected the huts together.

After a few paces, Spera spoke. "I'm surprised they didn't have more questions for me."

"I'm sure they're interested, but introducing you wasn't exactly the purpose of the meeting. If you'd been Dashii's daughter, it'd be different."

"I kind of am, right? She was my surrogate mother, in my timeline."

"Not our Dashii, though." She looked over at Spera. "Do you remember that ever being a topic of conversation before? Nimbus? Your zhayra getting in trouble like that?"

"I don't remember. Maybe. Why?"

"Just wondered. If it had turned out that you'd been carried to term after the same thing happened, it might be proof that she can be Whole, that they can have children after all."

"That'd be lovely. They're all so different."

"Lots of bond groups like that one," Tw'eak noted. "Including the one that raised me."

Spera looked down the beach as they came to the end of the boardwalk. "What are they doing there, Shreya?" She pointed towards the point where water and sand met. People in swimsuits were coming back and forth from the water's edge. A Gorn was putting together some sort of tall artifact with sticks, rocks and sand.

"Oh, they're making sand castles. It's an Earth thing. You make a little house out of wet and dry sand. Sometimes there are monkeys or birds that wreck them before you're done. It's pretty relaxing, if you're in the right mood."

"Can I try that?" Spera asked, her voice excited.

"I was going to go and get some dinner," Tw'eak noted. "There's a little place up on the promenade - the patio has a beautiful mosaic in the stonework."

"I am kind of hungry." Spera looked wistfully down the coast. "We can try that later, though, right?"

"It's way more fun to do when the sun's up," Tw'eak replied. "Easier to see what you're doing, even if it's much, much hotter."

"Yeah, the temperatures here at night are just perfect compared to-" Spera stopped dead in her tracks, looking upwards. "Wow, look!"

Off in the distance, beyond a rock archway and several large boulders jutting out of the water, an individual on a floater crossed their line of sight just before the light of the two rising moons in the distance. "Yeah," Tw'eak said softly.

"This place is so beautiful," Spera replied. "And it's always like this?"

"Pretty much. The weather's monitored very carefully."

"This is so much fun. I hardly want to leave."

Tw'eak smiled, inwardly pleased at having succeeded at her secret objective. "Even though it's the surface of a planet?"

Spera smiled at Tw'eak. "As long as I can beam out in a hurry, I suppose, but... yeah."

The two of them wandered on up the beach a little further, their blue feet leaving two sets of footprints all the way up to the promenade building. In the distance, fires were being lit, horga'hns were being placed out, and behind Tw'eak and Spera, from where they'd came, the silhouette of an Andorian drawing down the shade could be seen in the window of a certain hut down the shoreline.

* * *

The dinner had proven to be a rather serene occasion under the setting sun. Tw'eak and Spera had shared a delicious bottle of Risian wine, along with a few other native delicacies. Tw'eak watched a Risian butterfly flit and wander across the space around the dining area, carefully measuring its path with her eyes. Spera looked up to follow it as it continued along. "He's out late," Tw'eak said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Usually they rely upon the sunlight to keep themselves awake."

The butterfly continued lazily along, right past and around the heads of a few diners, before finding itself drifting along above a table near the far end from where Tw'eak and Spera sat. "It must be pretty tired," Spera said just before, unexpectedly, the individual facing away from them, a Saurian, leaned over and caught the butterfly with its mouth. Never given a chance, the butterfly became an after-dinner snack, while the company at the dinner table let out a flutter of laughter.

"That's awful!" Spera said with a gasp.

"Actually, if I'm not mistaken, that's..."

Tw'eak watched the Saurian took a quick look over his left shoulder, then over his right, anxious to see who was watching. The second glance caught Tw'eak's eye, and she gave a little smile and wave to Zolnaen Didaggo, her former combat medic and ground science specialist.

"No way," she heard Zed say from across the way.

"Uzaveh's name," Tw'eak said through gritted teeth.

"What is it, Shreya?"

"One of my former officers, who went with your father out to the Selkirk flotilla, is right over... coming over here." Sure enough, Zed was on his way over to say hello.

Spera sat up a bit. "Really?"

"Don't look. Just follow my lead." Tw'eak made a point of trying to look as placid as she could, suddenly all too conscious of how little she was wearing. She crossed her legs, slowly straightened her spine and antennae, and tried to look pleasantly surprised at his approach. "Hello!"

"I never expected to see you here." Zed's purple skin was in stark contrast to the bright orange and teal bodysuit he was wearing. "I spent most of today diving for oysters off the coast. It was so amazing. And then I come out here for dinner, and over there are Commander Russell and his wife - we were at the Academy together - and then I see you here, too! Can you believe this place? Best planet in the Federation - so much to see. So much to eat!"

"We saw that. I didn't expect you to just lean over and bite into that butterfly."

"Never hurts to try new things on vacation, am I right?" Zed laughed, then looked over at Spera. "Hello."

"This is Zolnaen Didaggo, formerly of Starfleet. And this is Spera."

Zed looked suddenly, uncomfortably familiar. "Ah, yeah. How's it going."

Spera smiled her usual bright greeting smile. "Nice to meet you."

Zed turned back to Tw'eak. "So... um, about that... I heard what happened with Leo... was sorry to hear the wedding's off."

"It's all right. Things change. You know."

Zed gave a glance back towards Spera. "Things change, that's for sure." He turned back to Tw'eak. "So, you... you're keeping busy?"

"Yeah. Just about to head up a new task force, seemed like a good time to get away for a bit. How about you? How are things aboard the Selkirk flotilla?"

"Well, it's funny you call it that. Nobody's seen Selkirk since that little adventure we all had on Nimbus. He left for a bit a little while ago, haven't heard from him since. We miss having him around, to be sure. But then, Leo's been in charge ever since."

"That's unusual," Tw'eak lied, knowing full well where Selkirk - that was to say, Khao Manee - had ended up.

"Yeah, rumour has it he bolted back to Starfleet, got a posting on some starship under a false name."

Tw'eak fought the urge to smile, barely succeeding. "That's just a rumour, I'm sure."

"Have you heard from him at all?"

"No, I can't say I have... right, Spera?"

"Who are we talking about?" Spera asked, playing along.

"This big tall Caitian with an eyepatch," Zed said. "Couldn't miss him."

Spera shook her head. "No, haven't seen anyone who looks like that."

"Exactly," Tw'eak indicated. "So Leo's in charge. How's that gone?"

"Well..." Zed raised his hands. "Nah, I shouldn't take sides."

"Sides? What sides?"

Zed shook his head. "I shouldn't say anything."

"Nah, c'mon. You're with us. Promise it won't hurt."

Zed's pleasant demeanour faded, and he checked over his shoulder much like he had when he'd eaten the butterfly earlier, to see who was watching. He indicated a chair, and Tw'eak nodded. As he sat, his voice lowered to a near whisper. "He's been a different man, ma'am. He's got this hate on for Starfleet. He actually sent the auxiliary ships that were supplying us on their way about two weeks ago, said he didn't need their help, that we'd be better off not depending on them. When him and Dani said they were going away to Risa, they let a couple of us come along, to say thanks. So here I am."

"He's here?" Spera asked, somewhat excitedly.

"Yeah, him and Dani Okayama got together recently. I lied, told him I'd never been to Risa, that I'd always wanted to go, and since this was their idea anyway... There were a few of us came along. I don't think Hal and Mostra are going back, but I just wanted to get out of there for a couple days, clear my head. I was thinkin' about leaving - Mostra was talking about it, I think he convinced Hal to go with him." Zed looked down. "It's nothing like what I thought it'd be, that flotilla. We've lost a lot of good people, either as casualties or just fading away day to day. Morale's super bad - we had a whole ship just warp off on its own a couple days back. Leo said, let 'em go, cursed them for cowards, ordered us to warp out in a different direction, change our transponders... to hell with 'em. We're still taking the fight to the Syndicate, short-handed, skeleton crews, nothing to show for it but more dead, more hurt. Nobody can disagree with the boss man and his Dani anymore. Everyone sees it. Nobody has much hope of our doing the good we used to. We just go, go, go - I wouldn't be surprised if the whole flotilla did just that, and was gone when he got back."

"That's awful. So what's he doing here with her, if things are falling apart like that?"

Zed's lip twitched, and he looked downwards. "You don't want me to tell you."

Tw'eak's eyes narrowed. "Honeymoon."

Zed shrugged. "You didn't want me to tell you, and I didn't." He gave a quick nod. "There ya go."

Spera looked over at Tw'eak. "That's - wow. I didn't see that coming."

Tw'eak gave Spera a look. "Remember how you said I used to always assume the worst in people?"

"Is this why?"

"This sort of thing is exactly why, yeah." Tw'eak looked back to Zed. "If you want, I can have you beamed aboard Warspite. We can get you back in commission."

"I just might. I've been having a lot of fun here, obviously, but I gotta think long-term about this. He's going to destroy what Selkirk started - and he can't even see it, that's the damnedest thing about it. He's lost it."

"He never really had it to begin with."

"Shreya!"

"Sorry, Spera, but it's true. You saw that in your timeline, and I saw it in mine." She shook her head, furious. "This is all he ever really wanted - himself as the supreme authority, his own private empire... He shouldn't be fighting the Syndicate, he should join them."

"I know it looks bad," Zed continued, "but we have a lot of good officers, good people on that flotilla. They deserve better."

"Well, we sent them help, and if they've sent it back, there won't be better waiting for them. I'd imagine anyone who wants to come back will be welcomed back by Starfleet. Or the Republic. It's an idea that's past time to happen. Fit them out in proper ships, no more leftover warbirds, and put together an Orion task force, the same way we have for-" Tw'eak stopped short of referring to her own task force by name. "Task Force Omega."

"Omega? Klingons are a part of that, and they'll never roll over on the Syndicate. The slavers run too big a part of their overall operations."

"Maybe those operations should change."

"You'd have a better chance of convincing the Klinks to surrender. They aren't going to change. Slavery's good business - for them, for the Breen, the Nausicaans, the Tholians... they won't give that up."

"Then Starfleet shouldn't give up, either." Tw'eak looked up at Zed. "Come back with me. We can make it happen."

"I don't know if I can."

"You'd be more persuasive to Admiral Quinn than I would. Show him the good you're doing - the good a Starfleet task force COULD be doing out there, with a qualified admiral in charge instead of a renegade Marine."

"I know one admiral, she'd be a perfect fit."

"Not me, I've got separate orders. And there are plenty, better qualified. We could get you back on duty and posted to a ship in that task force, maybe even as a consulting officer instead of strictly science. Then from there, you carry on with the same mission, only this time, it's legitimate war effort stuff, none of this auxiliary nonsense."

Zed looked warily. "And I could bring other people over with me?"

"We'd have to vet anyone who came over, but if they met the requirements, yeah, why not. The more experienced people we have on this mission, the better. Doesn't matter how they got that experience - in Starfleet or out of it."

"And what do we do about Garth of Izar and his dancing girl?"

Tw'eak looked off into the distance. "I don't know yet. But I'll figure it out." She looked up at Zed. "Look, it was good seeing you, but you'd better get going before they see us together."

"Right." He shook Tw'eak's hand quickly. "I am so glad we crossed paths."

"Better I met you than him, right?"

Zed laughed. "Hope you don't mind me saying so, ma'am, but... Man was a fool to give you up."

Tw'eak blinked. "Is that what he said? That HE gave ME up?"

"That wasn't even true? Ha! Damn! That's hilarious." Zed's hand came up to his face. "I better go. You take care. Nice meetin' you, Spera."

Spera gave a little wave, while Tw'eak said, "You take care of yourself, Commander."

"You too, ma'am." Zed gave a mock salute, and got on his way.

"Well," Spera said to Tw'eak, "that was interesting."

Tw'eak's jovial nature vanished, and she felt her antennae angling inwards. This news had brought a cloud over her, despite the clear Risian night sky all around her. "Uzaveh's name," she cursed quietly, shaking her head. Leo was here with another woman, the Selkirk flotilla was in chaos, and there was nothing she could do about any of it. Her mind raced, her head pounded, and she felt an urge for a good drink of something stronger than the usual cup of katheka. It seemed her quest to relax on Risa had well and truly failed.


	59. Part IV, Chapter 8

There was something deeply unsettling about that night on Risa. Perhaps it was the sounds of the waves unrelentingly making their back-and-forth journey against the shore, louder than but not unlike the minor background noises of the warp engines aboard a starship. Perhaps it was the discomfort of sleeping in a relatively small hut, with fairly few amenities and the lonely moonlight shining down from above. Perhaps it was the slight indigestion the rich foods she had consumed at dinner caused Tw'eak to experience. Or perhaps it was simply the sense of things undone. Her thoughts drifted towards her ex-fiance, Leo, then off to Starfleet, then to Va'Kel Shon, then her daughter Spera, and beyond all of that, to the threat represented by the Iconians, the Undine, and for that matter, the Klingon forces, the Tholians, the Borg, and her idle speculations towards whatever other dangers loomed beyond that gateway in the Jouret system.

Tw'eak sat up, looking out the window. Maybe it was just that she was cold. She chuckled at the thought - an Andorian, on Risa, complaining about the cold. She looked across Suraya Bay, to where she knew her sister was staying, and wondered what would come of Dashii's apparently renewed connection with her bond group. Dashii had always resented them, complained of them, avoided mentioning them. Now they had welcomed her back without bitterness or hesitation. Tw'eak was happy for her sister. For the first time in a while, she could be sure she wasn't worried about Dashii.

If the worries about her sister were reduced, then her concerns about Spera had amplified considerably. She had taken something of a risk in not protesting Spera staying in the next hut down by herself, but it was a gesture of trust she felt had to be made. Tw'eak wanted to give Spera the chance to prove correct what she self-mockingly called her maternal instincts. While she had no doubt her daughter would be just fine, she also found herself concerned about what she would do if proven wrong, if Spera went back to the ship, or something far worse. She shook her head, smirking slightly at the thought of having put her own parents through something similar in her time by disappearing to Vulcan for months, as she had. She couldn't have set a worse example for Dashii, it seemed, and her own early service made for more cautionary tales than exemplars of service. Many of those had been off-duty happenings, however, rather than misdeeds aboard ship. In fact, her service aboard the previous starship Enterprise was one of the proudest aspects of her early career - being placed aboard that vessel straight out of the Academy had been a posting her proficiency as a tactical officer had earned. There was no question of that.

Tw'eak knew she was a capable officer, even talented, but all in the arts of defense, war, and destruction. Such was the life of a tactical officer, she conceded - that her job would always be one inherently tied to the threat, whether how to provide one, defend against one, or avoid being perceived as one before acting. Threat management, she mused. The direction and evasion of destruction. Ends of worlds, and how to avoid them. These would all make fantastic topics for courses at the Academy. Students would sign up for them not knowing what to expect. Tw'eak envisioned her professorship as including an opening-day barrage of phaser fire from the podium (set to stun, of course) in order to see how her students reacted, and then addressing the concept of being threatened in her opening remarks. She noted to herself that her career as an Academy instructor would most likely be brief indeed with ideas like that.

The two moons of Risa hung far to the left of her window, and she got up to lean out and see where they were. In the absence of a chronometer, or any other computerized devices at all, it was hard to tell the time, precisely. The moons appeared to be about three-quarters of the way to the horizon, far from directly overhead. It would be morning soon, she surmised.

It was then that she noticed the murmuring sound of someone crying. Concerned, she threw on a robe which had been hanging from a loose board edge, provided for the guests, presumably. Out across the boardwalk she crept silently, all too aware of her relative vulnerability - no personal shield, not even a pair of boots - and followed the noise down the way. She passed Spera's hut, grateful to the universe that the noise originated further down the way. She took a quick look between the door's privacy screen and the edge of the doorway, to see a silhouette of someone asleep beneath a blanket. This was presumably Spera, although Tw'eak couldn't be certain, nor did she intend to confirm.

Another few steps along the boardwalk brought her to the next hut down, the apparent source of the crying. Tw'eak took a look inside, stepping just close enough to push back the screen and see someone laying down, crying in their sleep. Tw'eak did not recognize the individual, not even by species, although she could rule out a few, such as Tellarite, Gorn and Andorian, by its humanoid size and lack of discernible antennae.

She was startled by the sound of footsteps along the boardwalk and stepped back quickly to see a Risian steward approaching. She nodded quickly, and, suspicious, the shirtless Risian altered his step towards her, stopping close enough to whisper, "may I help you?"

"I should explain, I'm Vice Admiral Sh'abbas, I'm staying two huts down, and I heard... this."

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry your rest was disturbed."

Tw'eak shrugged. "I had too much to worry about to do much resting."

"Follow me, I'll explain." The Risian native turned and walked down the boardwalk, away from Tw'eak's hut. Keeping her pace behind him, while simultaneously trying not to let the boards creak beneath her feet, she followed him to a quiet spot on the beach just beyond the edge of the jungle. "This is actually a common occurrence here. We try to be considerate of everyone, but it's known to happen."

"People crying in their sleep?"

"Not just crying. Some scream, others sleepwalk - sometimes they fall right off the boardwalk, and they awake in an emergency beam-out shelter. Being on this world doesn't mean a sudden end to the cares of the wider universe. We understand that."

Tw'eak nodded. "Those cares... what was keeping me awake, as well."

"There's so much going on beyond our shores. The war, in particular - we welcome all to Risa, from both sides of the conflict, but it can be hard for many to let go and embrace the pleasures of this world."

"You're very fortunate to call this place home."

"We seek to please," the Risian said with a small half-bow. "However, we also recognize that for some, what is pleasurable can also bring anguish, pain and sorrow."

"Do you have... I don't know, aboard a ship we'd have a counselor for that person to talk to."

"Actually, the Federation maintains a few counselors here. We simply... let them know whom they should buy a drink, shall we say."

Tw'eak smiled. "I understand. And I appreciate your philosophy. If the whole universe ran like Risa, we might actually achieve perfect harmony."

"Perhaps, but our harmony is carefully and vigilantly maintained. We recognize that our fortune is to be both appreciated and treated as precious." The Risian native looked up as an indigenous bird swept out of the jungle towards the ocean. "I hope I have answered your questions."

"Very well, thank you."

"Is there anything more I can provide for you?"

"I... don't know. Are you - like, are you working?"

The Risian native laughed. "This whole island is my work, if you want to call it that. You - I have known many from your Starfleet through the years, and it always amazes me how specialized your understandings are of 'work', of 'jobs'."

"Some of us just have talents that lend themselves to specific roles. It's important not to let your ship's bartender re-align the engines, for example."

"Ah, but the bartender would bring a new perspective, and with it, perhaps an enlightenment of how best to run those engines."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Not likely, but it's nice to think that."

"I think you see my meaning. I am not a bartender, or an ornithologist, or a dancer, or an engineer. I belong here."

"That's a very interesting perspective. Thank you."

Once again, the Risian half-bowed and smiled. "I hope you are well-served by it."

Tw'eak felt very attracted to this Risian - his outlook, his confidence, his half-naked form, his overall pleasant demeanour. It was impossible to tell what he felt, of course, since he was probably like this with everyone, not just her. She found herself staring at him, while he merely patiently stood by.

"You seem troubled," he said after a moment.

"Oh - no, no. Far from it. I was just thinking... about the weather here."

"Our weather control network is the pride of Risa. Now there, I admit, is a place where specialists are required, but not in all places."

"Wouldn't be Risa otherwise."

The Risian nodded. "You understand. I am pleased."

"Yeah. I should..." Tw'eak tightened the robe about herself a bit. "I should really get back to my place. It was nice meeting you."

"And you as well, of course."

The urge to ask him to come along with her was on the tip of Tw'eak's tongue. Her sense of what she felt to be appropriate waged war with her desire - the older Tw'eak she knew she was, clashing with the younger, wilder Tw'eak she had been. "Have a good night," she finally said, then turned and walked briskly up the boardwalk, completely unconvinced that her choice had been the correct one.

* * *

The next morning's dawn had come entirely too early for Tw'eak's liking. Sleep had made its way to her eventually, but only after far longer than she had hoped. Concerns racked her brain while on Risa in a way they would never have aboard ship - perhaps because duty always demanded so much of her, typically leaving her exhausted by the time she slowed down enough to experience fatigue.

Stretching, she closed her eyes tightly, raising her arms skyward and wanting nothing more than to flop back and snooze. Still, she felt a bit beholden to her rank and station in that regard, and figured it'd never do for the various other Starfleet personnel to be able to gossip about the sleepy Andorian admiral. She rose, doffing the robe she had apparently fallen asleep in, and emerged into the sunlight again.

Tw'eak arched her back and extended her legs, looking about and not seeing anyone along the boardwalk. This was a relief - she felt like a baby zabathu taking its first steps. Even her antennae felt droopy from the night's rest she hadn't gotten. She blinked hard a couple times, then adjusted her sunglasses into place and ventured down the boardwalk. The urge to leap into the water overcame her, and she sat along the edge of the boardwalk, dangling a toe in the water.

It was at that moment that she noticed someone emerging from the hut two doors down from her. This was the hut she had checked in upon the night before. She slipped into the water, giving herself a quick dunk up to her shoulders, then leaning back to wet her hair a bit. She shook the errant drops of water which persisted in her hair away, then pulled herself back up onto the boardwalk. The act of doing so startled the oncoming individual, a human woman in a blue bikini.

"I'm sorry," Tw'eak said insincerely, having very much intended to make just such an entrance. "I didn't mean to surprise you."

"It's fine," the woman replied.

"Is it always this pleasant first thing in the morning here?" Tw'eak asked, very much aware of the answer.

"I don't know," came the reply, making Tw'eak aware of the woman's slight accent, which she couldn't quite place. "I've only been here for two days."

"You're one up on me, then. I'm Twaiheak Sh'abbas."

"Christabel Botha." She smiled. "You're an admiral, are you not?"

Tw'eak shrugged. "Guilty as charged."

"I remember you from the Federation News Service. Something about your sister."

"That's right. You're in Starfleet?"

"Yes, ma'am. Starfleet Marines, actually. Third of the Twelve-eighty-fourth."

"My thavan was a Marine."

"Yes, so are many of your people." Christabel's face looked mildly distraught. "So many people," she repeated.

Tw'eak began walking slowly towards the beach, with Christabel keeping pace. "We need all the good people we can get. Where were you stationed?"

"Ceron," she said with a curled lip.

"That's... Kassae sector, right?"

"No, ma'am, you're thinking of the Cernan system. Ceron is in the Pi Canis sector block."

"Right on the front lines," Tw'eak suggested.

"We were overseeing a massed evacuation of the colony there when the Klingons started moving in. They destroyed two of the evac ships before the Starfleet patrol ships were able to drive them off. We lost two-thirds of our number, either on the ground or on those ships."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"I had... I had been clearing casualties - I'm a combat medic. Once they were dressed or stabilized, up they went onto those ships. And then, they were gone."

"Damn."

Christabel came to a stop, her hands moving as though choreographing her movements. "One of... my friends in my regiment, Korlaz, he had been wounded in the leg." Her hands rose from below her waist, out in front, as though dressing a wound, towards the sky. "I had just cleared him, he may not even have materialized before the ship was destroyed. There was nothing I could do." She continued staring upwards. "He was gone. They were all gone."

Tw'eak reached out and placed a hand on Christabel's shoulder. "I'm so sorry you had to go through with that." Her hand fell back to her side. "Comes with the territory, I'm afraid."

Christabel looked down. "The worst part was that the Klingons withdrew. The Sixth Fleet arrived in force. We hadn't even needed to evacuate. They had been on their way the entire time." Her eyes met Tw'eak's. "But nobody told us."

Tw'eak pursed her lips. "You want to believe, in a situation like this, that foresight, that being informed would have made a difference in your actions. We'll never know."

"But it just... this stupid war. I've lost so many friends. I don't... I don't feel anything anymore. Korlaz was the last person I came through the ranks with in our regiment. The rest are all dead - and now I don't get too close to replacements. I know I'll be fixing them up again soon enough. It almost helps not to know their names."

"I know what you mean." Tw'eak looked off into the distance. "Every time I take command of a starship, or a task force, I'm secretly afraid to get to know the names of the people I have to order around, which ones have families, which ones are recently promoted, who's been in service forever, that sort of thing. But I can't let those things influence my decisions. Sometimes the best people for the task, even the lethal ones, are the ones you can't bear to imagine dead. So you put up a wall. You know them all, but you get to know few. You have to, or we'll never win."

"So many things are beyond my control, though."

Tw'eak smiled. "Mine as well. I actually prefer it that way. Less to stress about."

"But if I'd known that the-"

"You still would've done your duty. That's what I mean. You can't do anything differently based on what you knew or didn't know. Or wish you'd known. Blame... blame and duty are like matter and antimatter - they don't go well together unless you can regulate their reaction."

"I guess."

Tw'eak could see she wasn't making much impact. "Alright. Look, I'm going to go get something to eat. You're welcome to join me if you'd like to continue this, but I think it might be best if you see a counselor."

Christabel gave Tw'eak a suspicious glance. "Are you ordering me to?"

Tw'eak smiled, fighting the urge to shake her head. "I'm on vacation."

"Right."

"I'm the only one of us who is, though."

Christabel's mood went from disdainful to upset. "What?"

"I think you know what I mean. I'll let you sort it out." She patted Christabel on the arm. "You take care of yourself." Tw'eak walked away, leaving Christabel standing in place, seemingly lost in her thoughts. The sound of the waves along the shore beckoned, as did the allure of a full breakfast at the resort's main building.

* * *

The breakfast concluded, Tw'eak sat with the duBois sisters, Aurora and Bianca, who had joined Spera and Octavia on the stone patio of the promenade, watching the same unending dance of the waves as they came and went. All were in swimsuits of varying design, although Aurora also wore a blue brace on her leg to assist the continuing regeneration of her bone structure at the site of the break, as well as to provide some additional support.

Bianca took a long sip of coffee and broke the silence. "We saw this holo-vid last night. It was based on this really old story."

Aurora made a noise from behind her croissant. "Mmmm... I miked it." She swallowed. "Liked it. Really liked it."

"It is typically viewed as inappropriate to speak with food in one's mouth," Octavia admonished.

"Oh, please, like you never have," Aurora retorted.

"I have no requirement for such things. Regeneration provides me sufficient nourishment."

"Oh. Right. Your loss. These are so good." Aurora looked to Tw'eak. "Why don't we have a bakery aboard ship?"

"Anyway," Tw'eak said, "the vid?"

Bianca continued shaking her head at her sister for a moment, then looked to Tw'eak. "Yeah. It was this neat story about these two sisters on this ice planet - one made it colder with her hands or something? I didn't like the story very much, but the songs were good."

"That's because you were half asleep and only woke up for the songs," Aurora joked.

"I hadn't been asleep in the infirmary for half the afternoon, had I?"

"They sedated me!"

"Must've given you enough sedative to put a Gorn in a coma."

"So what happened with these two sisters?" Tw'eak asked, becoming impatient with the bickering.

"Oh, just one coming to the other's rescue." Bianca looked at her sister. "Reminded me of someone."

Aurora rolled her eyes, then stuck her tongue out at her sister.

Spera smiled at the two of them. "Sometimes I wish I'd had a sister. You two have so much fun together."

Aurora and Bianca both looked incredulously at Spera. "Really?" they asked at the same time, then immediately locked eyes with each other before bursting into laughter.

Down at the other end of the patio, Tw'eak spotted a couple making their way to a table. Both male, they held hands and sat down together. Tw'eak heard Spera make a slight noise. "They look so happy."

"Not many do," Tw'eak replied.

"You don't think so?"

"I know they don't." She looked around the table. "I, uh... spent enough time here in my younger days to know. Every time I was here, I came looking for that special kind of companionship. If I did find it, it wouldn't be for long - most times all I found here was the bottom of a glass."

"I've had a few lonely times here too," Bianca noted. "Mind you, it had more to do with me having an actual boyfriend who wasn't with me. But I saw enough broken hearts to know it's not all it's talked up to be."

There was a moment of silence from all present before Octavia voiced an inquiry. "May I ask why we are here, then?"

Tw'eak indicated her daughter. "Spera's sitting still on a planetary surface, for once."

"Is that the sum purpose of our time here?"

"No. There are any number of purposes. Not everything has to have a purpose set out ahead of time - it's a vacation, not a flight plan."

"My curiosity primarily stems from my continued presence here."

"You can go back to the ship if you'd rather, Captain," Bianca said. "It's nice to be off-ship with you, but it's up to you if you stay."

Octavia looked to Tw'eak. "Admiral?"

"I'm curious if you're leaving because you feel unwelcome here."

"On the contrary, your company, and that of your officers, is most welcome, here as always."

"I mean from everyone else." She pointed a wayward finger around the patio. "I don't want it to be because you're feeling... out of place?"

"Perhaps. My ocular implant is difficult to conceal, yet I have not observed an increased quantity of attention from others around me."

"Okay. It's just... I would feel awful if we'd brought you someplace where you felt uncomfortable because of your past experience."

Octavia was blunt. "With the Borg."

Tw'eak nodded. "Those guys, yeah."

"I am aware that my appearance can be a source of... anxiety for certain individuals. However, I have never experienced any prejudice or other unpleasantness as a consequence. The same has proven true here."

Tw'eak looked over at the couple across the way. "We're fortunate to live in a time where such prejudices are dead and buried."

Tw'eak noted Spera shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "Shreya, I think you should-" Tw'eak noted that Aurora and Bianca were looking over Tw'eak's shoulder, at someone approaching from behind her. Sensing that something was amiss, both she and Octavia turned to see.

Looking over her shoulder, Tw'eak recognized the face of Leo de Salaberry in side profile, accompanied as he was by the dark-haired form of Dani Okayama. Dani saw them first. Leo looked up to her and followed her eyes to make contact with Tw'eak's. Tw'eak figured he must have already seen them and choreographed the entrance to look casual, based on his response. "Well, look who's here, sweetheart," Leo said with a mischievous grin. "Didn't expect to see you down here with the rest of us."

Tw'eak gave a cordial, placid smile. "Nice to see you both. Hope you're well." She turned back around to face the group. "Anything special planned for today?" she asked Bianca.

Bianca was about to answer before Leo interrupted. "Just like that, huh. Why am I not surprised."

"Bianca?" Tw'eak asked.

"I'm... not sure." Bianca kept her eyes on Tw'eak, who gave a half-nod of approval. "Probably just catalogue a few more plant samples, maybe another holo-vid with Aurora later."

"So that's it, huh. Nothing else to say?" Leo pulled Dani a little closer. "That's fine. We're fine, by the way."

Tw'eak leaned forward and looked back. Leo seemed to be lolling about - was he drunk? It certainly seemed that way. "Oh, I'm sorry, you're still here," she said with exaggerated politeness. "You can seat yourself, you know. Go ahead. Anywhere."

"Is that what you think this is about?"

"I wasn't aware we had anything left to say to each other."

"Oh." Leo held Dani's left hand out. "How about that." There was a rather substantially sized ring on Dani's finger. "Eh? How do you like that? We're getting married later on."

"Very happy for you," Tw'eak said, nonplussed. "Sorry we can't attend. Now, if you'll excuse us."

While the look in Dani's eyes was confused, even uncertain, at seeing Tw'eak here, her smile seemed genuine. Leo, however, seemed intent on making a point. He let go of Dani's hand. "Yeah, lucky for her you passed up the opportunity."

"Lucky?" Tw'eak glanced over at Spera, conscious of her attention. "Yeah, very happy for both of you."

"What, you can't admit your mistake?"

Tw'eak felt her temper get the better of her. "That's funny, I thought you'd been telling people that you left me."

Leo was surprised. "Where- where'd you hear that?"

"Not important." Tw'eak glanced over at the duBois sisters, who both looked rather anxious. "Anyway, if you'd like this table, I think we're done here."

"Oh, sure. Go running off again. No surprise you'd do that - That's what you Starfleet types are good for, while we're doing the hard work out there."

Tw'eak stood and, without looking at Leo, walked past Spera, who got up and followed. Aurora and Bianca did likewise, leaving Octavia at the table. "Octavia, are you coming?"

"No, Admiral. I believe it inappropriate to concede this table to such dishonourable company."

"What would you know about honour? Or about anything? You're not even human anymore."

Aurora gasped, and Bianca took a step forward. "You can't talk that way-"

"Commander." Tw'eak's voice was frosty. "Stow it."

"But you heard what he said about the captain!"

Tw'eak merely looked off into the distance. "I did."

On the opposite of Tw'eak from where Spera stood, a Risian had suddenly appeared. "Can I be of any assistance?" Tw'eak looked and saw that it was the same Risian who had talked to her the night before. He looked as attractive as before, only now, with the added appeal of riding to her rescue.

"We'll handle this, thanks."

The Risian looked up at Leo. "May I show the gentleman to one of our tables?"

"Gladly. No point in fighting Robo-Bitch over there for this one." Leo snickered as he staggered past, his hand clasped around Dani's like a tractor beam. "Wouldn't want to make a mess of your place, anyway."

To the surprise of just about everyone, Leo tripped and fell - hard - into the tile floor. He looked back upwards, shocked and dismayed at what had happened. To everyone's astonishment, the cause had not been Tw'eak or anyone else holding out a foot, but instead, a burst of telekinetic energy from Spera. The youngest member of Tw'eak's party now picked Leo up roughly by the collar of his Risian shirt and tossed him backwards into Dani. "What the hell-?"

Spera's eyes narrowed. Tw'eak placed a restricting hand on her shoulder, but she swatted it away with her own. "Don't. You." She stepped in as close as she could. "Dare."

Leo's shoulders arched, apprehensively, his hands raised slightly. "What's this about?"

"You're pathetic. You're a pathetic excuse for a father, you're a pathetic excuse for a man." She looked at Dani. "I don't know you, but I know you can do better." Her eyes returned to Leo, as though aflame with fury. "As for you, it's a credit to you that you LEFT Starfleet - there's no place for people like you there."

"I don't need to listen to this."

"No?" Tw'eak demanded sharply. "She's your daughter as much as mine."

"Not anymore, Shreya." Spera closed the distance between herself and Leo, who had been inching backwards, once again. "I never want to see you again. EVER."

"What the hell is it to you anyway?" Leo asked. "You're not even from here."

It was the Risian native's turn to intervene. "I think that's enough for now, folks. Sir, if you'll come with me over this way, please..."

Leo finally yielded, following the Risian to a table. For her part, Dani didn't move right away, looking from Tw'eak to Spera, her eyes wide... finally open? Tw'eak wondered. Tw'eak looked away from the soon-to-be bride and groom and saw that Octavia, Aurora and Bianca stood in a rough semi-circle at the edge of the restaurant, while Spera continued to stare daggers in Leo's direction. Tw'eak once again placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder, and this time, Spera leaned over towards it, well aware of the intent. She turned her back on the restaurant and quietly murmured to Tw'eak, "I hope he chokes on it."

"Come on, killer," Tw'eak said with a smile.

A few minutes passed, the group moving in silence down the beach, the rising sun creating a magnificent reflection, rainbow-like, along the shoreline. "Admiral," Octavia declared, breaking the silence. "It would appear that I was in error earlier."

"About?"

"My experience of prejudice in this place. I can no longer claim to have never been so targeted."

Tw'eak smiled sadly at her liberated-Borg friend, then glanced back towards the restaurant. "Let's all just pretend that whole situation was just a very bad dream," she said after a moment. Then she added, "thank you all for letting me handle that."

"God, he's such a loser," Aurora said. "Was he always like that?"

Tw'eak looked back at Spera, who had fallen a half-pace behind. "You okay?"

Spera slowly shook her head.

Tw'eak nodded, in complete agreement. She looked up at the two sisters. "Is there any other place to eat on this island? I'm starved."

"May I recommend we return to the Warspite?" Octavia suggested.

"That would be entirely in order, all things considered." She looked to her two officers. "I would raise no objection if the two of you should elect to return at a later time."

Aurora snickered. "Yeah, I don't want to be here for their wedding party. I'd be too tempted to take a phaser to their cake or something." She looked to Bianca. "You going to come up?"

"We can watch a holo-vid up there just as well as down here, yeah."

"What about those plant samples?" Tw'eak asked.

"I got them all yesterday." Bianca realized everyone was looking at her. "What? I had to say something. So I just repeated what we did yesterday." She looked at Aurora. "I wouldn't want to go float around in the jungle without you anyway."

Tw'eak raised a hand, bringing the group to a halt. "Sh'abbas to Warspite."

"Warspite, Aewon here."

"Aewon, notify transporter room that the five of us are beaming back up."

"Will do, ma'am. A little early, isn't it?"

"Let's just say we all just lost our appetite for breakfast."

Another voice interrupted on the comm. "Admiral, this is transporter control. Stand by for transport."

"Energize." The shimmering blue surface of the water blended with the effect of the transporter as the five officers beamed up to the Warspite. As they did, Tw'eak noticed Spera, staring back in Leo's direction with a look of betrayal, tears in her eyes.


	60. Part IV, Chapter 9

Having changed back into a duty uniform, Tw'eak seated herself at the desk in the 'office' area of the newly-redesigned admiral's quarters aboard the Warspite. It had been Bianca's idea, oddly enough, to create a sort of combination ready room and personal suite aboard the vessel by combining two junior officers' quarters with an adjoining door. Tw'eak was free to come and go into the corridor from each if required. She looked around the room - what had once been a junior officer's bedroom was now home to a conference table and viewscreens through the archway on the right hand side. The door straight ahead led into the corridor, and another to her left brought her into her personal dining and sitting area, which adjoined in like fashion to a bedroom where she could rest. The quarters themselves reminded her of her room aboard the Repulse, and before it, aboard the Nelson as well. Junior officers' quarters were the kinds of places Tw'eak had called home for almost fifteen years. Being back in an oversized arrangement of the same sort as a vice-admiral suited her perfectly.

She made a mental note of who was where. In addition to various personnel from the Warspite, both the duBois sisters had gone back down to Risa with Spera. Dr. Kim Hewson was also down there somewhere, no doubt under Doc's constant supervision even now. There were others aboard whose whereabouts were known to Tw'eak, such as Octavia, Subcommander Oulius and Lieutenant Aewon, all of whom were on the bridge.

The door chime sounded. "Come in," Tw'eak called. Once the door had opened, Tw'eak saw the familiar face of Pa'lakaklan, the head of ship's security and First of its Jem'Hadar cohort. "Hello, Pal."

"I come to apologize," Pal declared, his head bowed.

"Apologize?" Tw'eak stood, putting down a padd she had been tinkering with rather than reading. "What for?"

"I have received reports that you were accosted on the planet's surface. I had been assured by the captain that my presence would not be necessary. I regret the error."

"No need for that. I have to admit, I kind of wondered if you'd suddenly appear and knock him on his ass."

"It was the human, de Salaberry?"

Tw'eak nodded. "Yeah, my ex-boyfriend. You know- I kind of envy you, being a Jem'Hadar. You get to lead the same sort of life I would want, with all the ground combat and the dignity of being an honourable warrior, yet you never have to worry about how someone's going to handle a break-up."

Pal merely nodded. "There are many aspects of sentient life aboard this ship which one would not encounter in the Dominion. I am grateful for some, such as the opportunity to practice faith, or the concept of being 'off-duty'. Yet others I cannot stand."

"Like what?"

Pal bristled slightly - even by the already bristly standards of the Jem'Hadar. "Laughter..."

"Really."

"I myself, before, have engaged in planetary surveys, so my understanding of most lifeforms is sufficiently advanced to recognize their functions. Eating, drinking, sleeping, mating - these things I recognize as part of the necessary process."

"I didn't realize Jem'Hadar do planetary surveys."

"Oh, yes. Threat analysis, behavioural patterns, how best to track, to kill... these things cannot be imprinted, they must be learned. Regardless, I had not experienced laughter before. It was... most unsettling."

"You don't have a sense of humour?"

Pal nodded, impassively. "We do."

"Could've fooled me," Tw'eak quipped.

"Sometimes we even smile. But to laugh seems... unnecessary. A waste of energy."

Tw'eak smirked and shook her head. "But you're used to the sound of it by now."

"Somewhat. The finer points of non-verbal communication are also foreign to me. Much of the language of the Dominion is directed, ordered. I would not speak to my Second as I would to another not under my authority. There is more of what you call... small talk. Admittedly, few of this crew are willing to make such small talk, though the percentages increase in familiar situations, or in confined spaces such as turbolifts. I make do with what I can learn from those who are willing to explain." He shrugged. "I have learned to apologize, frequently."

"No need to in this case. Lots of laughter and small talk on Risa, anyway. You'd hate it."

"I also wished to see that you had not come to any harm."

"No, at least not on the outside. Glad you came to check up on me though."

Pal nodded. "If you wish me to accompany you, at any point, you need only request my presence, and I will see it arranged."

"Appreciated, and noted. I'm sure I'll need you again - but... not on Risa."

"Your business there is concluded, then?"

Tw'eak gave a sad smile, and a nod. "Yeah, for the time being, at least."

"I believe it would be appropriate to offer a further apology, but not on my own behalf. Is that correct?"

"Depends on what for."

"I am sorry you did not experience more laughter. I have observed that while it can occasionally cause sad reactions, or greater volumes of complaining - which is something else rarely present in the Dominion - I have noted that most of my crewmates actively seek to laugh, and to bring that laughter to others. Its effects on morale are well-noted in much of what I have read."

"Yeah, absolutely. A happy starship is an efficient starship, that's for certain."

"Not so, for my people. Still, I understand this ship and its people better now."

"Glad to hear it."

There was a notification. "Admiral?" Aewon's voice came through over the comm.

"Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"We have a communication from the surface. It's your sister."

Tw'eak nodded to Pal. "We'll talk again soon."

Pal bowed slightly. "With respect, Admiral." He exited the room, and Tw'eak turned to her viewer. Activating it, she could see her sister's face, mildly annoyed.

"-don't know why she would've - Twaiheak?"

"Hello."

"You did. Uzaveh's name, you're impossible."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow, then figured out Dashii's objection. "Oh, I'm back aboard again. Yeah."

"Yeah," Dashii parroted, then leaned in close, annoyed. "What the hell for?"

"Sorry about that. We had a bit of an episode at breakfast this morning. It kind of put me off the whole scene."

"Must have been some kind of episode."

Tw'eak took a breath. "Not really the kind of thing one talks about over an open channel."

"Why? No one's around, just the usuals." Dashii tilted her viewer a bit - presumably a padd - and Tw'eak could see Phollrem eating a slice of what appeared to be icoberry torte from a plate. She waved her fork like a hand at the screen. "See? The gentlemen of our group are off powerboarding, so we're getting a little rest after last night."

Tw'eak winced involuntarily at the level of detail provided. "So everything worked out?"

"Oh, Twaiheak, you have no idea." Dashii brought her face back onto the screen. "I'm sorry, that was terrible of me - I didn't mean it like that."

"You keep giving me that much information and I'll have more than an idea, zhi."

"Right. Well. Let's just say we had a ...fulfilling experience, the four of us." Phollrem made a little moan of agreement. "So glad you put me up to this."

"Happy to hear."

"Oh, here's - Spera! Hello!" Dashii's chin was in full view on the screen. "Over here, my little one!"

The screen angle changed, and Spera came reluctantly into view. "Hello, zhayra." She looked into the viewer. "And Shreya. Great." Her face gave a little confused look.

"Maybe you'll tell me why your shreya has made her little tactical retreat."

"Oh. Um... okay."

"Don't make her tell you, Dashii." Tw'eak sighed. "Look, it was Leo. He was there with a new girlfriend, made a bit of a scene at the restaurant."

"I did, too," Spera confided.

"Really?" Dashii looked at Tw'eak. "What happened?"

"Do you remember Danielle Okayama? She was on Nimbus."

"Oh, yes, the one with the T-shirt that said, 'I want to be Twaiheak when I grow up'?"

Spera giggled. "Did she really?"

"She may as well have. I needed to check for antennae to tell them apart."

"He's supposed to marry her this afternoon."

"Ohhh, my... wow, really?" Dashii's tone changed from her usual bemusement to serious, even slightly offended. "That's kind of quick, don't you think?"

"Very quick," Spera answered for Tw'eak.

Dashii could be seen raising a hand to Spera's shoulder. "That's awful for you, I'm so sorry."

"For Shreya, too."

Tw'eak bit her tongue rather than take the focus upon herself. "I'm over it. Still, I didn't want to ruin anyone else's fun."

"I think that's exactly what we should do," Phollrem said, off-screen.

"What do you mean?" Spera asked her.

"We should ruin their day, the same way they ruined Twaiheak's."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Tw'eak advised.

"I agree with Spera," Dashii said, then added, "we should ruin their wedding."

"I didn't say that!" Spera exclaimed.

Tw'eak was alarmed. "Let's not cause any major incidents during our time on Risa, please."

"It's not a major incident. It's just a spoiled wedding."

"Honestly, Shreya?" Spera leaned into the frame. "I don't think she's happy. We should try and talk to her."

"I don't know how she could be," Phollrem interrupted. "Human relationships are so... limited."

"So we'll limit them - good." Dashii brought the camera close to her face. "We'll get some of those monkeys from the forest at the reception, and before long, they'll start hurling their, you know-"

"No, no, no." Tw'eak felt the urge to beam down just to stop them from intervening. "Don't make me invoke the Prime Directive."

"It's not first contact, Twaiheak. It's liberation. Might be very liberating for you to ruin their party with us."

Tw'eak looked past Dashii, despite her dominating the screen. "Look, Spera. See if you can find Doctor Hewson. So that you're not by yourself."

"Alright."

"I can come too," Phollrem volunteered. "Not like these people would recognize me - although I guess if they hate all of us equally... I'll figure something out, but I'll go along with her and this doctor friend of yours."

"Thank you. Spera, just see if you can get her attention." Referring to Spera's ability to conceal herself, she added, "without being visibly obvious about it."

"I follow."

"Do we know where the service is supposed to take place?" Dashii asked.

"Shouldn't be hard to find out," Phollrem answered. "They keep a public record of all those things - we just need to check the registry for information."

"Right." Dashii looked up at Spera. "You're sure you can handle this."

"Yeah." Spera's eyes met Tw'eak's on-screen. "You're not going to be upset with me for doing this?"

"Not at all. Just worried."

"Just talk her out of it then, Twaiheak." Dashii brought the viewer around so her head filled the frame. "Honestly, you're such a zhavey sometimes."

"For a second there I thought you'd say shreya."

"With our shreya? I don't hate you, why would I compare you to her?"

Tw'eak smiled. "Thank you. Good luck, and be careful." She closed the channel and immediately began to feel herself start to fret. This was a terrible idea - of that there was little doubt. But Dashii had made a good point - Danielle Okayama hadn't said anything in the incident earlier, hadn't breathed a word, possibly due to sheer surprise at seeing Tw'eak... or was it embarrassment? It occurred to Tw'eak that she would have to find out - but putting that swimsuit back on was not in the order of the day. She had no intention of getting any more sand in her antennae today.

She pulled up the latest intelligence briefings on the Iconians, Undine and other threats to the Federation, downloaded them to her padd, and made her way to lay down. She was almost halfway through the first one when her head began to weigh heavy, as though she had anchors instead of antennae, and she closed her eyes. Just a quick fifteen-minute rest, she thought to herself. Either she'd sleep right through the unfolding disaster on the planet below, or she'd wake right back up again and look for something else to do at her terminal.

* * *

Three hours elapsed by the time Tw'eak woke up, her uniform collar slightly dampened by what she was embarrassed to admit was probably drool. She had really needed that sleep, it seemed.

She realized the padd was blinking, and activated it. Almost immediately upon doing so, there was a comm notification. "Admiral?"

"Oulius." She sat up.

"Admiral, Commander Sh'abbas was looking for you earlier. I advised her you'd fallen asleep."

"Oh, you didn't."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. The bio-sensors registered that you-"

"Sorry - no, you did alright. Can you connect me to her now?"

"Certainly."

There was a crackle in the comms. "Spera? Are you-"

The reply came not from Spera, but Oulius. "Sorry, still trying to connect. Risian comm traffic is higher than normal at this hour."

"That's all right, just tell me when we're through."

"Patching in now, ma'am."

"Shreya?" Tw'eak heard Spera's voice.

"How'd it go?"

"It didn't. I found Doctor Hewson, like you suggested, and she and Phollrem both came with me to the chapel. But no one showed up!"

"No one?"

"No. Just the minister. He thought I wanted to get married to Doctor Hewson, but she told him she was already happily married. Anyway, it was really weird. Not what I was expecting at all."

"That's very strange," Tw'eak noted. "They must have called it off."

"Not sure. Nobody informed the minister if that's what they decided, anyway."

"I see." Tw'eak looked forlornly over at the chair where the swimsuit lay and grimaced. "Tell your zhayra to meet me at the transport pad."

"You're coming back down?"

"Yeah." She input the search term 'Risian outfits' on the padd and began a survey of what else she could replicate to wear on the planet. "Be about fifteen minutes. Sh'abbas out."

* * *

The outfit which Tw'eak had selected - a thin white fleece sweater, a red undershirt, and a pair of khaki shorts - was a touch more dignified than the swimsuit she had been wearing earlier and, hopefully, wouldn't attract too much sand. Nevertheless, she told herself, there was something to be said for feeling the sun and breeze on your shoulders, even if hers were covered by a delicate layer of fleece.

"Why didn't you just beam down in uniform?" Dashii asked sarcastically. Tw'eak turned slightly to see her sister sitting on the edge of the platform.

"Have you been able to find her?"

"Who?"

"Dani Okayama."

"I haven't looked for her yet. I think that was Spera's job, wasn't it?"

Tw'eak reached inside her collar. "Sh'abbas to Spera."

"Go ahead, Shreya."

"Do you have her?"

"I think so. Not going in there, though."

"Where?"

"Suraya Bay - wait, you're on the planet now?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll activate point-to-point and meet you there."

Moments later, Spera materialized before her mother and daughter. "And there she is," Dashii noted.

"She's over at the bar." Spera led, and both Dashii and Tw'eak followed. They walked across the beach past a tower, and around to where the restaurant was located. They crossed up a staircase, across a walkway elevated over the water, and down another staircase to the bar area. Spera stopped on the stairs, leaning back. Tw'eak and Dashii huddled with her. "How do you want to handle this, Shreya?"

"I don't know. I've never done anything like this before."

"Let me handle her," Dashii said with a look of menace.

"No - no, I handle it. Are we agreed?"

"I'm going to keep an eye on you, Shreya."

"Please do. Just... keep your distance." Tw'eak pointed back up to the elevated walkway. "Up there."

Dashii was indignant. "How the hell am I-?"

"UP," Tw'eak whispered furiously.

"Alright, alright. Up."

"Good luck," Spera added as she and Dashii went back up the stairs.

Tw'eak took a few soft steps down - not because she was afraid, but rather, in an effort to gauge Dani's mood before she arrived. Dani waved the bartender over to her, asking for another drink.

"I don't know," the female bartender said.

"C'mon. Just one more."

"One for me, too," Tw'eak said. She looked to Dani, who was startled to see her. "What are we drinking?"

"Oh my. The lady admiral herself." She motioned towards the adjacent stool. "So glad you came to see me. Step into my office."

The bartender made her way to mix the drinks, giving Tw'eak a suspicious look as she did. Tw'eak sat down on the stool. "I'm glad to see you, too. You've been well?"

"Been better, you mean." She leaned over towards Tw'eak, her breath a bouquet of alcohol and fruit juice. "You must've heard, then. We're done."

"...we are?"

"No, no." Dani laughed. "Me and him."

"I see. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted. I should... I should probably thank you. Showed up just in time to set the charge. And now... boom." She suddenly pounded on the bar. "Where's that drink of mine?"

"One damn minute, admiral," the bartender replied. She came over with a pair of squat glasses filled about two-thirds of the way with a yellow-orange liquid, garnished with a slice of fruit. "Enjoy."

Tw'eak smiled as she noted a distinct opacity difference between hers and Dani's. Clearly the bartender had watered down Dani's drink, not that she had noticed. Tw'eak gave the drink a sniff - far more sweet than she typically cared for - and decided on downing it quickly. She swallowed quickly, to Dani's amusement.

"That's not how those work," she said.

"Sorry. I'm used to ...shall we say, stronger fare." Tw'eak's stomach recoiled suddenly, and she fought the urge to burp the full contents back up again.

"Bit more of a punch than you expect," Dani said, still chuckling. "Kinda like me."

"I never properly thanked you for your help on Nimbus."

"No big deal. I like those ops. Ran lots of them lately."

"So I hear. You've been busy in the flotilla."

"His idea." Dani took a sip of her drink, then looked disgustedly at the bartender, who was standing a fair distance off, polishing a glass. "What'd you do to this?"

"Nothing," the bartender replied. "Maybe next time you shouldn't rush me."

Dani turned to Tw'eak. "Risa used to be fun. You remember that?"

"Sure," Tw'eak replied.

"I don't get it, y'know? I can kill 'em, I can wound 'em. I can even hold my own, hand-to-hand with 'em. But you put me in close - y'know what I mean?"

"Sorry, who are we talking about?"

"Men. God, I swear. Don't even know the point."

"I once heard it described by a jilted Vulcan as 'the biological imperative'. Not that it works that way for everyone - my people, for instance, have four genders."

"That right." Dani took the fruit off her glass and chewed on it. "Makes it harder, no?"

"Yes and no."

"So, then... I gotta ask. What were you even doing with him?"

"You had feelings for him when we met."

"My question first."

Tw'eak sighed. "Honestly? He was cute, he was single, he was outside the chain of command... that was about it." She looked down at her empty glass. "I'd been alone for a long, long time. He was interested, we'd met once before, while I was commanding the Bonaventure, and he just seemed to get it."

"Yeah. That's his trick. Seems to get it.. won't actually get it, y'know?"

"Do I ever." She looked down to see that Dani's ring hand was empty. "What'd you do with the ring?"

"Gave it a swimmin' lesson." Dani made a 'bloop' noise. "Stupid thing to do."

"You could always go out and recover it."

"Nah. Would have to want it back, first." Dani shook her head. "Such an idiot."

"What led you to break it off so suddenly?"

"Oh, there's no mystery as to who dumped who this time, ma'am. And it weren't me."

Tw'eak looked over, surprised. "You're kidding."

"Nope. He seriously hasn't talked to you?"

"No. Should he have?"

Dani shook his head. "God, he can't even do that right." She snickered yet again, and looked squarely into Tw'eak's eyes. "Told me he couldn't marry me if his heart was still yours."

Tw'eak blinked, uncertain of how best to react. "Really."

"Somethin' like that, yeah." Dani's eyes returned to her drink. "That's why I thought you were comin' over - to gloat about it."

"I... I don't want him back in my life. Neither does Spera."

"Yeah - was there, remember?" Dani took a drink. "She was pissed."

"She has every right to be - but with him, not with you." Tw'eak leaned over to catch Dani's eye. "Nobody's upset with you," she lied, well aware of Dashii's watch above.

"Why not? He's made a total mess of it. But I love him. Always did. Then along comes blue, and I might as well be Benzite to his eyes."

"That's not true. He was going to marry you. That's got to count for something."

"Your people don't have a word for 'sham marriage', do you?"

"Vaguely. He was marrying you on false pretenses?"

"Probably to get back at you. That's all he knows how to do anymore. I hoped it'd be different, but no. He don't let go. Once it's on the bad side with him, it stays there. You, for instance. You set us up with supplies? He sends away the supply ships. You make friends in the fleet? You even sent us a qualified medic. So he puts all those people as far from him as he can. Anything to show you how big-boy he is. He's probably arranging a 'Look How Okay I Am Without You' parade right now. Don't know where you'd have a parade on Risa. He'll find a place."

Tw'eak was confused. "I'm sorry... he's parading cadets past me?"

"No, no - wait, you don't have parades on Andoria?"

"All the time, at the Academy. Even in the winter."

"No, no, celebration-type parades. Happy, good time parades. Like, with floats and elephants and stuff."

Tw'eak looked confused. "Floats... root beer floats?"

"Y'know, never mind." Dani was laughing too hard to press the point any further. "You're all right. I always liked that about you - very funny. Always thought, you and me, we'd be friends."

"Well, to be honest, we always need capable ground combat specialists. Especially ones that are so particularly well-armed as we are." When Dani laughed, Tw'eak added, "you didn't bring that rifle of yours with you, did you?"

"Nah. They don't let you bring weapons down here none. Which is too bad. I'd only need one round to settle his sorry ass. BAM!"

"Just curious." Tw'eak smiled. "I don't wish him any harm either, you know."

"How could you not? I been doing nothin' but, all day since." She chuckled.

"Yeah, but that's understandable. I don't pretend to know how to explain him - feel kind of stupid, actually, having a conversation with you about him."

"Not something you're used to having to do, I take it."

Tw'eak blinked. "Why, are you?"

"Oh yeah - the friend girl, not the girlfriend. That's me. Like his sister or something. So all these girls he'd flirt with or hit on start bugging me. It's all 'what's he like?' and 'he's so funny', and of course, always, 'so are you and him together?' And I'd say, go find out yourself. Once it ended with you, he stopped chasing everything female in the flotilla for a little while. Figured it was my only shot, y'know? Actually made me happy, that was the hard part."

"Will you go back now?"

"To the flotilla? No. That's over, too - and his fault there too. I had enough people tell me they were just about done - again, nobody goes to him, they come to me. So I said look, he's in charge, I can't change him any more than you can, talk to him. They would. Then they'd just get madder. Or they'd leave. Sometimes both. A couple of 'em who really believed in what we were doing threw themselves into the next fight, tried to fix his mistakes. They'd end up dead. And we'd just keep goin'..."

"That's what I'm wondering - you have to go somewhere."

"Don't know. A freighter, maybe? Ship of my own might be nice for a while. Can't afford one, but I can start from zero again. Ain't nobody gonna miss me, ma'am."

"You don't worry about the work you were doing? About your mission?"

Dani drained off the remainder of her drink. "There was a time. But then... I don't know. Everything I thought I knew, it was all wrong. How do you go back to that, y'know?"

Tw'eak smiled. "I'm planning to petition Admiral Quinn to form a task force with the specific duties of supporting anti-slavery operations. I know a few people in the flotilla. I know who I'd want to be part of that task force - as Starfleet officers this time, maybe even get a Marine battalion involved."

"That'd be nice. Boarding actions would be a lot easier."

"You used to be a Marine, didn't you?"

"Hey, careful now. Still am. Once a Marine, always a Marine. You should know that - your dad was one."

Tw'eak smiled at the remembrance of her thavan. "Did you serve with him, too?"

"Nope. Heard tell enough stories about him to fill a lifetime, though. Somebody loved him, if you know who I mean."

"Well, so did I. I've spent most of my life trying to live up to him. He was a good leader, a great Marine, but... but he cared about his people. He used to tell me, when you're in charge, that just means you follow everyone else's lead, and never go where they won't follow."

Dani snickered. "Should get that message to him. Might do some good. Maybe embroider it on a pillow for him, maybe paint it on the walls, y'know?"

Tw'eak smiled. She let her face remain as such for a moment, then said, "Look, for what it's worth, if you're serious about returning to Starfleet, you're welcome to come back with us. We clear for Earth Spacedock on my order."

"Nice bein' Admiral, then, isn't it?"

"We can have you back in uniform in a few hours."

"Legit? Wow, you guys must be desperate."

"Only for the best. After all, who's like us?"

Dani straightened up, looking at Tw'eak with slight astonishment. "Damn few... and they're all dead."

"You got that right."

Dani's face broadened into a huge smile. "Didn't think you'd know that one."

"Well, like I told you... I learned from the best." She patted Dani on the shoulder. "Should I signal for beam-up?"

"You're - but you're not even wearin' a commbadge!"

"Actually, I am." She flipped the lapel of her sweater to reveal a mechanism within. "Nice bein' Admiral," she repeated.

Dani thought about it for a moment, letting out a low humming noise. "Y'know, lemme think about it. Lemme at least sober up a bit. Feel like I been stunned with a phaser. Damn." She tried to stand up, but ended up perched against the bar like a wounded fawn. "On second thought maybe I better beam right to the sickbay."

"Are you serious?"

"No, no. Don't worry, I been drunk before. Tots of limes."

Tw'eak smiled, noting the bartender standing at Dani's elbow seemingly all at once. "She'll be all right."

"Alright." The bartender yielded and backed away.

"Thanks." Dani pushed off and half-sat back on the stool. "Might be good for me to get off-world. That way he can't come lookin' for me."

"That's a good idea," Tw'eak said. "Let's get you aboard ship. It'll do you a world of good."

Dani laughed. "Get off-world... do a world of good... I love you. You crack me up."

Ignoring the commentary, Tw'eak linked arms with Dani, then looked up to where two pairs of antennae were visible on the walkway above. She waved them down, and before long, Spera had Dani's other side supported while Dashii positioned herself behind, prepared to catch the falling mess. "Holy crap," Dani commented. "I must be so loaded. I'm seein' triple."

Tw'eak reached in and activated her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Warspite. Four to transport - energize when ready."

The sunlit interior of the bar faded away as the quartet returned to the starship waiting above.


	61. Part IV, Chapter 10

Tw'eak had barely left the transporter room, having seen Dani Okayama into the arms of some medical orderlies, when Spera had stopped her from leaving. "Wait, Shreya - can I talk to you?"

Tw'eak turned and stopped. "Sure."

"Are you sure we're right to trust her?"

"No. But she might help."

"With the task force you're proposing?"

"The other task force I'm proposing. Let's not forget that Silhouette hasn't even started its mission yet. And I'm going to go in and propose some sort of... joint liberation service to Starfleet."

"Jointly with who, exactly?"

"The Romulans - the Republic, of course."

"Of course." Spera's face registered that she understood. "Makes sense."

"Where's Dashii?"

"She beamed back down. I was kind of hoping I could go back down with her."

"Really?"

Spera looked suspicious. "Why are you surprised at that?"

"You... asking me for permission to beam back down."

"I know I don't have to, but I wondered if you needed me up here at all."

"No, no. Go, enjoy the planet."

Spera nodded, now getting Tw'eak's intention. "So that's it."

Tw'eak wrinkled her nose. "I meant to say, 'go enjoy Risa', but I gave myself away, didn't I."

"Yeah. Thank you, by the way. I'm having a really good time."

"No need to thank me."

"This was all your idea."

"Oh. It was as much Dashii's as mine."

Spera laughed. "I knew it."

"What?"

"That you wouldn't just take the credit. Seriously, Shreya. You just say 'you're welcome, Spera,' and we're all set."

"You're very welcome." Tw'eak flourished with a slight bow, then smiled. "Happy now?"

"Not quite. Why don't you come with me?"

"I'd rather not smell like the ocean for any longer?"

"Just come for a bit. I want to meet up with the others."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "Something going on?"

"Yeah, dance party! It starts at the top of the hour. I can't wait."

"I don't know if it's appropriate for anyone of admiralty rank to be dancing in public."

"Nobody says you have to dance! You can just come and... I don't know... watch. Play Dabo. Maybe even join in if you want."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Lucky for you I'm already dressed."

Spera's face beamed. "Really? You'll come?"

"Sure." She and Spera went back inside the transporter room. "I didn't realize you were so fond of dancing."

"Well, there wasn't much else to do onboard the ship. We had a really good instructor named Jamony. She was always so graceful. And her symbiont was on its sixth lifetime, so it knew all sorts of dance moves. It'd been a diplomat's symbiont in a previous lifetime. I didn't know dancing was such a big part of diplomatic functions, but apparently it was."

By the time Spera had finished her sentence, the two of them had re-materialized on Risa. Tw'eak took a look around, but Spera was already on her way down the boardwalk. "Hey!"

"Come on, Shreya! They're getting started!"

"You go on ahead." Spera turned, her face pouty. "Really. I'll be right behind you."

"You've said that before!"

"Not this again, Spera..."

"Right, right." She leapt off the boardwalk and ran through the shallow water of the lagoon up onto the pad in the centre of the resort's entryway. Tw'eak could clearly see the shapes of her sister, and the duBois sisters, dancing about to the right. Spera made her way up and joined them, and the four of them formed a rough semi-circle facing the dance leader, who stood on a raised platform between two great columns of stone, fires burning at the top of each, joined by a great archway over him atop which burned another pyre. The dance floor was packed with numerous species - a Caitian here twitching her tail to the beat, a Tellarite getting down over on the far side, a couple shirtless male Andorians, even a Gorn in a wetsuit at the far edge towards the back.

At the dance leader's call, people would shift from one dance move to another. Some of the moves were unfamiliar to Bianca, who seemed to return to a general happy bounce at regular intervals if unsure what to do - this being Dashii's cue to show her the next moves. Spera seemed to know them all, as did Aurora, although the elder sister definitely took advantage of Dashii's instructions to clarify a few maneuvers. There was a general energy in the space, all the happy revelers stumbling around in emulation, the music an upbeat, peppy (if repetitive) jingle.

Tw'eak took up a position just beside, and slightly behind, a large potted fern to the rear of the place. The suns' slow decline from their majestic height above had begun, giving the resort building a sort of red-orange glow which it didn't usually possess. Tw'eak watched as Spera did a dance called the 'running man', then another called the 'side step', and she felt her heart begin to flutter. She had grown so very fond of this young girl, this daughter she acknowledged as her own, and she felt so incredibly fortunate that the Infinite had apparently conspired with the Prophets to place her in Tw'eak's path. She wondered what sort of calamity had been avoided - after all, Spera's arrival had been the beginning of the end of her relationship with Leo.

Leo - just the thought of him made Tw'eak look over her shoulders, wary of his approach. How could she have gotten it so completely wrong? she wondered. Perhaps she had simply been too willing to take the first available option. Perhaps Leo had well and truly fooled her - hardly any shame in admitting that, since it was clearly his favourite game to play. Still, she had believed he cared, was even willing to admit that she had cared, too. It wasn't as simple as saying that she had simply fooled herself into believing an illusion of what he was like. There was far more to it than that. And it had been complicated considerably by everything that came along with Spera's arrival from the future.

To say nothing of Spera's own future from this point on. That Tw'eak felt so close to Spera had been scary enough without the thought of what had happened aboard the Enterprise. Tw'eak realized that Spera had seen some terrible things in her youth, and no doubt the psychological pressure she had placed upon herself was getting to her. Tw'eak wondered if anyone, even someone who outwardly displayed such quiet determination and resolution as Spera did, would have the strength enough to deal with a return to the very world she had sought to prevent from coming into existence. She would have to support Spera better, she resolved. She would have to do more, to bring in more outside assistance, or possibly not that at all. Tw'eak sighed, watching the dancers, and figured it was probably normal for parents to fret about their offspring, constantly, without a clue of how to proceed. Even in this time of galaxy-spanning travel and unlimited replicated goods, the process didn't come with an instruction manual, and very few races - the Trill with their symbionts, for example, or the Vulcans through mind melds - could find a way to bring wisdom to ensuing generations other than by explanation... and patience.

Tw'eak heard some chatter from a pair of women who walked past, and gave another glance over her shoulder, then in the other direction. Still clear. She looked over at Spera, whose head was starting to move around. Looking for her mother, she glanced along the passageway, prompting Tw'eak to step out more visibly into the open. Catching her eye, Spera gave a little wave, then a huge smile crossed her expression. Tw'eak offered a wave of her own in return, only to be waved towards the floor. She raised a hand, saying no, then waved underhand, a go-ahead motion intended to make it clear that they should proceed without her. Spera nodded, then went back to her dancing.

After a few moments, Tw'eak began to see, in the setting suns' light, a slight blue impression around Spera. The realization of it - like a sort of static electricity clinging to her, almost like a visible water vapour - and Tw'eak's remembrance of its explanation nearly moved her to tears. Spera had told her once that the effect was caused by any sort of intense emotions. Tw'eak thought to herself that the only real explanation could be that Spera was happy - really, sincerely happy. The memory of this moment etched itself upon her mind, and Tw'eak said a silent thanks to her sister, to Aurora and Bianca, to Risa, to the Infinite, to all the gods of all the universe's peoples, for her daughter's moment of simple, unrestricted joy. Her worries gave way to a new anxiety, a concern for the end of this moment, for like all moments of happiness, this dance party would be all too fleeting, not least for those sweaty participants with their floral garlands and lightly-clad forms in motion. She wished that the tinny, repetitive music would continue, recurring over and over in fractal repetitions until one or both of the Risian suns exploded.

The precious, delicate integrity of all things suddenly became an overriding thought with Tw'eak - remembering the Undine planet killers which were due to be arriving, the Iconians and their unspeakable power, the sad fragility of the simple rituals and festivals of this planet and others like it, all of which would bow to the Iconians or burn to ashes in cold space. She swallowed hard, suddenly unable to control her emotions, picturing the dance floor's edges as a sort of precipice overhanging a vast abyss from which there would be no return - not for her, not for her family, not for the Federation... all of this would suffer, all their happiness, their hopes, their dreams, their society, their worlds would fall into the shadow of the Final Darkness. The storm was coming, and through Spera she had learned it would come not in the distant hypothetical future, but possibly tomorrow, if not today. She remembered how Spera had taken the identity of the Stormbringer upon herself, as though her actions had made that future come that much closer to the otherwise-oblivious present. And she felt herself shiver despite the warm evening breeze that touched her arms as it passed on by.

Then passed by a Caitian in a bikini, then a shirtless Andorian and the pair of women who had chatted on their way past in one direction, now returning in the other. Before long, she realized she had been completely lost in thought - the dance party had ended, and the four participants she had been watching had completely skipped out of her sight, now approaching from her right.

"That was amazing!" Aurora exclaimed as she approached. "Wasn't that fun?" she asked her sister.

"It really was," Bianca replied. She turned to Dashii as the half-circle formed the same ranks they had while dancing earlier, but now facing Tw'eak in a fairly close huddle. "Thank you for walking me through those steps. It's been a while."

"No problem. Love dancing. So much fun."

"We used to do that all the time," Spera said, pointing to the dance floor, "only, just in small groups. Back in my time, I mean. You taught me so many good moves."

Tw'eak smiled and raised an eyebrow. "What about that Trill teacher you told me about before?"

Spera's face fell, and she looked from Dashii to Tw'eak. "That was ...later, Shreya."

Tw'eak nodded, aware she'd put herself wrong in the conversation. The instructor Spera had spoken of had come into her life after Dashii's death in the future, clearly. "I read you."

"You know what I wanna read right now?" Dashii asked, grinning fiercely. "A drink menu!"

"I better stick to the synthehol," Aurora whimpered. "With the medicine in my system, I don't think I could handle anything too strong right about now."

"Compared to all those other times without it?" her sister joked.

"Bianca! I do very well, thank you. Maybe not as well as you, but I do alright."

"Remember that time on Palamar? With the tranya?"

"No fair bringing that up - I had an allergy!"

"Yes, I remember. Your allergic reaction looks surprisingly a lot like being drunk..."

Spera giggled. "I have the same allergy, clearly."

Dashii smiled at Tw'eak. "Must be a human trait."

"Oh, no," Tw'eak laughed. "You can handle that stuff far, far better than I can. Now, the appetizers? Those, I'd like to handle."

The mention of appetizers sweetened Aurora's mood. "Can we get some of those things - what are they called, with the dipping sauce?"

"Better let Shreya handle ordering those," Spera joked. "She's better with names."

The five of them - two pairs of sisters and Spera - walked off across the resort floor, in search of the next place to get a few drinks with appetizers. Risa being Risa, they didn't have far to travel.

The group found a table at the same bar where Tw'eak had found Dani Okayama earlier that day. It was quiet, surprisingly, save for their table. Tw'eak saw a few other people around, enjoying the open air. The glowbugs held to their patterns overhead, while down the shore, Tw'eak could see bonfires and people dancing in silhouette.

The table was littered with platters of mostly-eaten appetizers and empty drink glasses. One of the Risian staff came over to begin clearing things away. "Can I get you ladies anything else?" she asked.

"I'm okay," Spera said quickly, still holding a half-finished drink.

"Me too," Bianca added.

"Could you get us another bottle of your wine?" Aurora asked. "It's fantastic."

"Sure. I'll bring it right over - let me clean this up first and I'll get some fresh glasses, too."

"Thanks," Tw'eak replied. The server stacked the plates, pinched the glasses together in the other hand, and carried them off. "That's not easy to do."

"I've got it," the server said, and made her way to the bar.

"She's good," Dashii said after the server had been gone for a moment.

"Do you ever wonder how things might have been different if you hadn't joined Starfleet?" Aurora asked after a moment. "I wonder if I would've been a good waitress."

"No," Bianca replied quickly.

"No what?"

"You wouldn't. You have to work with the people who you're serving, not just bring food from the replicator."

"Yeah. I'd be good at replicating the food, though. And I'd be fast."

Bianca smiled. "I'd be too curious. I'd wander off to find out new things to replicate. I'd also weigh a lot more because of it."

"You think so?" Spera asked.

"When I was at the Academy - where we grew up, we had a replicator, but we rarely ever used it."

"Yeah, we were so old-fashioned." Aurora shook her head. "I think it was our dad, he was always telling us about how things used to be."

"Like the Spitfire." Bianca looked around the group. "Dad had a really old flying craft called a Spitfire. We'd go flying in it sometimes, until Aurora and I were too big to sit in his lap."

"Dad loved that stuff - cars, and tanks, and trains, and all that stuff."

"That sort of explains your engineering career," Dashii said. "I'm guessing."

"I think so. He liked my help putting things together."

"Which left me lots of time to wander around in the back yard," Bianca continued. "Which is definitely the reason I'm in science - I'd ask questions, and he or Mom would tell me there was an answer, that there was a system that explained everything, whether it was rain or sunshine or soil composition or which flowers were in bloom. So when I got to the Academy, everything was replicated. For the first little while I couldn't tell a difference. So I ate a lot. Until one night I got... something. I don't remember what. But I got sick one night - really ill. I missed a midterm the next day because of it, although fortunately Professor Stemdal was really nice about it, for a Vulcan. It must have helped that I looked like hell."

"What does this story have to do with replicators again?" Dashii asked as the bottle of wine arrived, newly opened, with a set of fine goblets. "Sorry, if we're going to talk about upset stomachs, I'm going to find I have one."

Bianca took the bottle and poured to fill the goblets, taking the last one for herself. "Sorry. What I meant to say was that I couldn't eat from a replicator again without being able to tell the food was replicated."

"Yeah, it's amazing," Aurora interrupted as she took another glass of wine - as did both Tw'eak and Dashii. "You could blindfold her and give her something replicated - even something simple like, I don't know, applesauce. One replicated, one not - and she'd be able to tell."

"I always tell Aurora that we should work together on refining just how the replicator works."

"We could open a restaurant!"

"A replimat, you mean."

Aurora suddenly looked confused. "We could open a replimat!" she said after a moment. "Um, maybe... a gourmet replimat."

"Wouldn't be worth it," Dashii said with a smirk. "Your whole business would revolve around people praising your replicator, or people telling you they knew it was replicated all along."

"That would get annoying," Spera added. "I wouldn't like to have people come in just to talk about that."

"You're probably right," Bianca said, nodding. She looked at her big sister. "You'd get bored anyway. There's no warp core in a restaurant."

"Yeah. I have to admit, I kind of miss the big guy. Feel like I haven't seen him in days."

Tw'eak looked at Bianca, then Spera. "Which 'big guy' are we talking about?"

"Oh, shoot!" Aurora put a hand to her mouth. "I wasn't going to- damn it."

"She gave the warp core a name," Bianca confided.

Aurora slapped Bianca's hand. "You weren't supposed to tell her either!"

"A name?" Spera asked.

"Well- it's not like- oh, why did you tell them?"

"I didn't," Bianca retorted, "you did."

Dashii raised a hand. "Wait. Hold on." She leaned in, coquettishly. "Sooooo... what's his name, Aurora?"

"I don't want to-"

"Come on..."

"But I-"

"Just say it, Aurora," Bianca encouraged.

"Yeah, tell us," Spera added.

Aurora looked around at the group, a pouting expression on her face. "You're all gonna laugh."

Bianca leaned forward, getting her sister's attention. "Say it or I will."

Aurora contemplated for a moment. "...no."

Bianca made another face, and Aurora merely looked away. "Kevin," Bianca said.

"Kevin?" Dashii asked, bursting into laughter. For her part, Tw'eak, like Spera, kept a straight face.

Aurora gave Bianca a dirty look. "Last time I tell YOU anything."

Dashii cleared her throat. "Well." She looked at Tw'eak, who was hiding a smile behind a hand held to her lips. "There you go."

"It started as a joke, okay?" Aurora said to Dashii. "I said to Lieutenant Meerlan that sometimes the warp core made me so angry that sometimes I talked to it. And Meerlan asked me, what's its name, then? So I just said Kevin. And I don't know why it popped into my head, but before long everyone in the engine room was referring to it as Kevin. I don't know if they're just making fun of me or what, but yeah. Kevin."

Across the bar, Tw'eak spotted a couple coming down the stairway, both human. She recognized them both instantly - one, she knew too well, while the other she had only recently met. She looked down at her glass, hoping not to be noticed. "Oh, no."

"Really?" Bianca replied. "I kind of thought they were making fun of her, too."

Tw'eak turned to Spera. "I want you to go with your aunt back up to the ship, right now."

"What - Shreya?"

"Go on." Tw'eak gave another look back over her shoulder. Dashii had seen them, too.

"Yeah, kiddo... I think your shreya's right. Best for us to let her handle this one."

Spera had noted the sight as well. "Who is that he's with?"

"Never mind that." Tw'eak looked to Dashii. "Go back out that way. Casually."

"Can I take my drink?"

"Sure," Dashii replied. She put down her own glass of wine. "Would've liked to finish that."

"Just get going - I'll have a case beamed aboard."

"Well... best trade I've been involved in today." She patted Spera on the shoulder as she rose. "Be careful."

"You, too," Tw'eak replied with an anxious smile.

Once Spera and Dashii had gone around the side of the building, on their way to signal for beam-out, Tw'eak leaned forwards. "You two stay here."

"I should come with you," Aurora said. "After what he said the last time."

"No. I don't want to-" She looked at the both of them. "You weren't with us when we found Dani here."

"No," Bianca replied. "What happened?"

"Probably best she isn't here, either. The short version is that he told her that he's still too in love with me to marry her."

Aurora leaned back, looking at Leo. "So then why is-"

"Eyes down, Commander," Tw'eak whispered urgently.

"Ooh! Sorry." Aurora tucked her head back in, and repeated her inquiry. "So then why is he here with her?"

Bianca shook her head, laughing. "Because that's the kind of man he is."

"Exactly." Tw'eak took a breath. "Which is why you let me handle this."

"Hate to say it, ma'am, but-"

"Don't." She looked at Bianca, her face somber. "I've probably said worse."

"Understood. We'll stay here and, uh... keep the wine safe."

"Good," Tw'eak replied, straightening up. "I'll probably need it after this." She took a step, then came back to the table. "Oh, and ask the bartender about that case I promised Dashii. If it takes latinum or whatever, just... do it."

"You got it." Bianca smiled politely, while Aurora nodded, her face anxious.

Tw'eak stepped lightly across the bar, holding a dismissive hand up to the bartender as she crossed to the couple. She didn't feel as though she had any corporeal mass, like she was floating across to them, riding a tempest of her own emotions over the stone floor of the bar. As she got close enough, she stopped, swallowed hard, and said, "Hello, Christabel."

Christabel Botha, the Marine medic whom Tw'eak had met earlier that day, looked up, beaming. "Hello! So nice to see you again." She looked at the man she was sitting with. "This is who I was telling you about."

Tw'eak gritted her teeth as Leo glanced up at her. "Yeah, we've met," he said quickly.

"I couldn't help coming over to say a quick hello." Tw'eak offered Christabel an approximation of a smile. "Hope you're well."

"Yes, thank you. A lot better after I spoke to you. They were very helpful... down there. You know."

Tw'eak nodded, her smile sincere. "Yeah, I follow. Happy to hear it."

Christabel looked from Tw'eak to Leo. "So how do you two know each other?"

"We've worked together in the past," Tw'eak replied sharply before Leo opened his mouth. He snarled at her as she spoke.

"Oh, I see. Didn't... go well."

Leo shook his head, but did not say anything. This made Christabel give Tw'eak a suspicious look, but the Andorian gave the performance of a lifetime, maintaining a dignified, aloof pose while arranging her expression, and her antennae, in as placid a fashion as she could arrange.

The better part of valour told her to preserve that pose, to make a half-turn and simply walk away. But she simply couldn't help herself. "I bumped into Dani here earlier, you know," she said to Leo. "Was good to see her, too."

"Who's Dani?" Christabel asked. "He served with you both as well?"

"She, actually. Your ex-fiancee, as things stand?"

"Really." Christabel was surprised. "She's here?"

"They only broke things off this morning. He had feelings for someone else."

Tw'eak hated that Christabel had to be put in the middle of this, because she was clearly completely unprepared for this situation, and to make matters worse, was in no mental state to be the innocent bystander in this particular situation. Her facial expression registered to Tw'eak as being something between disappointment - probably that Leo had someone else - and empathetic reaction to his predicament. "I can understand that."

Tw'eak chuckled, tilting her head. "I don't know... you don't know this 'someone else' that he left her for."

Leo's head slunk lower. Tw'eak was prepared for him to make a sudden move - to vault off the stool, shoulder first, or to raise his hand to her. However, she considered his threat to be unlikely. The bartender didn't seem to agree, moving closer to overhear the conversation.

"I happen to know her," Tw'eak continued. "She's really something. But he doesn't deserve her. And she doesn't want him back anyway."

"Oh, that's awful." Christabel said, her face concerned - as much for her place in the narrative as the story itself. "Do you know her really well?"

"Of course I do. She's me."

The reveal seemed to make Christabel look at Leo with new eyes, astonished. "I... see."

Leo, for his part, shook his head again, and leaned back. He began to laugh, at first a low, gurgling sound, then as he looked up at Tw'eak, finally said, "You know, you're something else."

"I know," Tw'eak replied. "Not the first time you've said that."

Leo turned to face her. "You just won't be happy, will you?"

Tw'eak leaned on one leg. "Oh, that's right, you didn't ask. I'm fine." She looked up at the bartender. "Really enjoying myself here." As the bartender smiled appreciatively, Tw'eak looked back to Leo with feigned interest. "How are you?"

"Fine."

"You seem better than you were earlier. That's good." She looked over at Christabel. "Last time I saw him was at that little place just across the water there. What was it, last evening? He didn't look so good. Actually insulted a friend of mine, too." She looked at Leo. "But that was probably just the booze, as usual, so we can... let that slide."

"Surprised you came over by yourself," Leo growled. "Not like you to pick your own fight."

It was Tw'eak's turn to laugh. "If you had any idea..."

Leo glanced over at Christabel. "What she's not telling you is that she was the one who left me behind."

"Oh, because I sent you away - you were the one who ran."

"I got the hell out of there because you were so controlling!"

"In what way was I controlling?" Tw'eak squinted. "In what universe?"

"You tried to get us all to join back up in Starfleet!"

"That's because you can't organize a two-shuttle convoy! And I did not! We arranged for your squadron to have supplies, and liaison officers-"

"Obstructions. That's all they gave me!"

"Obstructions where?"

"Safety violations. Unnecessary risks. Medical leaves. That's why I sent them away!"

"You drove them away - all of them! You had one job - to continue the work that others had begun!"

"I knew you'd make it about him."

"Who?"

"The idiot with the eyepatch, that's who. You should've just slept with him instead of me."

Christabel sat back, her jaw slightly askew. Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "You've got a lot of nerve making it sound that simple."

"Oh really?" Leo's voice rose as he spoke. "All you wanted was for someone to come along and strap you on already. I just happened to be the guy - at that moment, anyway. You were practically begging for it."

"A lot of nerve..." Tw'eak repeated. She found herself concentrating on an image of herself on the surface of the Lai'taek glacier, back on Andoria. A massive sheet of ice, with brisk winds gusting across its surface. It helped her cool down.

"Then again, I guess you'd worked your way through the whole Starfleet by the time it came down to me. Yeah, I heard about your rep back in the day - lots of stories about you! Nothing special in what we did!"

"Sir." The bartender intervened, probably precluding Tw'eak from taking him out right then and there. "Please mind your tone of voice."

Leo pointed at Tw'eak accusingly. "The hell I will - not while she hounds me, and hounds me, at every turn!" He lowered his hand, glowering at the bartender. "This stupid planet - just like the rest of the Federation. All rules and no sense of what really matters."

"What would you know about what matters?" Tw'eak sneered at him. "You, who runs away from the Marine Corps, who can't stand a formation unless you're at the head of it. And listen to you - I've heard children talk that way, scared of the rules, demanding to be in charge... no sense of duty, no self-respect-"

Leo's eyes burned with anger. "What did you just-"

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

Leo stood up and squared his face up to Tw'eak's. "Who the HELL do YOU think YOU ARE getting in MY face about WHO I AM?"

Tw'eak took a half-step backwards, suddenly finding Aurora and Bianca had taken up positions on either side of her. The sudden realization of the presence of the duBois sisters at her back reassured her, and kept her from lunging for his throat. "You want to know?" She pictured herself on the glacier again, and took a deep breath. "I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed for you, having taken the good man I thought you were and turned out like this."

Leo snickered, but Tw'eak continued. "I'm ashamed for Spera, the daughter we could've had -the daughter we DO have, Leo, the girl who gave so much of herself to come back here and help us, only to see you turn tail and RUN at the first opportunity. I'm ashamed for the Marines" - here Tw'eak pointed to Christabel - "for having such a shoddy representative still pretending to be one of them."

Christabel shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying to hide her face. Tw'eak's voice intensified as she spoke. "I'm ashamed for your crew, especially Dani, for having such a shoddy commander. But mostly? Mostly I'm ashamed that I ever shared myself with a man like you - that I ever thought it was special, that I ever attached any meaning to it at all - that I ever, EVER let myself feel anything other than RAGE at the very sight of you. Because from now on? That rage is going to be all that's left."

This seemed to stagger Leo slightly, and his shoulders went back.

Tw'eak took a half-step backwards, shoulder-to-shoulder with Aurora and Bianca, and mustered the full reserve of her emotional strength into her voice. With a sad look, she swallowed hard. "Goodbye, Leo." She nodded towards Christabel. "Take care, Marine." She then looked to the bartender while reaching for her lapel. "Thanks for everything. Sorry to make a scene." She activated the commbadge, her ferocious glare returning to meet Leo's gaze. "Warspite, three to beam up."

As Aurora, Tw'eak and Bianca de-materialized, Leo watched as Tw'eak's eyes remained constant in their incendiary stare, bearing down upon him seemingly even after she had beamed up. He sat that way for long enough that he had noticed neither Christabel's departure nor the bartender's. Alone, he turned his attentions to the drink in his hand, turned back towards the bar, and wiped a tear away as he hunched over his glass.


	62. Part IV, Chapter 11

Returning to her quarters after what had been a long day by the standards of most shore leave, Tw'eak stretched her shoulders and arched her back almost as soon as the door had closed. It'd been a long time since she had felt so angry, so downright furious with someone. Was it the betrayal? Was it really directed at herself? Was she simply tired of disappointment? Tw'eak didn't have any answers. What she did have, she was certain, was a need for a long shower - or at least, to get out of these off-duty clothes - and a good night's rest.

The door chime sounded - in the next room, the admiral's office. Tw'eak sighed, and crossed through the doorway into the office. "Come in," she said, and after a moment, the exterior door opened, admitting Zolnaen Didaggo, wearing a Starfleet science uniform without rank or commbadge. "Zed!" Tw'eak exclaimed, surprised to see him.

Sheepishly, Zed took a step into the office. "Requesting permission to return to duty."

"Granted. Good to have you back."

"Thanks." Zed shuffled around a bit.

"Come in. Have a seat." Zed did so as Tw'eak returned to sit at her desk. "So you're sure you want to come back?"

"Gotta try. I'd make a decent consultant, I think. We know a lot of these systems, the Orions' operations, their hiding places, ambush points... having actual Starfleet support could make a huge difference."

"Agreed." Tw'eak looked to the replicator. "Let me get you a drink."

"Ice water. I've been... drinking too much else lately."

"I hear you." Tw'eak walked over to the replicator. "Two glasses of ice water." The replicator whirred and Tw'eak took the two drinks in each hand, giving one over to Zed before the condensation could begin to form. She held hers aloft. "Cheers."

"Cheers." Zed took a drink of his, sighing with satisfaction. "Oh, that feels nice. I could use a bucket of that, right over my head."

"Not in here, please."

"No, of course. Just mean that it's a nice wake-up call. I feel like I've been asleep these past few months away from Starfleet, like I was skipping classes at the Academy or something."

"I never took you as the type to skip classes."

Zed smiled. "That's because I wasn't."

The door chime sounded yet again. "Come in," Tw'eak said, as the doors opened to reveal the duBois sisters, Aurora and Bianca, still dressed as they had been on the planet below. The younger of the two came a step ahead of Aurora. "Well, hello again," Tw'eak said as Zed turned to face the doorway.

Aurora saw Zed as he turned. "No way!" Her face broadened into a friendly smile.

"Hey," Zed replied.

Aurora raced over and applied a hug to Zed as soon as he had finished standing. "I'm so glad you're back!"

"Yeah?" Zed reached over with his hand, barely managing to place his drink on the admral's desk before Aurora knocked it to the ground.

"So good to see you!" She squeezed the Saurian for a moment, then leaned back. "Oh my God! Bianca! You two will have so much to talk about - this is my sister, Bianca, she's a commander, she's in science too!"

"Hello," Bianca said with a little nod.

"Hey, science," Zed replied. "Go team."

Bianca smiled in response, then looked to Tw'eak. "We just wanted to see if everything was okay. If that's all right."

"Of course it is - and yes, I'm fine."

Zed glanced from Tw'eak to Bianca. "Something happen?"

"Oh, it was amazing!" Aurora practically bounced in place. "That guy - what's his name? Lou? Luau? Loser, anyway! But he was being really nasty with the admiral, and she just told him off royally! It was AWESOME!"

Tw'eak smiled, looking down, suppressing a chuckle at Aurora's characterization.

"Is that right," Zed replied. "I wondered if you'd see him again."

Tw'eak shrugged. "It wasn't exactly intentional."

"No, ma'am. I can imagine."

Aurora shook her head. "I don't know how you didn't hit him."

"She couldn't," Bianca answered her sister. "She's an admiral. He's... nobody."

Tw'eak nodded. "Exactly. That would've been out of line. Wouldn't have solved a thing, might have meant charges for me. As for him, all it would've done is bolstered his viewpoint."

"If you didn't bolster him through the nearest wall," Zed quipped.

"Thought about it," Tw'eak said with a smile. "It was solid rock, though."

"Knock some sense into him, then." Zed extended a fist. "Boom."

"I wanted to say," Bianca continued, "that it was really unfair of him to bring up what he did. Certain parts of your... personal life, those are entirely off-limits."

"They are," Tw'eak re-iterated. "They are in Starfleet, at least."

"Oh, man," Zed said with a shake of the head. "He went there? What an ass."

"I'm sorry you had to hear that. And I'm sorry that he... had anything by which to make such a statement."

"Not a fair statement, anyway," Bianca retorted.

"Well... no, y'know, if it was any other officer, you're right, it would've been unacceptable - again, in Starfleet - to talk about someone that way. But I admit, there was a time in my life where I would have been happy to exchange... an evening for the promise, even an empty promise, of a less lonely morning." She looked up at the room. "I don't deny that I've made my share of mistakes in that regard over the years. What humans call a 'track record'... I certainly know mine."

"You - um, Admiral, this isn't something you have to-"

"I appreciate it, Bianca, but I think it needs to be said. He brought it up, I want to explain. Sometimes I was the 'challenger' in the true Andorian sense of the word." Tw'eak looked up at her confused audience. "The word for 'challenger' in Andorian has a dual meaning, it can be taken to mean either a willing combat partner, or a willing partner for... the evening, shall we say."

Bianca nodded, and Zed replied with, "Gotcha."

Aurora also nodded, but looked less certain she understood. "You mean for sex, right?"

"God," Bianca exclaimed with a sigh.

Zed just laughed. "Some things don't change. Same old Aurora."

Tw'eak merely smiled. It had certainly hurt her a great deal to be called out on her previous behaviour - by her ex-fiance, of all people, on Risa, of all places. But while she certainly felt the topic to be out of bounds in any context save the most intimate, she had been secretly ashamed of that aspect of her past for so long, and he had no doubt figured it out. It was a vulnerability he had perhaps even targeted intentionally, to intimidate or perhaps provoke her to action. As she had said, giving in to her more Andorian instincts would've merely caused more problems. Given that her choice to become a couple with him had been a product of those same Andorian instincts to start with, it seemed all they were good for was causing problems.

She returned her focus to the conversation - her three officers were discussing their various trips to Risa.

"I'm sure they took good care of you down there," Zed was saying to Aurora. "I saw their infirmary. Good little operation. I think they get a lot of business. Was thinking about volunteering to help out down there, to get away from the old flotilla, at least until I realized I'd gain at least ten kilos if I did. The food is absolutely amazing down there, and the drinks? Man."

"I know!" Bianca was elated. "They have such an elaborate selection of edible seafood, and the plants are astonishingly diverse. I got some more samples for my collection, too - I collect flowering plants and their blossoms."

"Oh, that's awesome. I usually eat them."

"Not the way Bianca treats them," Aurora replied. "What's that stuff you put on them?"

"Not on them, in them. I treat them with a plasticizing injection - they become hardened and look just like they did when they were alive. Usually if I do it quickly enough I can keep the colour in them, too."

"That's really neat," Zed stated. "Remind me not to eat them if I ever get to see them."

Bianca smiled. "Bet you'd only eat the one before you realized."

Zed laughed. "You'd hope so."

Aurora looked over at Tw'eak. "It's funny - that conversation reminded me." She looked over at her sister. "You remember that one admiral you had at the Academy?"

"Not now," Bianca said, slightly embarrassed.

Aurora shook her head at her sister. "It was a running joke we had for years afterwards, because her name was Slutskaya, so it became, like, a code word for-"

"Admiral Slutskaya... at the Academy..." Tw'eak looked lost in thought. "Ekaterina Slutskaya?"

"The very same," Bianca replied, looking at her sister. "You served under her, did you not?"

"On the Nelson, yeah, for many years." Tw'eak smiled. "Both Doc and I were lucky enough to consider her a friend."

"I remember reading that when I looked up your service record before coming aboard."

"So what was the joke?" Tw'eak asked Aurora.

"Oh... um, something funny Bianca heard her say in class one day... right, Bia?"

"Yes. Good times. But you tell it better than I do."

"Yeah, but you were there." Aurora glared daggers at her sister.

"I get it," Zed interrupted. "This is one of those not-in-front-of-the-admiral jokes, isn't it?" He pointed back and forth between the two sisters. "And you both just realized it."

Aurora slowly acknowledged, her eyes widening. "Y- yeah! That's it!"

"Exactly what happened," Bianca confirmed, nodding.

"Well, then," Tw'eak demurred.

The door chime sounded, and Aurora nearly leapt to the next deck. Tw'eak stood and said, "come in."

Through the door, also in Starfleet uniform, albeit the tactical variant, stepped Danielle Okayama. "Sorry, ma'am. Didn't know you was having a party."

"No need to worry. How can I help you?"

"Well, Doc told me to find you once she was done with me, so here I am, ready for orders."

"Good." She raised a hand. "May I present two of the Warspite's officers, chief science officer Bianca duBois, and her sister Aurora, our chief engineer. And you know Commander Didaggo."

"Hey Zed," Dani said quietly. "No hard feelings, eh."

Zed extended a hand. "Yeah, same."

"Guess I'm gonna be answering to you, not the other way around."

"I'd always welcome your opinion." Zed looked to the admiral. "We're going to try to convince Starfleet to commit resources to the fight - a task force, a Marine contingent... not just logistics."

"For real this time? Righteous."

"It'll be a chance for you both, and anyone else from your old flotilla who's worth the effort of bringing along, to keep up the good work."

"Like the sound of that," Dani admitted after a moment. "A lot."

"You've earned it. Both of you." Tw'eak looked proudly at Zed and Dani. "A mistake only remains a mistake if you don't take measures to correct it. Once you've done that, we call it a learning experience."

Dani nodded, appreciatively, a smile across her face. She looked to Zed. "She always like this?"

"Pretty much," Zed replied.

"I didn't get this way without a few learning experiences of my own over the years. I've been extremely fortunate - in the commanders I've served, in the officers who I've had serve under me, in the way the universe has unfolded for me. I can only hope that such good fortunes continue to hold in the time to come. The way things are going, only time will tell."

Zed looked over to Dani. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah," Dani said with a smile.

Tw'eak shook her head, looking upwards and smiling. "Guess that's all I'm going to say. You're making me self-conscious..."

"Sorry, Admiral," Zed replied. "We're just more used to leadership that consists of phrases like, 'get it done', and not much else."

"Yeah, Leo? Not big on actual, y'know... conversation."

Tw'eak nodded. "Yeah, I know."

The door opened, and Spera entered, in the purple-and-black uniform of Starfleet Intelligence again. "Oh, everyone's here. Hi."

A few people present offered their greetings. Tw'eak gave a little wave and asked, "you're back from Risa?"

"Yeah. I took one last walk around. It's such a neat thing to see - I don't think I've ever spent so much time on a planet before, just being there. I really liked it."

Tw'eak smiled. "That's good to hear."

Spera pointed at her mother's clothes. "I can't believe I'm in uniform before you are."

"You didn't run into anyone while you were walking around."

"Not that I remember... there was that cute medic we met," she said to Aurora.

"Oh my God, he was SO cute. Tall, right? No shirt - like, do they all just walk around like that down there all the time?"

Tw'eak cut Aurora off. "Other than cute guys."

"Um, oh! I saw Doctor Ellington."

"Doc? Really?"

"Yeah, she was with Doctor Hewson. They were having dinner at the resort. They sort of waved, so I waved back. It was nice to see them together."

Tw'eak wondered if she should simply get to the point. "So nobody related to you, then."

Spera nodded knowingly. "Oh. Yes." She smiled. "No, I didn't. Nobody at all."

This confused Tw'eak for a moment. "You're sure."

Tw'eak's response caused Spera to join her in confusion. "You don't mean who I think you mean, do you?"

"Whoa, hold on," Zed joked. "What just happened?"

Tw'eak looked intently at Spera, her antennae homing in on the girl like tracking gun sights. "You didn't run into Leo, then."

"No! Damn- I thought you were asking about zhayra Dashii."

"No - why would I ask about-?"

"She told me not to say anything."

Bianca elbowed Aurora. "That's something you'd say."

"Who are we talking about now?" Aurora asked.

"Not say anything about what?" Tw'eak insisted.

"No - she told me not to say anything."

Zed shook his head, laughing. "And you're gonna work in Intel."

"She's not in any trouble," Tw'eak continued.

"No. She... oh, forget it. She's getting drunk."

"Is she now."

"Yeah. She asked me if I wanted to join her, and I said no. I've never really been that drunk, just on synthehol - so she said I should try it."

Tw'eak fumed for a moment, then straightened her antennae, and continued. "Well, she is still on leave for a while yet."

"You're not mad?"

Tw'eak frowned slightly, then said, "no, concerned." She shrugged. "And in desperate need of a shower and a good night's rest. As I think we all are." She looked to Aurora. "Do these two have quarters?"

"We do," Zed replied. "Your Deltan lieutenant was very helpful."

"Kinda cute, too," Dani said with a snicker. "But he's Deltan. Too bad."

Tw'eak smiled. "So that's all settled then. Great to have you both with us again, by the way."

"Yeah," Aurora affirmed.

Zed smiled as he rose. "Nice to be back."

Dani merely nodded at Tw'eak, a silent understanding present between them.

"I appreciate your concern as well," Tw'eak said to the sisters.

"No big deal," Bianca replied. "Just glad you're okay."

But Aurora seemed far away. "Oh, I love that sound." She stood almost on tiptoe, her eyes closed. "Do you hear it? You don't get the same sort of noise on a planet."

The collected company listened for a moment before Spera interjected. "You mean the warp core?"

"Isn't it lovely?" Aurora made a slight whurm-whurm-whurm noise, in time with the echoed sound of the engine's power cycle. "Nothing else sounds like that."

"Even when she's sober, she's like this," Zed joked.

The five officers burst into laughter, each making their way out the door in turn. The last to go, Dani Okayama, gave Tw'eak another knowing nod before heading out. This left Spera alone with Tw'eak. She put her arms around her mother once the room was clear. "You okay?" she asked.

"Just fine, why?"

"We didn't beam up to the ship like you told zhayra Dashii to do."

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "So you saw that."

"Yeah. We left after you beamed out. That was when I figured I'd seen enough of the place, so I went for my walkabout. Zhayra Dashii went down to the patio on the other side of the promenade, and that's where I left her."

"Is she all right?"

"Yeah, she said something about needing to clear her head. I didn't understand how getting drunk would help with that."

"It won't," Tw'eak said, from experience. "I think I know what she's up to." She left Spera's side and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Spera asked.

"Back down to the planet."

"But what if, you know-?"

"Don't worry." She smiled at Spera after she walked through the door. "That's my job." She turned and walked quickly towards the transporter room, leaving the doors to slide shut before Spera could reply.

* * *

The bar on Risa was exactly the way Tw'eak remembered it. Stone exterior, warm to the touch in the day, but now, chilly, thanks to the hint of a rising storm front in the air. The rope bridge that extended out to the hut almost comically suspended on a pole over the water in the centre of the promenade quivered a bit, more than it had earlier. Everything else - the tables, the umbrellas, the potted plants, exactly as it was before, with one notable exception: where Leo had been, Dashii was seated, a few stools down, slumped up against the edge of the bar, looking down at her glass with a sour expression.

Tw'eak ambled up alongside her, blinking once to fight the rising tide of exhaustion working its way over her. Dashii turned to see her. "Uzaveh's name - Twaiheak!"

Tw'eak swung her arm out over the bar, taking a seat next to her sister. "Dashichal."

The bartender - the same one from earlier - came up to see Tw'eak. "Didn't expect to see you here again."

"Ever, or tonight?"

"Probably ever. Dunno."

"Yeah," Dashii added. "A command performance, as always."

"Not sure if thanks are in order, but... well."

"I suppose that's what you're here for - to drag little sister home again."

Tw'eak looked over to the bartender. "You stock anything special?"

"Yeah, lots of stuff. What are you in the mood for?"

"Tranya." Tw'eak looked back to her sister. "How about you?"

"I'm... I'm still good here."

"Alright. Coming up." The bartender puttered off down to her cabinet of special reserve.

"So you're probably going to have something big and important to say," Dashii said after a moment."

"Nope."

"Really. You. But you always have things - big command things - to say."

"I know. They were just giving me hell about it back aboard ship."

"Who were?"

"Oh, the usual suspects." She took her drink from the bartender. "Thank you." After a quick sip, she continued. "It's not as easy as that. I have to practice for hours in front of the mirror every day."

Dashii laughed. "Shut up."

"No, really. The eyebrows, the antennae, all of it - gotta rehearse or you start losing it. Especially now." She looked out over the water at the resort, and beyond it, the dormant volcano at the heart of the island. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Nah... you'd get bored without it."

"Probably. But I want it on the record that I didn't come down here to rescue you."

"No?"

"No. I hope your bond group was supportive."

Dashii took a swift gulp of her drink. "A little too much. Did you ever... ever get something that you felt like you... were almost embarrassed by?"

"You embarrass me all the time."

"Not - not funny. I mean you received something you don't feel like you deserved."

"Yeah. The Pike Medal, for one thing. I lost my ship. A lot of good people died. Because I wasn't one of them, they made me the poster-child for Starfleet valour."

"And you - I mean, that's what you've always wanted, right?"

"No. Honestly, Dash, and this is going to sound stupid, but to me... I'll only ever be suitably rewarded for all of this if I earn a place in the Wall."

"Oh." Dashii looked down at her empty glass. "Then you're probably good already."

"I don't believe that."

"No, for sure. I mean, you're not dead yet, so you still have that to do-"

"Yeah."

After a pause, her tone no longer so flippant, Dashii continued with a question. "So is that why you keep going?"

Tw'eak shrugged. "Partly. With what we're up against in the next little while, there might not be a Wall left to go home to once it's all over."

"Yeah, Spera said as much. Not that we can say much more than that out here."

"Let's not tip our hand, okay?"

Dashii nodded. "Yeah. I'm not THAT drunk yet to start spilling... what is it humans say? Spilling the tuber roots or something?"

"Spilling the beans."

"Like - like the baked beans they serve here? How does that make any sense?"

Tw'eak chuckled. "I'm not the person to ask."

After a moment, Dashii looked up at her sister. "You'll probably be the only member of our family in the Wall of Heroes."

"That's not true. And you know charan would lecture you for a good hour..." Here Tw'eak's voice boomed mightily, like a great storyteller, like her charan. "...about all our great and numerous ancestors who rest there."

"Don't you - okay, good, you're joking."

"Of course I was joking - you didn't recognize that voice?"

"You kind of sounded like shreya, honestly."

"Really?" Tw'eak was surprised. "I'll have to work on that in the mirror tomorrow for a couple hours."

"Yeah, don't." Dashii flagged the bartender. "So why did you come down here, then?"

"To get drunk."

Dashii let out a guffaw. "Come on."

"No, really. I like to start with tranya, work my way up to Saurian brandy-"

"Now you're talkin'. My kind of intro."

"-and get on down through the whiskeys a little later - Aldebaran, Skagaran, maybe even a little old Earth Tennessee... by that point, it depends on how hard it's hitting me. You ever heard of this thing called tequila?"

"I'm more surprised that YOU know about tequila."

"I used to like it quite a bit. Better than Romulan ale... a little faster than that, actually."

"Okay, okay, but then what's your plan, exactly?"

"Well, at some point, I figure I'll have to go lean over that rail there for a minute and make a complete mess of myself. Once that happens, I'll be leaving myself entirely in your capable hands."

Dashii looked astonished. "Wait, what?"

"That's right. Whatever we get up to talking about in the meantime is entirely up to you, but... at some point when the liquor hits, it'll be your turn to rescue me."

"Seriously."

"Yep." Tw'eak looked at her younger sister. "Well, assuming one thing."

"What?"

"I might just drink you under the table." Tw'eak waved to the bartender. "Let's do this."


	63. Part IV, Chapter 12

The next morning, Tw'eak woke earlier than usual. She had time to shower, dress in a clean uniform, read the Federation News Service while eating breakfast, and found herself on the bridge at promptly oh-seven-hundred.

"Admiral," Octavia said when she saw her step out of the turbolift. "How were the last few hours of your shore leave?"

"Pleasant. And too few in number." Tw'eak cleared her throat slightly. "Sorry, I... was out a bit longer than I had anticipated last evening."

"So I heard." Octavia's voice lowered to almost a whisper as she and Tw'eak took their seats in the centre of the bridge. "You will no doubt be happy to know that Lieutenant Zh'abbas has returned to the Warspite."

"I would, actually. I didn't realize you were keeping an eye on her."

"I was not. The Risian Hedony Constabulary, however, were."

Tw'eak chuckled to herself. "Oh, really."

"Indeed." Octavia's tone took on a sound that was almost strict. "I find your choice of actions to be... questionable on this occasion."

"No doubt - but then, you've never had a sister. That you can remember, I mean."

"Regardless, I cannot understand your intentions."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes and raised a hand as if discussing a tactical situation. "There are some things I knew she wouldn't be willing to talk to me about under other circumstances. Something would get in the way."

"Nevertheless... you inebriated her for the sole purpose of getting her to talk?"

"Trust me, she inebriated herself. I was there."

Octavia straightened up, her attitude almost offended as she stated the facts. "According to the bartender, you asked only to be served synthehol while your sister drank unmodified alcoholic drinks?"

"That's just a rumour. Besides, she wanted to go shot for shot with me."

"A sort of competition, then?"

Tw'eak nodded. "Yeah. Sort of."

"But the competition was hardly a fair one, given that you competed on such unequal terms."

"I changed the conditions of the drinking contest. Besides, we cleared the air on a number of things, and it felt good, for the time. As it stands, it probably woke me up early, having all that extra fluid in my system."

"I... see." Octavia inclined her head slightly at the unexpected level of detail. "Is this an intentional by-product of synthehol?"

"It's the only one that works the same as regular alcoholic drinks, let's say."

There was an urgent noise from the tactical console. The officer on duty looked up at Octavia. "Priority one, captain."

Octavia looked from Tw'eak to the tactical officer. "Go ahead."

"Incoming distress signal - I, uh..." The tactical officer on duty was a young, dark-haired, short human male named Lieutenant dos Santos, who Tw'eak didn't know very well. His brown eyes looked at Tw'eak with an urgent desperation. "The Borg have been sighted in Tau Dewa sector block, but..."

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Tw'eak crossed over to the tactical station.

"These readings are all wrong. There's... a spatial rift present near their last reported location."

"What kind of spatial rift?" Octavia asked.

Dos Santos shook his head, uncertain.

Tw'eak looked up at the helmsman, Ensign Gambles. "Lay in a course for that rift and engage. Maximum warp."

"Yes, ma'am."

Octavia looked uncertainly at Tw'eak. "It would be highly unlike the Collective to rely upon any form of spatial rift of this type. They are too volatile, and imprecise, to be efficiently used by the Borg."

Dos Santos shook his head. "I haven't a clue. We could run it by Commander duBois - the science officer, I mean."

Tw'eak nodded and tapped her communicator. "Senior officers to the bridge." She looked to dos Santos. "I know you're going to wake everyone by doing it, but go to red alert."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Do we have everyone from the surface?"

"Yes, ma'am. You and Lieutenant Zh'abbas were the last two remaining." The lieutenant looked electrified with anxiety. "The - um..."

Tw'eak looked dos Santos squarely in the eye. "You've never engaged the Borg before."

"That's... that's right." Dos Santos gave a fleeting glance to Octavia, involuntarily. "Sorry."

"It's all right. Look, you've got two things working in your favour. The first is your captain. There's no way I'd want to go up against the Collective without her. The other is that there's no one they'd rather tangle with less than one of their own, using their own tools against them. It's a lesson we've taught them every time we've tangled with them. It's the reason there's only one Wolf 359."

"I understand."

The bridge turbolift opened, admitting Lieutenant Aewon, Commander Aurora duBois, her sister Bianca, and Zolnaen Didaggo onto the bridge. "Admiral!" Aurora shouted. "Captain - what's going on?"

"Vacation's over. We've got Borg activity." Tw'eak looked to Zed, who stayed in place as Aurora and Bianca moved to their respective bridge stations. "Didn't expect to see you up here."

"Force of habit - hell of an alarm clock to have."

Tw'eak looked to Aewon. "Lieutenant, prep the Hypatia for launch."

"Ma'am?"

"I want you to take Dani Okayama and Zed to Earth Spacedock right away."

"But you said-"

"Yes, yes, I know. Borg. Very scary. But these two have a mission that requires them elsewhere, and they need a pilot to get them there."

"Wait a minute," Zed protested. "You're going to have wounded in a few hours." Tw'eak caught sight of dos Santos reacting to Zed's words. "Another combat medic onboard-"

"Believe me, Zed, I've thought of it. Your priority right now has to be your operation - and Dani's operation - out there. Go, talk him into giving you a starship or two and get back there before your whole flotilla drifts away." Tw'eak waited until Zed tried to make further protest. "Don't make me order you, Lieutenant."

"Thought I was a Lieutenant Commander?"

"Does it matter? Get going, mister." She looked to Aewon. "And you get them there safely."

The Deltan helmsman furrowed his brow. "Good luck, ma'am." He looked over to see Gambles in his chair, and gave a quick glance to the viewscreen as the Warspite vaulted into warp speed.

"Go." Tw'eak nodded encouragingly. "Don't worry, we'll all be here when you get back."

"You better be. That's all I'm sayin'." Zed nodded once and, with Aewon, turned back towards the turbolift. As they did, Subcommander Oulius stepped forth as it opened, followed closely behind by Spera.

As dos Santos stepped back, making way for Oulius at the tactical console, Spera moved to Tw'eak side. "Shreya? What's going on?"

"Borg sighting. Unusual one, at that."

"We're going after them?"

"That's right, Commander. Your first Borg action."

Spera chuckled dryly. "In this uniform, anyway."

"Ellington to bridge."

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Go ahead, Doc."

"Oh, it's Tw'eak. Now I know why we have a red alert at seven in the morning over Risa. This is just a drill."

"Far from it, Doctor. You'd best clear sickbay for action. We've got a Borg situation ahead of us."

"Don't suppose they know we're on vacation."

"Past tense, I'm afraid."

"I was joking - doctors don't get holidays. But I will be getting an extra-large raktajino before anything else happens. Ellington out."

Tw'eak looked over to Bianca. "What do you make of that rift, Commander?"

"Hard to tell. Just based on the spectrographic analysis, and the reflection effects on sensors, I'd say it's a dimensional rift of some kind. Can't exactly tell what kind, temporal or merely cross-dimensional, but it's definitely two-sided."

"We'll get better scans as we get closer," Oulius added. "Along with tactical overview."

"Good. How long until then?"

"Uh..." Gambles checked the conn. "Twelve minutes, sixteen seconds."

"We're at maximum?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'll see if I can get a bit more power from someplace," Aurora added as she moved to the engineering console.

Tw'eak stood next to Spera between the science and tactical consoles. As she took a step back, she felt something brush against her arm. "Pal?"

"Admiral." The Jem'Hadar head of security unshrouded to her right. "I apologize, you moved back unexpectedly." He looked at the adjacent bulkhead. "I had intended to remain unobserved."

"No, I knew you'd be here."

"I should've warned you he was there," Spera added. "Good to see you, Pal."

"I have never faced the Borg before. I am told they are... relentless adversaries." Pal sounded almost excited.

"Don't get your hopes up," Tw'eak replied, loudly enough to be heard. "With any luck Starfleet will have this cleaned up before we even come in weapons range."

The minutes passed by, and the rift remained on screen. Warspite continued to arc through space at speeds well beyond that which light was capable of travelling. "This is very strange," Oulius said after some time had elapsed.

"What?"

"Tactical analysis suggests that the Borg ships... are being destroyed."

"By what?"

"That's the thing - I'm monitoring Starfleet and Republic frequencies. No allied vessel has engaged. The nearest warbird is... the D'vilintar. That would be a heavy warbird, ma'am, and it's holding position about two AU from the rift."

"Contact them. Request their sensor data."

"I've already got it here. They can't get much clearer - that rift is obscuring the picture."

"Advise them to go in closer, under cloak if possible. Tell them we're almost there."

Oulius grimaced. "Six other starships will be in range in a minute or two..."

"You don't want to risk losing a warbird."

"Not particularly, no." Oulius looked up with a guilty expression. "It's a Ha'apax class warbird. Hard to run away in a ship that big."

"Hard to turn around in a ship that big, you mean" Ensign Gambles noted from the conn.

"And she's fitted for observation, not combat."

"Observation? Of what, Subcommander?"

"Uh..." Oulius furrowed his brow. "That'd be classified information, ma'am."

"I bet it's the Tal Shiar," Gambles interjected. "Or maybe those mushroom guys, what are they called, El-Aurian or something?"

"Steady as she goes," Octavia said seriously, turning Gambles' attention back to his station. "What is classified is best left as such."

The minutes passed by slowly. Tw'eak paced around the bridge after a few more, walking over to the commemoration plaque and reading its contents slowly. She looked back to Spera, who still stood next to Pal. "Why don't you take the ops station?" she said to Spera.

"Me?"

"Yeah. You or Pal. You can handle shield distribution, or tactical patterns."

Pal vaulted forward at the opportunity. "It would be my pleasure."

Tw'eak watched Spera's face turn away. "Missed your chance," she said to Spera after a second.

"Yeah, it's alright."

Tw'eak continued her passage around the bridge. "Where are you from, Ensign?" she said to Gambles as she moved towards the conn.

"Me? Oh, Singapore, ma'am."

"Singapore? What sector is that in?"

"Oh - no, I grew up on Earth. Singapore's a huge city there."

"Do you miss it?"

"Yeah, sometimes." He looked up at her. "Do you... miss, well, Andoria? Ma'am?"

Tw'eak smiled appreciatively at the polite question. "Nope," she replied. "Too cold."

Gambles laughed. "You've got that right," he replied.

Tw'eak continued on between the forward stations, behind Pal, who was enthusiastically tapping away at his console like a playful child. "What're you working on?"

"Attack pattern simulations. Borg cubes." Pal glanced up at Tw'eak. "Not satisfied with results - Beta-3 seems to be most effective."

"You'll find out soon enough." She looked to Oulius. "You two will co-ordinate, I hope."

"Definitely," Oulius replied with a slight roll of the eyes.

"What's that for, Subcommander?"

"Nothing, ma'am, it's just - while I appreciate the First's attention to detail, I already have the subroutines programmed."

"The Borg may adapt to those subroutines."

"That's why I have alternate patterns programmed as well."

"How many alternates?"

"Thirty-seven."

Tw'eak snickered. "Make it thirty-seven, then." She looked over towards Octavia. "How are you handling this?"

"I am concerned."

"We all are."

"Not like I am. I cannot hear the Collective. Something is... not right."

"Captain!" Oulius exclaimed. "I can't believe it."

"What is it?" Tw'eak asked.

"Sorry, ma'am - Tholians!"

"Tholians?"

"There's a massive formation of Tholian vessels coming through that rift!"

Tw'eak could not conceal her surprise. "Is that right?"

"I can't believe it - the Tholian ships are engaging our ships AND the Borg alike!"

"So whose rift is it, then? The Borg's or the Tholians'?"

Bianca interrupted. "That makes more sense now - it's definitely the Tholians' doing. Why, I don't know, but this corresponds exactly to the signature of rifts we've seen in other places, such as Nukara Prime."

Oulius nodded emphatically. "That's right, just on a far larger scale."

"Why here, though?"

"Unknown." He looked down at his console, incredulous. "I don't believe it."

"What?"

"Admiral, we're receiving a priority one communication."

Octavia turned away from the viewscreen. "Source?"

"The... Risian Hedony Constabulary, ma'am." He looked up towards Tw'eak. "They want to talk to you."

"Now?" Aurora sounded perplexed.

"As you were, Commander."

"Sorry, Admiral, it's just-" She gestured towards the viewscreen.

"I know. But they can't know this is happening." Tw'eak turned to face the front. "Probably think we're still in orbit. Time until contact, Oulius?"

"Not long. Clock it at... two, maybe three minutes?"

"On main viewer, please."

"It's... marked as personal, ma'am."

"No such thing when you're in command, Subcommander."

Oulius shrugged. "Okay," he said to himself. To his left, Spera chuckled softly.

On the screen appeared a typically Risian-looking woman, broad-shouldered, with a skin tone darkened with a deep tan. "Admiral." She appeared startled. "I... wasn't expecting this."

"I'm sorry, but we're about to go into battle and I can't be called away from the bridge. What's this about?"

"I'm... Chief Inspector Jeppasia of the Risian Constabulary."

"A pleasure. If this is about last evening, I apologize for my sister's conduct."

Several heads turned on the bridge, but Tw'eak ignored them. Jeppasia, however, looked quite ruffled. "Well... no point in stalling, I suppose. I was given your name as next of kin for a Leo de Salaberry, late of the Starfleet Marine Corps."

Tw'eak's antennae began to incline towards forming a triangle. "I'm sorry, you said 'next of kin'."

"That's correct."

Collecting herself, Tw'eak shook her head slightly. "The person you'd be looking for is a Danielle Okayama. She's currently aboard ship, on her way to the shuttlebay."

"I see. While I realize this isn't the most opportune time, I would like to question you at your earliest convenience, presuming you... um, well, survive. I'm sorry, I've never spoken to anyone while they were on their way to a battle before, it's-"

"What's this about, Inspector?"

"Perhaps it's best to wait until after the battle."

Tw'eak could sense Spera's presence in the room, probably just in her imagination, though the notion of her daughter's psionic presence was one she briefly considered. "If you don't mind, I always prefer to go into battle with a full understanding of what I'm up against."

"We found Mr. de Salaberry early this morning in his hut, and were unable to revive him."

"He's dead?" Spera's voice filled in the question that Tw'eak was about to ask.

"I'm afraid so. We were able to ID the body using transporter records. I won't get into specifics, but we are treating this as a murder investigation. I understand you had a confrontation with him the night before last."

"That's correct." Tw'eak felt as though her emotional control was straining to its utmost. "We'll have to discuss this later - time to contact, Oulius?"

"One minute, twenty seconds, ma'am."

"As you can see, I'm a bit pressed for time."

Jeppasia nodded. "I understood. My condolences, ma'am. As for Ms. Okayama, I'd like to question her and any other members of your crew who were acquainted with the victim."

The victim. Tw'eak turned that term over in her head for a moment. Someone had murdered Leo. "Let me just briefly note that I can account for my whereabouts throughout the evening."

"I don't doubt that, Admiral. Nevertheless, we have to follow procedure. At your convenience, as it were."

Tw'eak nodded. She knew the crew's level of focus would largely depend upon their concern for her well-being, and chided herself internally for not taking the communication in an adjacent room. She put on a false smile and mumbled, "we'll be in touch." She turned away from the viewer and, with a quick eyebrow in Oulius' direction, severed the connection.

Octavia stood. "I... am sorry, Admiral."

Tw'eak took a deep breath, looking around the room, her face placid. She noted that Spera was gripping onto the side of the tactical console, her knuckles a pale blue. It was mostly to her that Tw'eak directed her words. "We'll have time enough for sorrow when the moment is right." She turned to Pal. "All systems ready?"

"Aye." The Jem'Hadar dwarfed the console he was seated at.

"We'll drop out of warp in thirty-four seconds," Gambles noted.

"Right." She glanced back to Oulius. "Tactical update?"

"Antiproton beams ready, quantum torpedoes... loaded and ready. Target patterns standing by."

"What's the status of the fleet?"

"Three starships and four warbirds are engaging. The Borg have been destroyed."

"Do we know by whom?"

"The Tholians, it seems. Sensor telemetry indicates four Recluse-type battle carriers, two larger Tarantula-type dreadnoughts, and numerous Weaver-type escorts."

"Pick out the nearest Recluse and prepare to fire at will." Tw'eak saw Aurora, Bianca and Octavia, her friends and officers, all wearing looks of various levels of concern. She closed her eyes and nodded, willing each of them to return to their stations. She patted Octavia on the arm. "That's your chair," she said, indicating the one in the centre of the bridge.

"Of course," Octavia replied, and took up the one to its immediate right. "Nevertheless, I defer to your prerogative and relinquish command."

Tw'eak felt her eyes soften, and swallowed hard against an onrushing sob building in her throat. "Thank you," she muttered and positioned herself seated, looking hard forward, internally re-routing and allocating the various functions of her mind as though she were the starship. If only it were that simple, she thought to herself.

The viewscreen before her became a cerulean fog as the Warspite penetrated the emissions of the rift through which the Tholians had arrived and began its final approach to the battlefield. The ship was ready, and Tw'eak knew it. Whether or not she was as prepared remained to be seen.

* * *

When it was first conceived as an idea, the Odyssey class dreadnought had been given the graceful lines, the stately shape, of the classic Starfleet design, on a vastly more grand scale. There was something almost overwhelming in its length, for such was certainly the intent, yet the starship still carried its lines and form with grace, typically as a command ship for an admiral or, in the form of the Enterprise-F, as flagship of the Federation. Yet the lines and form of the USS Independence, one such starship of that class present within the rift's area of effect, were anything but majestic at the moment. The Tholians had breached her shields and were working their tetryon beams across its hull, doing little damage but scorching the outer duranium-tritanium alloy with their impacts. Even without its shields, Independence would need to take a lot of damage from such smaller Tholian craft in order for them to make a dent. Unfortunately, there were many of them, each making their best effort - and not all of them were small. Behind the Tholian task force lay the wreckage of an Ambassador-class and a Galaxy-class starship which had been first to engage and, sadly, were first to be destroyed. While Independence had recovered several lifepods before her shields had failed, now all aboard the massive vessel were in extreme peril.

"Captain, the Independence's shields are down," Oulius reported. "The Tarantula and two of the Recluses are targeting her."

"Move in, attack pattern delta," Tw'eak instructed. "Put us between them and the Independence."

"Aye."

Warspite's recent arrival in the fray had been met with little resistance from the Tholians, many of whom were concentrating on a trio of warbirds some ten thousand kilometres beyond the Independence, if not upon the Odyssey class starship. At full impulse, Warspite positioned herself in the path of several thermionic torpedoes intended for the larger vessel, and they impacted harmlessly upon the shields. Tetryon energy began to emanate from the Tholians' weapons, each hit dissipating a portion of the shield which Warspite relied upon for its defenses. In the meantime, a concentrated burst of antiproton beam fire from Warspite found one of the mid-sized Orb Weavers on an unshielded quarter at the same time as Independence's torpedo spread did, causing the small triangular vessel to erupt into flames.

"The captain of the Independence says, 'thanks for the assist'."

Tw'eak nodded. "They're welcome. Helm, bring us up underneath and behind that Tarantula. Let's give them something else to shoot at."

"Aye," Gambles replied from the helm.

"Oulius, fire at will, attack pattern alpha."

"Fire at will, pattern alpha, confirmed."

Warspite's numerous antiproton beams burst forth with a sort of mad omni-directional energy, targeting the various Tholian ships each in their turn. While the effect would dissipate in damage as the weapon banks fired again and again for a brief interval before being fully charged, the point was not so much to cause damage as to provoke the Tholians into re-assessing their targeting priorities.

"It's working," Oulius noted. "Multiple Tholian weapons signatures locked onto us."

"Let's make it count - evasive maneuvers," Tw'eak ordered. "We'll buy Independence some time. Take us off, one-five-nine mark three-three-six. Maximum thrust."

"Changing heading," Gambles acknowledged.

"Shields at eighty-four percent and holding," Pal noted.

"Admiral," Bianca called out.

"Just a minute."

"I'm sorry, but this is urgent."

Tw'eak looked to Octavia. "You have this?"

"Of course," the captain replied.

Tw'eak sped up the ramp and to her science officer's station. "Sorry," Bianca began.

"What is it?"

"I've been analyzing that rift - obviously without interfering with any targeting sensors. And I've found out something important."

"Okay." Warspite rocked with the impact of a thermionic torpedo, causing Tw'eak to jostle for support against the adjacent bulkhead.

"Weapons offline!" Oulius shouted.

"Re-routing emergency power!" Aurora replied instantly from the engineering station. She looked over at her sister, her expression tense.

"Let's hear it," Tw'eak said to Bianca.

"The rift appears to be an inter-dimensional threshold." Bianca pointed to her screen. "Those Borg are not the ones we're used to facing."

"So these Tholians would also be from another dimension?"

"I don't think so. There's a lot of interference so I can't say for certain, but the Borg? I'm sure of them.."

Tw'eak looked up at the screen. "Oulius - tactical analysis of the Tholian ships... anything unusual about them?"

"I don't understand your question."

"What I mean is, are they what you'd expect them to be? Are they from this dimension?"

The ship rocked again. "They're just as angry as the usual Tholians," the Romulan tactical officer replied.

Tw'eak turned to Bianca. "This dimension or that one, they've had their fill of fighting Borg, now they're onto us."

Bianca worked at her console for a moment. "I'm taking a closer scan of one now that we're a bit further from the rift. Let's see... The Tholian ships don't seem to have any of the energy resonance that the Borg wreckage does."

"So they're actually here to protect the dimensional barrier? Is that it?"

"Unknown. My guess would be they're only looking after themselves. Tholians don't tend to be altruistic."

"True." The ship was bounced with another hit. "We understand so little about them. Makes me wish they'd just ask for help already." Tw'eak nodded. "Thanks for the info."

"It's what I do," Bianca replied, then added, "Hope you're okay."

"Me too," Tw'eak said softly, smiling enigmatically before she turned and went back down the ramp. "Status?"

Octavia turned to Tw'eak. "We've accounted for two more Tholian vessels. The Tarantula is still closing with us, however."

"Hard about," Tw'eak said. "Forward beam banks to maximum."

"Dual banks, aye," Oulius acknowledged. "Target locked."

"Shields at seventy-two percent," Pal reported.

"High-yield torpedo," Tw'eak added with a touch of a flourish.

"Arming."

The ship swung about, and the viewer showed the blue field generated by the dimensional rift as a blur, before the foremost hull of the Tarantula became clear, pointing straight at them, closing fast. Alongside it, tetryon beams issued from several accompanying Tholian vessels, all angling for a shot on the Warspite.

"Fire!" Tw'eak shouted.

The six forward beam banks of the USS Warspite were waiting for her order. Each of them sliced through space with a red-white cataclysm of antiproton energy pointed right down the throat of the Tarantula. The big ship's shields buckled, and after a moment it juddered to a halt.

"Critical hit!" Oulius called out. "We've knocked their forward shields out."

"Fire torpedo!"

"Firing!"

From Warspite's tubes came a pair of overcharged quantum torpedoes, and, given their closing speed, they near-instantly collided with the remnant energies of the Tarantula's forward shield. As if ignoring their resistance, both detonated savagely against their intended target's exposed hull. More antiproton beams - these from the side weapons of Warspite - continued to rake along that same forward section for a brief moment before the Avenger-class starship sliced past along its starboard side, rolling slightly to avoid impacting with the heavily damaged Tholian vessel. Several of its escorts fired on Warspite as it passed, most of them missing the speeding target.

"Shields now fifty-four percent," Pal called out.

"Tarantula's hull at twenty-four percent."

"Concentrate fire."

"Independence is joining with us in targeting vessel, as is the Republic warbird D'varna."

"Let's make it count, then. Fire at will - attack pattern beta!"

D'varna, Independence and Warspite brought their beams to bear against all Tholian comers. Warspite had looped back and aligned itself right alongside Independence, while D'varna's plasma beams struck home from an offset of some twenty degrees as it targeted the Tarantula as well. Warspite's beams also found targets among the remaining Tholian craft, one of which, a small Mesh Weaver escort, exploded moments before the larger Tarantula did - a detonation which in turn caused one of the Orb Weavers which had not escaped its shockwave to be destroyed.

"Nice," Gambles uttered as he watched the destruction. "Took care of a lot of them."

"Two Mesh Weavers, and an Orb Weaver," Oulius noted. His face took on a look of deeper concern. "Remaining Tholian ships are regrouping near the rift. Something's going on in there."

"Break off. All stop." Tw'eak looked up at the viewer. "Put the rift on screen."

Pal tapped at his console, and the bright electric blue of the rift consumed the entire screen. In the midst of its swirling mass, Tw'eak could spot various small Tholian ships spinning about and firing their weapons at... something. "Are they targeting the rift?"

"Seems to be." Gambles looked back at Tw'eak. "Not sure shooting it is going to do anything."

"That's not it." Tw'eak turned at the sound of Bianca's voice. "Something's coming through, Admiral. And it's big."

Tw'eak looked back to the viewscreen, her eyes widening at the sight of a slate-grey form, a sheer edge, like the prow of a ship, breaching the rift and growing in size by the moment. On all sides, the Tholians converged upon it, blasting it with all their might. The return fire from the great dark mass confirmed Tw'eak's worst fears - as, too, did the emergence of the full slab-sided face of a Borg cube vastly more massive than any she had encountered before.

"What the hell is that?" Gambles asked from the helm.

Oulius read his console. "Initial sensor reading... it's Borg alright."

Aurora turned away from the engineering console. "Holy crap," she mumbled. Beside her, Bianca nudged her in the ribs with an elbow, as if to remind her of where she was.

Pal turned to look at Tw'eak. "Shall I signal Starfleet for reinforcements?"

"Scrambler code Omega," Tw'eak replied grimly, then added, "priority one."


	64. Part IV, Chapter 13

A massive trans-dimensional rift, a swarm of Tholians, and now, an absolute monster of a Borg cube. Tw'eak tried to think back to when she'd had a worse day. Sadly, there were quite a few to choose from. Her science officer interrupted her train of thought.

"Sensors indicate that the cube has a volume eight times in excess of normal," Bianca reported.

"Look at the size of that thing," Aurora added, gaping at the viewscreen.

"Helm, full stop, and keep your distance for now," Tw'eak said, turning to Pal. "Response from Starfleet?"

"They have received our signal - subspace confirmation from nineteen starships en route. I have further signals from six Romulan and four KDF vessels inbound."

"Let's hope that's enough." Tw'eak looked to her flag captain, who was concentrating on the cube at the center of the viewer. "You getting anything?"

"Yes. I can confirm Commander duBois' assertion. They are not the Collective we are familiar with. I can hear them... identifying us... they've assimilated the whole galaxy in their dimension."

"Really."

"Yes. The Tholians are apparently aware of this and appear to be active to prevent its incursion. Some of the drones on that ship are, in fact, Tholian. This is remarkable. I am unaware of the Borg having assimilated Tholians in our dimension."

"Maybe that's part of why they're here."

"The Borg, or the Tholians?"

"Both, really - The Borg want to break out, assimilate other timelines, and the Tholians don't want that to happen. We know the Tholians have access to trans-dimensional technology. Maybe they want that dimension contained."

Octavia nodded. "Perhaps. It would be consistent with what we have seen. However, the Borg are concerned. The Tholians are destabilizing the rift."

"Tholian ships are flying into the rift," Oulius noted from his station. "They're self-destructing."

"Anything to stop that cube," Tw'eak mused.

"Minimal effect. That Borg ship is heavily armoured."

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Such is not a typical component of Borg vessels. Our adaptability makes armour superfluous."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "Armoured or not, we've got to stop them. That means working together. Open a signal to the remaining Tholian command vessel."

"Hailing them." Oulius shook his head. "No response."

"Keep pinging them. No, wait. Open channel. They can't ignore that."

"Actually, they can," Octavia noted. "They are renowned for their stubbornness."

Tw'eak gave Octavia a knowing, frustrated look, and cleared her throat. "Oulius?"

"Hailing frequencies open."

"This is Vice Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas of the Federation starship Warspite. I wish to advise all ships present that the cube which is emerging from that rift is the product of another dimension, one in which the entire galaxy belongs to the Borg. All ships - be you Romulan, Tholian, or of the Federation - must strike with us, as their presence here endangers us all. Request reinforcements of your respective gov-"

There was another voice on the channel suddenly - a chorus of voices, chillingly familiar. "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and prepare for assimilation. You must comply."

"Borg vessel, this is your final warning to withdr-"

"Your dimension will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

Tw'eak hardened her eyes. "The hell, you say." She looked to Oulius. "Cut that channel. Octavia, give Oulius a hand with targeting telemetry. Oulius, full attack as soon as she's ready. Aurora, maximum power to weapons - and don't forget to modulate weapons settings and shield nutation, people."

A series of affirmations met Tw'eak's orders, as Gambles turned to face. "Heading and speed locked in."

"Full thrusters, attack pattern omega. Keep us mobile - polarize the hull at the first sign they've got us in a tractor beam."

"You got it."

Pal turned slightly. "This will be a glorious victory."

"Just like the Jem'Hadar always say, Pal... victory is life." The irony of Tw'eak's own words rang in her ear - what she had said may literally prove the case, that victory could mean the difference for their entire galaxy. Such an interdimensional invasion as this Collective intended had come as a surprise. They had to make their stand, and make it count, or these Borg would be back. Tw'eak brushed aside her anxiety and squared up in the command chair. "All right, people," she said to her skittish bridge crew. "Let's do this."

The few Tholian ships which remained were of little significance to the Borg, and like flies were swatted away inconsequentially. Some of the Tholian ships committed the ultimate sacrifice, choosing to ram the Borg vessel - some at high impulse speeds - rather than capitulate or explode. Still in formation, the starship Independence flew just ahead of the Warspite, partially obscuring her from the Borg ship's direct line of sight. This was rather quickly remedied, as the bigger Odyssey-class ship was knocked askew by a thin white line issuing forth from the side of the Borg vessel.

"Elements," Oulius swore.

"Report."

"The Borg vessel's kinetic cutting beam - it's unlike any we have on record. It's considerably more powerful."

"I'd say," Gambles muttered. "Just knocked that Oddy halfway through the y-axis."

"Independence is continuing its attack run."

"Let's back them up," Tw'eak ordered. "Get us in the fight."

Oulius looked at his controls, which he now shared with Octavia. "Now within weapons range."

Tw'eak looked up to see Spera take up the empty chair where Octavia had sat. She had lost sight of the girl during the engagement with the Tholians, and both smiled at each other with grave concern. For a moment, the urge to order her daughter to an escape pod crossed Tw'eak's mind. The last thing she wanted to see was Spera assimilated or killed here, after she'd been through so much for the sake of their future. That future hadn't included any mention of dimension-hopping Borg. Tw'eak forced herself to put her emotions aside - not for the first time that day, her duty took precedence because there was no one else to do it for her. "Fire at will."

Warspite made a hard turn across one face of the cube, its torpedoes and antiproton beams impacting along its surface without much effect. The attack pattern they had programmed meant that a Borg tractor beam had been unable to lock onto them, while the cutting beam also missed its mark, striking the starship Independence instead. Behind the two ships, a singularity core imploded, the death throes of a Republic warbird.

"We've hurt them," Aurora noted. "Their power levels are dipping."

"Keep it up, Octavia," Tw'eak said in reply.

"Several other starships are joining the fight," Pal noted.

"Good, we're going to need them."

"Three others have been destroyed or disabled."

Tw'eak turned to Oulius. "How's the D'varna?"

Oulius made a grim face and shook his head.

"The Independence?"

"Starship Independence remains alongside us," Gambles replied. "Her hull's been hit bad in a couple spots."

A gruff voice suddenly filled the air. "Independence to Warspite."

"Warspite. Sh'abbas."

"This is Captain Kaya - our weapons are down, we're going to run cover for you, shield-and-sword style."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm going to run her in nice and tight to that Borg cube, see if we can't keep them from using the cutting beam too effectively."

"That's a huge risk."

"Yeah... make it count, Admiral."

"Good luck, Independence. Warspite out." Tw'eak looked around. "You hear that? Let's make it count."

As several other ships - a pair of patrol escorts, a Galaxy-class starship, and a trio of warbirds - joined the fray, the starship Independence brought itself into a tighter pattern near the Borg vessel. The cube itself was now completely free of the rift, and as Warspite made another attack run, the Borg cutting beam struck home amidships on the Independence, knocking it asunder yet again. The angle exposed its ventral surfaces to the cube, and a second cutting beam sprung from the Borg ship, shearing into the Independence's main deflector and causing a massive chain-reaction which crippled the Odyssey-class starship, leaving it dead in space without any power. While the cube continued on, having neutralized one threat, lifepods began to launch from the Independence, a clear sign that the ship had experienced a catastrophe.

"Independence has been hit!" Oulius advised.

"Bad, too," Gambles added. "That cutting beam is murder."

Tw'eak grimaced. "Order all remaining ships to form up on us. Oulius, transmit Octavia's targeting solutions to anyone who wants to join us."

"Yes, ma'am," Oulius replied, his tone grim.

"I must report that my targeting solutions are of limited worth. These Borg are adapting their defenses faster than I can calibrate new telemetries. They are nearly impervious."

Tw'eak's eyes twinkled defiantly. "Nearly." She pointed at the screen. "Concentrate ALL fire on a single weakened point of that armour before they can repair it."

"I will do what I can."

As the armada bore down upon the Borg cube, Warspite and all vessels in the area focused their fire on trying to put a hole in the sheer face of the enemy vessel. A combination of tetryon, plasma, disruptor, phaser and antiproton beams and cannon fire, along with just about every kind of torpedo imaginable, plunged into a growing area of severe damage about a third of the way down the hull, to Warspite's starboard side. Sensing the threat, the Borg vessel lashed out at the charging force with its cutting beam, then locked a tractor beam onto the Warspite.

"They've got us!" Oulius cried.

"Get us out!" Tw'eak ordered.

"I can't!" Aurora replied.

"The Borg have targeted us with a tachyon beam," Octavia advised.

"Shields are gone!" Pal added.

"On it!" Aurora acknowledged.

Tw'eak gritted her teeth. "Fire at the source of that-"

But it was too late. Warspite's active role in the counter-assault had made her a clear target for the Collective. The cutting beam rather deftly slashed across the front of the exposed hull, utterly devastating the forward weapons and the front third of the saucer section as it crossed from port to starboard. It dipped as it did so, carving through the starboard saucer section before striking the starboard warp nacelle beyond, nearly end-on, just forward of the support connection. The beam then burst through the upper side of the nacelle well aft, completely annihilating its internal components before deactivating as the cube sought another target - the Armitage-class USS Akagi, the crew would learn later, which somehow fared worse. The entire process took precisely four-point-seven seconds, and the explosion of the nacelle sent an unanticipated reverse cascade through the EPS connections in the nacelle support, devastating the Warspite and causing the ship's power to blink out completely. It also caused the ship to roll over and somersault out of formation, her navigation systems now fully uncontrolled.

On the bridge, Tw'eak heard Aurora scream behind her, while in front, the helm console exploded with a shotgun-blast of sparks and debris raining across the bridge. All went dark, the viewscreen winked out, and Tw'eak felt the urge to plunge forward. She restrained herself in the command chair, faring somewhat better than Spera, who tumbled down onto the carpet. The anti-gravity and structural integrity fields then briefly failed, causing Tw'eak's stomach to turn, and she watched as Spera clawed at the floor in an attempt to hold herself in place. The ship's free-fall in space without so much as a single RCS thruster to keep her station was, at the time, not something Tw'eak was aware of, and she struck the small console on her command chair, infuriated by the complete blackness of its display. "Report!" she bellowed as another blast detonated from somewhere overhead. Emergency lights and power returned, but little could be discerned other than Pal seemingly kneeling over Gambles, and Spera pushing herself up onto her elbows and knees. The viewer remained inoperative, and the lights on the consoles were barely visible.

"Aurora!" she heard Bianca cry. Chancing the moment, Tw'eak stood up and turned to see both duBois sisters helpless on the carpet. Oulius was tending to Octavia, whose face was now gashed with a laceration along her cheekbone. Both Oulius and Aurora looked up at Tw'eak, and while the one sought orders, the other responded by vaulting to her own feet and returning to her station.

"Emergency!" Aurora shouted between explosions. "Warp core breach in progress!"

"Can you jettison it?"

"I don't know! The whole starboard power coupling has detonated!"

"Just do it or we're all dead!" Tw'eak gritted her teeth, not for the first time that day.

Aurora turned back to her console, pounding the commands in to make the ejection sequence engage. "It won't auto-eject - I'll have to go manual!"

"Quickly!"

In a matter of moments, far faster than she had ever worked a console before, Aurora had disconnected the plasma and power relays, cut the antimatter and deuterium flows - not that there was any flow; the engine had been shut down automatically when the power coupling had blown - and commenced the ejection sequence. "Sorry, Kevin," she said wistfully as she released the core. Explosive bolts tore it loose from its housing in engineering, and into the blackness of space.

"Good work," Tw'eak said as the ship bounced with the kinetic pressure of the release.

"I hope nobody's left in engineering when this goes." Aurora bit her lip. "Get out of there, guys."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Bianca stated grimly. "Internal sensors are showing major damage to the starboard side of the ship."

"Life signs?"

"Not many. Transporter room one is commencing emergency beam-outs to safer areas of the ship. But they're not going to get many."

The ship was rocked by yet another massive conflagration, its ventral surfaces fully exposed to the considerable force of the warp core's detonation, albeit at a safer distance than otherwise would have been possible. All were thrown to the floor yet again. "Goodbye, Kevin," Aurora whispered, pulling herself into a fetal position.

Spera was on her feet before Tw'eak. "Should we abandon ship?"

"Aurora?"

But Aurora was not responsive. Octavia brushed aside Oulius' medical ministrations and stepped over where Aurora sat on the floor to check the engineering readout. "Our starboard warp nacelle has been completely destroyed. Extensive damage on decks four through nine, all forward and starboard sections. Emergency force fields are in place across the ship. The port impulse engine is offline. The entire electro-plasma relay system has suffered a critical shockwave and will be inoperative. Main computer is online, but all systems across the ship are on emergency backups. We have no shields, no weapons..."

"Life support?"

"Also running on emergency power. Replicators are offline and transporters will also be emergency-use."

Tw'eak forced herself to stand straight up, brushing her hair aside. Unhurt except for her pride, she heard a voice call from behind her. She turned to see Pal tending to Gambles. "Admiral. He's dead."

"Is anyone else hurt?"

"I'm fine," Bianca responded.

"As am I," Oulius chimed in.

Spera nodded. "Same, Shreya." She looked at Tw'eak, who was looking her over. "Right? I'm fine, right?"

"You're fine." Tw'eak patted her on the shoulder. "How about you, Aurora?"

"I..." The tears fell down Aurora's cheeks, their trails glinting in the emergency lights. "God, everyone I knew was down in that engine room. They're probably all dead."

"We don't know that." Tw'eak looked over at Oulius. "Do we have internal comms?"

"Only through commbadges. I've just got the rone relay working."

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Ellington."

"I'm a little busy," came the reply from Doc, more irascible than was typical.

"But you're alive."

"Yeah. Kim's here, too."

"I'm relieved to hear that."

"We're... we're sending out triage teams, doing what we can. What the hell happened?"

"The Borg severed one of our nacelles. We lost the warp core. And that's just for starters."

"Jesus, Tw'eak, do you have any idea - no, you know what... I better get to it."

"Give me an update at your earliest convenience."

"Everything alright on the bridge?"

"One dead, one slightly wounded."

"Admiral, I do not require further attention," Octavia protested.

"We'll be fine."

"Nobody assimilated?"

"Doesn't seem to have been their intention. If there are any drones aboard, you'll be able to see them as well as we can. Internal sensors are still working."

"I know. Makes rescue a hell of a lot easier - might just save a few lives because of it. Look, Tw'eak... Walking wounded are coming in already here."

Tw'eak felt herself choke up a little. "I know, just... good luck, Doc. Expect the worst, though."

Doc chuckled. "Always do. Oh, and... if anyone up there or anyone else on the ship has medical training, we need all the help we can get down here."

"I'll get the word out. Update whenever you can."

"Right. Ellington out."

Tw'eak looked around. "Anyone?"

Octavia nodded. "I am so qualified."

"I am as well," Oulius added. "Admiral, if I may, I'd very much like to find my brother."

Bianca spoke up. "I took the liberty of using the internal sensors - he's on deck ten in the torpedo room, and he's alive."

Tw'eak felt a lump in her throat. "What about Dashii?"

"She's still in her quarters. Unconscious."

Tw'eak looked over to Octavia, her face anxious. "If you wouldn't mind starting there..?"

"Of course," Octavia replied. She looked to the engineering station. "Emergency power to the turbolifts will not last long. I suggest putting the ship in low-intensity mode, activating the subspace disaster beacon, and proceeding to evacuate in an orderly fashion."

"You're not concerned about losing a command?"

"On the contrary, Admiral. Let me assure you that I intend to be the last to leave. Nevertheless, our rescue is no longer in our hands."

"Alright, you best get going."

Octavia, however, remained standing still. "I should feel more confident in leaving if there were a qualified engineer on duty to assist you." She glanced around deliberately. "Is there anyone here who can function in such a capacity?"

Yet Aurora did not budge. Her sister stepped away from the science console and knelt at her side. "Come on, Aurora. We need you."

"They're - they're really all dead?"

"Maybe not. We can help you. Come on, nobody knows this ship better than you."

"Commander," Octavia interjected, her tone matter-of-fact. "Your admiral requires your assistance."

Aurora swallowed hard, then held out a hand to her sister. After a moment, she was on her feet. She wiped her tears on the sleeve of her uniform, and adjusted its tunic. "Commander duBois, reporting for duty."

"I need a damage report and an update on ship's status as soon as possible." Tw'eak looked to Spera. "Maybe you and Pal can assist."

"Gladly."

"Admiral." Pal stepped forward, reluctant. "While I too am trained in first aid, I should prefer to remain at your side."

"Explain."

"The starship could be boarded at any time by hostile forces. We are defenseless - both against the Tholians and the Borg."

"They're not an immediate threat."

"I respectfully disagree."

"Believe me, Pal. They knew just where to hit us. They wouldn't send through a cube that big in order to assimilate the small stuff. They're heading for Earth or Qo'noS, maybe even mol'Rihan." Tw'eak noticed Oulius shift uncomfortably as she spoke. "We can't help anyone but our own at the moment."

Pal nodded. "I will be advised immediately if we are boarded?"

Bianca stepped forward. "I'll see to that personally. I'll be monitoring everything from up here."

"Very well." Pal's jaw clenched. "I... regret my earlier enthusiasm for the fight."

"Don't apologize for what none of us anticipated. I'd wager even the Dominion would be hard-pressed against a cube that big."

Pal looked towards the black viewscreen. "Indeed." He unholstered his rifle, checking its power settings, then returned it over his back. "I am prepared, either way."

"In battle, reclaiming others' lives instead," Tw'eak said with a smile.

"So it will be. I go where the Prophets call me." Pal closed his eyes for a moment in silent prayer. "May they assist us in bringing aid to the wounded." His orisons completed, he moved into the turbolift with Octavia and Oulius.

Tw'eak moved to the tactical console and tapped in the sequence to activate the disaster beacon. "Beacon's active. Can you give me a little power for the subspace comms? I'd like to send a distress signal."

"Just a minute," Spera said from Aurora's side. "Subspace comms online."

Tw'eak noticed an incoming hail and answered it. "Vice Admiral Sh'abbas here."

"Admiral. Thank God you're alive. This is Vice Admiral Arnold. Do you require assistance?"

"We'll be fine. You'll have to take it from here - that cube's going to take all we've got to stop her."

"There are a lot of people who need our help, though."

"Belay that, Admiral. You have to stop that cube - the crisis is there, not here. Let me handle the rescue. Just go get those bastards. Now."

"Understood, Admiral. Good luck."

Tw'eak smiled. "To us all." She closed the channel, then began recording a distress signal to loop transmission until the power ran out. "To any allied or friendly ships in range who are able to assist, this is the starship Warspite, Vice Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas commanding. Our ship has been disabled and is no longer serviceable. We have wounded requiring medical attention and are in need of retrieval and salvage. Hostile boarding actions will be repelled with deadly force if attempted. I say again, to all allied or friendly ships in range..."

* * *

"There it goes again."

About two hours had elapsed. Tw'eak, Aurora and Spera had sorted out the EPS routing and had sufficient power from the fusion reactors of the impulse engines to keep the ship dimly lit, its turbolifts available for emergency use, and its medical replicators and bio-beds fully functional. Sensors were in decent shape, although the external ones had been set to passive with an occasional threat-analysis scan for good measure. From her science station, Bianca continued to monitor internal sensors and comms. Despite the damage, the structural integrity field was also holding, largely dependent as it was upon the main deflector. For a ship so brutally battered as Warspite was, assuming no new threats showed up, things would hold together until search and rescue operations could be completed.

Sadly, however, little would be required. The extensive damage across multiple decks and the entire forward third of the saucer, coupled with the near-destruction of the stardrive section, meant a grievous number of fatalities. Only fifty-three of her crew had survived the attack on the Borg cube unscathed - and Doc's first report had suggested less than half the crew as a whole had survived. The majority of the bridge crew could be counted among them, though, Tw'eak observed, not all. Ensign Gambles' body still lay where he had fallen when the helm console had detonated, after all. He was one of many who had given their lives that day.

At the aft end of the bridge, Tw'eak leaned away from the tactical console to see what Aurora was concerned about. "There what goes?" she asked.

"Comms - external, I mean. I think the power surge might have damaged the subspace antenna assembly."

"Can we run an alternate?"

"I don't see how."

Tw'eak pointed to Aurora's display. "Have someone go out in a shuttle, use its subspace antenna as a relay."

"A relay to what, though?"

"Another shuttle." Tw'eak and Aurora turned to Spera, who had made the remark. "We used to do this all the time, to create a short-range data-link network between ships in formation, have a shuttle fly midway between them that was connected to another shuttle - and that shuttle would be parked on the hull or something, with a hard-point connection to the mothership, basically, by wire. Same band of subspace frequencies available but much less likely to attract unwanted attention."

"Because a shuttle's not going to use as much power to broadcast?" Aurora asked.

"You'd only really need two because we're still within the subspace relay network - one out beyond the ship and one in the shuttlebay, connected to the ship's computer. We could even remote-launch the shuttle since we're short on people."

"Good idea." Tw'eak went to the tactical console. "Let's get it set up."

Bianca turned away from her console. "There's just one problem, Admiral. The shuttlebay is currently designated for use as a casualty clearing station."

Tw'eak turned to Bianca. "But is it being used as such?"

"I believe it's being converted for use at present. Still, it's standard emergency protocol unless the evacuation order is given."

Tw'eak thought it over for a moment, then tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Ellington."

"Ellington. Go ahead."

"Doc, we need to use the main shuttlebay."

"Why do you need my permission? I'm a doctor, not a flight controller."

Tw'eak smiled. "It's also our main casualty clearing station."

"Ah, yes, our Gorn friend Tlhosh is up there setting up things right now, but I think the word you're looking for... excuse me..." There was a commotion on Doc's end of the communication. "Let me just - yes, I'll be right with you. Nurse? Please. - let me just get into my office here for a moment... I believe the word you're looking for, Admiral..." Doc's voice lowered to a whisper. "...is morgue."

Tw'eak felt her jaw drop. "Uzaveh's name."

"I know you said we got hit bad, Tw'eak, but we never imagined it'd be this bad - we don't have the numbers of wounded I'd expected. Those we do have, I can't guarantee I'll be able to save all of them." Tw'eak heard several beeps from a computer terminal. "According to my last count, we have one hundred and ninety-four surviving crew members."

There was a chill on the bridge, and all were silent. Tw'eak's eyes fell upon Gambles. "From a crew complement of five hundred and nine."

"That's correct. We've got triage stations funnelling people to aid points - I'm only seeing the very worst cases, and I can't guarantee anything. Early yet, though. We'll do all we can."

Tw'eak looked to Spera, then to Bianca. "I know you will. Just keep me posted. Sh'abbas out." She deactivated her commbadge and said to her science officer, "can you confirm those numbers?"

Bianca nodded, her voice a sad chronicle of what had occurred. "The EPS blowback caused small explosions all over the ship. Many of those were in service areas or occupied compartments. Some of those explosions also exposed their compartments to space. Most of those left alive were either in shielded areas like the bridge or sickbay, main computer, or they were on the port side of the saucer." Bianca pointed to her screen. "We also briefly lost containment of our emergency force fields when the warp core detonated. This caused further losses, I'm afraid."

"My God," Spera muttered.

"I don't want to sound-" Aurora's interruption caused all three women to turn to see her visibly fumbling with her words. "We're still structurally intact because most of those fires went out quickly as a result. I've done a computation and we'd be in a lot more trouble if those force fields had held. EPS-related fires would've engulfed the ship by now. It'd be hopeless."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I don't understand. You laid those EPS runs yourself. How could this have happened?"

"EPS runs are only rated to flow at their maximum rate in one direction. In fact, we usually modify the angles so that they run more efficiently. You could've even had them running the other way - they just weren't prepared to handle that level of blowback." Aurora looked up at the screen. "And again, I don't want to sound ghoulish, but those small-scale explosions meant the feedback dissipated before it reached the impulse engines. And even then, being at combat status meant a lot of non-essential systems were offline at the time... we're now using those systems' relays to keep the ship together long enough to be rescued."

Tw'eak reached out and gripped the tactical console. After a long moment, her fist came down into its surface, fracturing the screen. "Damn it."

"Shreya?" Spera stepped to her mother's side. "What is it?"

"I just... I've never lost this many people before. Not... not all at once, anyway."

Spera pursed her lips. "Not yet, you mean."

Tw'eak looked up. "We have worse days than this?"

The younger of the two nodded. "Mmhmmm."

Tw'eak hardened her stance a bit, straightening up and looking aftwards, staring as if burning a hole through into the observation lounge. "This means we're not going to be ready." She looked at Spera. "Doesn't it."

"Ready for what?" Aurora inquired.

Tw'eak looked to the ship's engineer. "How long do you figure it'll take for them to repair the damage?"

Aurora blew out her cheeks. "This? This is bad. It'd take - I don't know. Hard to tell."

Tw'eak's eyes returned to Spera. "Well?"

"I... I don't know, Shreya. It's not like I have an Iconian alarm clock. We might be ready. It's impossible to tell. Only they know for sure."

"I agree," Bianca concurred. "All the intelligence we received at the time - intelligence I've been correlating and going over since our briefings with Commander Wren - has no really specific end point envisioned. Even then, all we have are best guesses and prophecies of doom."

Tw'eak nodded, then looked at her daughter. "But in your time, they came on a particular day."

"That's no reason to suggest they'll follow the same schedule," Bianca replied for Spera.

"Exactly," Spera added. "We may have already done something, I don't know what... I never really got temporal mechanics."

"That was my point," the science officer continued. "There's no evidence that in Spera's original timeline, Task Force Silhouette was ever put together. That's one point of divergence."

Spera nodded."And we know Warspite was operational - and destroyed - before the Iconians arrived."

"That doesn't mean she wasn't rushed back into service," Aurora countered.

Tw'eak raised a finger to her cheek. "Might be why she was lost."

"Again," Bianca said with certainty, "this is all speculative."

"You're right. Just... damn." Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Tlhosh."

The distinctive tone of the Gorn science officer was audible. "Admiral."

"We'd like to use the main shuttlebay to launch a pair of remotely-operated shuttles, if you wouldn't mind."

"The sssshuttlebay is available for usssage whenever you would like."

"It... won't get in your way?"

"No. I have already prepared sssspace for the reception of those we have lost."

Tw'eak shuddered, but caught herself before it was obvious. "We have that few bodies to bring home?"

"Allow me to explain - according to procedure, the holodeck is to be used as a morgue in the event of such an emergency. The sssshuttlebay will accommodate those for whom there is no room in that sssspace, or in the corridor."

"Hmm, I don't really like the thought of the dead resting in the corridor."

"Given that the corridor in quesssstion is currently ssssealed off and open to ssssspace, it seemed a ssssafe place. I had considered the possibility of our needing the ssssshuttlebay for evacuation of the wounded and sssssought to adapt the plan."

"Understood. You've got things well in hand down there, just as expected. Let me know if you need anything."

"I shall. And please, proceed with the shuttle launch. Tlhosh out."

After a moment, Tw'eak chuckled. "It's funny, to think of, but I guess I'd gotten used to the joke."

"What do you mean?" Spera asked.

"Calling him 'Yeoman Gorn'. I suppose you really find out the kinds of people you've got alongside you when a crisis comes, don't you."

Spera patted her mother on the shoulder. " 'They come, they go, and in between, you do everything you can for them'."

"Yeah."

"That's what you always said, when we'd lose people."

"Well, it's true."

Aurora stepped away from her console. "Admiral, it'll take me a couple minutes in the shuttlebay to link the shuttle's subspace antenna to the computer."

"I can help," Spera said in reply.

"N-no, no. On your way, Aurora. Let us know how you're doing with that." Tw'eak patted Spera on the shoulder. "You come with me." She looked over at Bianca, who was busy monitoring the situation on her console. "Can you handle the bridge for a couple minutes?"

Bianca looked back over her shoulder. "Me? Um, okay."

"It's not that hard, Bia," Aurora joked. "Just stand here and look important."

"I- sorry, I've never been in charge before."

Tw'eak smiled. "Not much to be in charge of at the moment. You'll do fine. I just need a minute to talk to Spera, maybe get a drink. Would either of you care for anything?"

"I'm a bit thirsty," Aurora said, "but it can wait."

Bianca nodded. "Same here. When 'rora comes back up to the bridge, I'll take a break."

"That's fair. Come on." Tw'eak nodded towards the observation lounge and, with Spera close behind her, stepped off the bridge for the first time in what had felt like days.


	65. Part IV, Chapter 14

Once the two of them had entered the observation lounge, Tw'eak walked over to the window and looked outwards at the receding blue mist that extended throughout space. "Look," she noted. "The rift's closing."

Spera stepped over to Tw'eak's side. "Yeah," she said sadly. "Look there."

The observation lounge wasn't quite on the same deck level as the warp nacelles, but Tw'eak could still follow Spera's pointing to see the gnarled remains of the starboard side, twisted metal and pulsing jets of errant plasma standing just above the edge of the saucer. The damage was hard to see from this angle, but Tw'eak had no doubt it was extensive. "Have to say, I'm really glad you're with me."

Spera put her arm around her mother's waist. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know yet." She shrugged. "Isn't that what I said to Bianca?"

"I didn't hear you."

"Oh. Still. I really don't know." She moved out of Spera's arms and let herself fall into the nearest chair at the table. "This is the second time I've brought back a badly-damaged starship in the past year." Tw'eak looked outwards, pensive. "Actually, just over a year. And what a year it's been."

"Yeah." Spera took a deep breath as she leaned against the window. "I'm sorry about what happened to Dad, Shreya."

"Which part?"

"The - what? Really."

"No, I mean it. Whoever that was back on Risa, that wasn't the man I knew. I don't know what happened to him. I'll never find out now. But he's the one who changed."

"I don't know. He put on a really good show for you... for all of us, I guess."

Tw'eak shook her head. "That's all it was, then. That was the real Leo that we met back there, then."

"Maybe. I don't know."

She tapped a finger against her cheek for a moment. "Whoever killed him... it wasn't me, you understand."

"I never doubted you. It wasn't me, either."

Tw'eak smiled at Spera. "Never doubted you, either."

"Okay, good. Because you could've, you know."

"I don't think you have it in you to be a killer." Tw'eak's face hardened. "Then again, there was a time... I didn't think I could, either."

"You're not a murderer, though."

"I don't know. Suppose - suppose it were possible to rehabilitate those Borg. Suppose they might all turn out to be like Octavia. How many people did I kill on that cube?"

"I don't know if you killed any of them. We barely scratched them."

Tw'eak nodded sadly. "Yeah, you've got that right."

"Whatever happens next, you don't have any more responsibility to recover the assimilated than you do to bring the dead to life. As far as anyone's concerned, they're dead anyway."

"It's true - if I were ever assimilated, I'd be treated as killed in action until recovered."

"Exactly."

"I don't know. It's more than that. A lot of people died today on this ship because of those Borg-"

Spera held up a hand. "I know what you're going to say."

"You do?"

"Yeah."

"That mind control trick of yours at work again?"

"I can't read minds, Shreya. It's telekinesis, not telepathy."

"So what is it, then, that I was about to say?"

"That even though you didn't kill a single Starfleet officer today - which is true, let's not forget - you still led them to their deaths."

Tw'eak blinked. "You... you..."

"Got it? Yeah. You say that every time. And every time it's not true. You take it so personally when you lose people. That's what makes you such a good officer. Everyone who serves under you is always proud they have a commanding officer who cares. That always, always comes through to them. But you have to put the responsibility for their deaths where it belongs - blame the Borg, not yourself."

Tw'eak had wondered to herself a few minutes earlier if she'd made a mistake letting her guard down in talking to her daughter so frankly. Now, she couldn't collect herself quickly enough. Speaking frankly had led to a different truth than she had let herself believe. She felt a tear make its way across her cheek bone, following the artificial gravity and impacting upon her uniform trousers. Another followed. "Damn it all..."

Spera took a step towards her mother and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We were doing amazingly well until they caught us in that tractor beam."

"Yeah..." Tw'eak re-played the sequence in her mind and wiped her eyes as she did so.

"Once they drained our shields it was just a matter of time - Aurora did so well to get the warp core off like she did."

"She did... she really did." Tw'eak glanced over her shoulder at the bridge. "They all did." Her eyes turned to Spera. "I don't want any of them coming in here."

"They won't. They know. I think Bianca gets it."

"Yeah..."

Spera gave a slight laugh. "Aurora probably wouldn't."

Tw'eak made a sort of half-sob, half-chuckle in response. "No, probably not." Tw'eak pulled herself together a bit better, and sat back in the chair. "Sit." She turned her chair to the one where Spera seated herself. "I want you to know something."

"Alright."

Tw'eak took Spera's hands in hers. "I don't want you to forget."

"I'll try not to."

"Promise?"

"I... okay."

Tw'eak nodded. Her antennae were slowly angling downwards, despite her best efforts to keep them at a typical height. She knew her emotional control was about as functional as Warspite's warp drive. There was simply nothing to be done to bring it back to working order. Shaping her mouth carefully to keep her voice from quaking, she said, "I want you to know that I loved him." She gritted her teeth and took back her right hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I really did. I still do."

Spera's eyes were bright, her face pleased. "I knew that. I always knew."

"Even if... now he's gone, and I can't... we can't have the family you did."

"That's alright, though. I'm sure Doctor Hewson and Doctor Ellington will make great moms." She brought her face down to let her eyes make contact with her mother's. "But don't you see? I know it's horrible of me to say like this, but I think this all... this is kind of great, you know?"

"What?"

"I'm not trapped in a temporal paradox!"

The corner of Tw'eak's mouth rose in a sort of half-smile. "What?"

Spera's face shone with a sort of manic energy. She took her hands from Tw'eak's and used them to point emphatically at parts of what she was saying, as though a timeline were visualized in the space between them. "The other baby - Doctor Hewson's baby... she wasn't around in my timeline. In fact, I think she died when Earth was destroyed. I don't really know, because I never met Doctor Ellington either, but - anyway, that's different. And now, with whatever happened to Dad... that's not the same, either. He was a part of my early years, and I remember him from when I was very little. That means I'm not stuck in a timeline where nothing I do matters. And that's... you're not as excited about this as I'd hoped." She looked at Tw'eak, who shook her head and shrugged, and her hands fell to her side. "I think that's part of what you mourned for so many years - in my time - you had him in your life but you'd never really known him at all."

"That's pretty much how I feel now," Tw'eak acknowledged.

"Right. But you didn't have seven years and a child of his to raise in this timeline, just the ...however long it was."

"I didn't really keep track."

"But that's my point. I didn't come back for him - I came back for you, to help you with what you need to do, and now I finally feel like maybe I have. That night... that awful night, on the Enterprise, when I didn't think I'd changed anything, and I gave in to my despair. You were right there for me."

Tw'eak fought the urge to tell Spera about the time she'd spent with Va'kel Shon that evening. "I was."

"I didn't feel like anything was changing. That gateway was the first sign of coming events being exactly the same, and we hadn't stopped it. Ever since then, I've been dreading the thought that my being here hasn't changed anything. This is the first time I really think that I've made the right kind of difference or maybe just started to, even. Like I said, that's a sort of awful thing to say when so many people are dead, including Dad, but I barely remember a world with him in it. Besides, he made his choice to step back from your relationship with him. I saw that clearly from the way he treated you."

Tw'eak remembered how that had hurt, and her head hung low. "Yeah."

"But whatever choice he made, whatever led to his death... we're free now. I know this isn't a recursive timeline. Thank God for that!"

Tw'eak looked up at Spera, impressed by her insights. "I suppose you're right. But I guess that's part of it. I thought I had let him go. I thought I had put him behind me. And then along he comes again, married this time, no less."

"But you helped her as well. I don't think Danielle holds anything against you."

"I wonder if that investigator from Risa got in touch with her."

"Oh, I'd imagine they have." Spera paused for a moment. "But I have a question of my own, for you."

"What?"

Spera brought Tw'eak's hands up to join with hers. "I want to know if, when you look at me, you see any sign there - of Dad, or of what's happened, or anything at all - that you regret."

Tw'eak looked at her daughter's face, taking in every detail, the whitish-blonde hair, the antennae which seemed slightly thicker at the base than hers, the facial features that were definitely Leo's - her chin, her cheekbones, the line of her jaw - and shook her head. "No."

"No?"

"Absolutely not. I certainly didn't expect you to happen - either in this timeline or in yours. But no. There is nothing about you, at all, which I would want to change."

Spera closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

She exhaled again, and smiled at her mother. "Okay, then."

"I look at you and I see myself, at your age, the way I wish I'd been. I was such a mess then. It's funny, being out with Dashii last night, I was remembering the way I'd used to be, the first couple years I was away from home."

"Which part - the time you almost failed Stellar Cartography?"

"I - how do-"

"Or the time you passed out in the big tree at the far end of the Academy commons?"

"How do you-"

Spera giggled, realizing she held the advantage. "Then there was one guy, what was his name, you were just madly in love with him. And you just had to have him."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I'm not saying."

"Wilson," Spera recalled after a moment. Tw'eak fought the urge to smile. "Wilson Shackleton," Spera continued. "Tall, blonde, gorgeous smile, wavy hair-"

"Why do we need to talk about this?"

"You used to tell me about them, all the time. What I was missing by not being at the Academy. I looked up a couple of the stories you told - you realize they were outright hazing, in certain cases, right? Some of them, I realize now, you probably should've reported to the-"

"Spera." Tw'eak smiled in spite of herself. "Hold on. How much did I tell you?"

"About what?"

"About... about Wilson."

"You mean the part where you were so desperate for his attention, and how he had that Bajoran girlfriend, so you got really sloppy drunk and-"

"Whoa, okay." Tw'eak raised a hand. "I told you the whole story."

"Yeah. I didn't know you were allowed to ushaan people on Starfleet premises."

"You're not." Tw'eak's half-smiled returned to her face. "I didn't tell you how I won?"

"And that he sided with her anyway? Oh yeah. I don't think he expected you to actually hurt her."

"I barely did!" Tw'eak protested. "It was just her achilles tendon. I tumbled past her, and down she went." She smiled. "Always works."

"Yeah."

"I just didn't expect him not to honour what it meant."

"Humans." Spera chuckled.

"But seriously, don't... don't squander this time on boys and revelry, okay?"

"I think I've done okay for myself to get myself this far, thank you very much." Spera's tone was almost mocking. "That makes one of us, at least."

"Hey, now. It took me a while but I settled in okay. Eventually."

"And those high tactical marks got you your first posting on the Enterprise. I know."

Tw'eak shrugged. "That's not something to be proud of?"

"Where I come from, the Enterprise is a big freighter, with kids on it and stuff, remember?" Spera laughed.

"Well, you're here now." Tw'eak looked fondly at her daughter. "And I'm really glad you are."

"Yeah, I bet you are. With me knowing all your secrets."

"Oh, I don't care. Most of that stuff's ancient history to me now. I'm embarrassed by who I was then. And even then, Wilson died years ago, defending the Delta Vega colony. Most of the people I knew then are either dead or on deep-space assignments. Once you get a set of these" - Tw'eak tapped her vice admiral's rank - "who you were doesn't count against you quite as much anymore. It's what you make of the time you've got."

"Or the temporal paradox you're not stuck in. Did I mention how happy I am about that?"

Tw'eak laughed and patted Spera on the leg. "Come on, let's get a quick cup of katheka and get back to the bridge."

"Alright." Spera stood up, and as Tw'eak made her way to her feet, Spera embraced her in a big hug. "I love you, Shreya."

"Love you too, kid," Tw'eak said after a moment while she returned the hug. "So glad you're with me."

"Me, too," came the reply. After a moment, Spera stepped back and ventured over to where the katheka was stored. "Aw, damn it!"

"What is it?"

"It's spilled all over the floor. The container must have fallen off the shelf during the battle."

Tw'eak laughed and shook her head. "Something else to blame those Borg for. Come on." She made her way back to the bridge, Spera close behind.

* * *

Tw'eak and Spera returned to the bridge. With a quick nod to Bianca, Tw'eak returned to the tactical console.

"Wait a second, Shreya," Spera said, stepping next to her mother. "There's one thing I don't get."

"What?"

"That story, about the guy, and the ushaan... that's not like you."

"What do you mean?" Tw'eak smiled. "I'm plenty competitive."

"Well, yeah, but not about... y'know."

Tw'eak took a half-step back from the console. "You mean she never - I mean, I never told you why that ended up happening?"

"No."

Tw'eak smiled. "Then I'm not going to tell you."

This was enough to perk Bianca's ears. "I'd be curious to know what you two were talking about."

Startled, Spera turned to face the chief science officer. "Oh - just a story of Shreya's. From her Academy days."

"Really? That does sound interesting."

"No, it doesn't," Tw'eak stated.

"I bet it had all the usual hallmarks... intrigue, drama, maybe even romance?"

"Yup," Spera acknowledged.

"We are not doing this," Tw'eak insisted.

"Oh." Bianca nodded. "I see. We'll have to speculate, then. Or perhaps a quick search through the Starfleet Academy archives might be in order?"

Tw'eak turned to face Bianca. "You're not going to make me order you not to conduct that search, are you?"

Bianca smiled sweetly. "Disobeying that order would be all too easy. If you could even prove I'd undertaken the search."

Tw'eak looked to Spera, who was barely able to keep from laughing. Resigning with a sigh, Tw'eak let her shoulders fall. "Alright, but this doesn't leave the bridge." Tw'eak looked at Bianca. "Not even your sister hears about this."

Bianca nodded. "Don't worry, lots of things she doesn't know."

Tw'eak looked down. "Junior year. No, it was sophomore. I... one day, in between classes, I was reading someplace, and this song came in my head. I didn't think anyone was around, so I just started singing."

"You?" Bianca was astonished. "I have a hard time picturing you doing that."

"She used to sing to me all the time," Spera noted. "She has a really beautiful voice, you know. Alto, right?"

"It's contralto," Bianca corrected. "But your voice always sounded mezzo-soprano to me."

"It is. And I would've sang to you just like my zhavey and my charan did. All part of a typical Andorian upbringing," Tw'eak observed. "A lot of our legends and lore come down to us through song. Not like the Klingons do it - more like epic poems set to repeated cadences... like a sort of myth-chant. Very powerful when it's done well... and he sure does it well." She looked up at Spera. "My charan, I mean. Nobody tells our stories like he does. We'll have to make a point of having you see him do that before long."

"I'd love to."

"You're stalling," Bianca pointed out.

"Yeah, of course I am. You would be too."

"So clearly someone overheard you singing."

"Yeah. Captain Vargas. The Academy musical theatre director. He just happens to be around the place to see his protege, who's playing the lead in his upcoming production of Les Miserables."

"Oh my God," Bianca said after a moment. "You were in Les Mis?"

"I ...yeah, I was."

"In the Academy? This is so strange."

"What is?"

"When I was in the Academy - obviously this would've been years later, but we staged a number of productions. We did Kiss Me Kate, and My Fair Lady, and - oh my God, Phantom. But my senior year, we did Les Mis. I'll never forget that production." Bianca looked up at Tw'eak, dark eyes full of pride. "I was Eponine."

Tw'eak's eyes widened. "No."

"I was. Everyone said I was the best Eponine they'd ever seen at the Academy."

"Did they."

"Well, I can't say for sure." Bianca shrugged with false modesty. "It's not like I ever met anyone else who played Eponine at the Academy Theatre."

Tw'eak brought her chin up slightly, clearing her throat. "Yes," she said slowly, "as it turns out, you have."

Bianca's eyes sharply came up to meet Tw'eak's - as did Spera's. "You mean-?"

"Yes. Not that it happened on purpose, but that's how the story goes - there was some sort of drama, and the original cadet that Vargas had in mind for the role didn't work out, so he turned to the choir and asked if anyone else could come forward to play the role. I figured, hey, why not? And sure enough I earned the part. It was a lot of work." Tw'eak leaned against the tactical console. "But that's how that all happened. Wilson Shackleton... was Marius. So we were together a lot. I knew he liked me. But they made me wear this damned bulky brown jacket, and this ridiculous cap-"

"Oh my God! You were!" Bianca giggled. "I still have my cap, you know. In my quarters. I've brought it along on every ship -oh God, I hope it's still there!" Bianca put a hand to her mouth. "My quarters were on the starboard side. I hope nothing's happened to it!"

Tw'eak smiled to see Bianca behaving more like Aurora for once. "I'm sure it's fine."

"You're probably right. Besides, I'd have to leave the bridge before the end of this story to hear it. So what happened next?"

"She fought an ushaan," Spera replied.

"You what? That's not in the script."

"Not exactly. But we had a cast party after the closing night of our run, and Prelin - the Bajoran girl who played Cosette - she picked the wrong time to provoke me."

"How did she do that?"

"She was dating Marius," Spera replied.

"Is this - can I not tell my own story?"

"Sorry."

Tw'eak gave Spera a mock-withering look. "Anyway. Yes. We ...how does that human phrase go again? We stepped inside?"

"Outside," Bianca corrected.

"Thank you. I challenged her to ushaan. So there we were at three in the morning, both drunk and desperate for the same man, steel blades clashing, when I tumbled past her and nicked the back of her leg. Lucky for me it worked - that move made my stomach turn, so while Wilson tended to Prelin's leg and called for medical attention, I was in the rose bushes, throwing up."

Bianca put a hand over her chuckling mouth. "That is too precious. I can't- I don't know what's harder to believe, the thought of you singing on stage, or the thought of you and another girl in an Andorian deathmatch over him."

"Oh, it was the Andorian ale. It's why I rarely touch the stuff - the genuine stuff, I mean, not the synthehol version. Always leads to..." Tw'eak remembered the last time she had tasted Andorian ale, the night she had spent with Leo which had followed, and looked up at Spera. "Well, almost always leads to bad decisions."

Spera gave Tw'eak a puzzled look. "We don't want to know, right?"

"Who says I'd tell you?"

Bianca shook her head. "You must have gotten in so much trouble for that."

"No. Not really. I mean, yes, for the standards of the time, but I wish that was the kind of 'trouble' we had to worry about. There was a reprimand, and a bit of harsh talk, threats of what they could do... that sort of thing. I don't know why nothing came of it. Didn't even figure into my permanent record." Tw'eak shrugged. "My best guess is that one of my parents had something to do with it, although none of them ever said anything about it. And with the production over, Prelin went back to her life, and I went back to mine." She looked at the viewscreen, despite it being empty. "As for Marius... Wilson died onboard one of the ships defending the Vega colony."

Spera still looked puzzled. "Not sure I follow."

"The Borg were responsible for the destruction of Vega colony," Bianca replied.

"And the presumed deaths of many, many colonists," Tw'eak added. Including the family of Va'kel Shon, she didn't add.

"Nothing like that - the drama, I mean, not the Borg - nothing happened during our production run, although I seem to remember the director, near the beginning of rehearsals, making a big fuss about 'conduct'... more than I'd heard even in other productions."

"Probably my fault," Tw'eak conceded. "Needless to say, I was never cast in anything else again. Which was just as well. I've never really enjoyed being onstage." She gestured towards the command chair. "You more or less have to be, to sit there."

"Without the singing," Spera noted.

"Obviously. It's one thing to play the role when you are the commander of a starship. It's another to be... what would Eponine even call herself?"

"French," Bianca deadpanned.

"You know what I mean. She was just a sort of hanger-on, the sort of person who history happens near - or happens to, more like. She was everything I would never wanted to have been."

"Oh, I found her fascinating. I liked to research my roles, so I read a lot about her. Did you know-?"

The question was interrupted by the sound of the turbolift opening. Leaning against its interior, and stepping onto the bridge with more of a lurch than a proper comportment, Dashii came into view. Through bleary eyes, her uniform only partly sealed shut, her voice sounded hoarse as she grumbled out, "Reporting for duty, Admiral."

Tw'eak blew out her cheeks. "Not like that, you're not."

"Oh, shut up." Dashii steadied herself against the far end of the tactical console. "I have a hangover that feels like the Final Darkness is in my head, and you expect me to look prim and proper?" She looked around. "What the hell happened to this place?"

"You - you mean you didn't notice?"

"Notice what?" Dashii's face registered alarm. "Uzaveh's name, is that crewman dead?"

Tw'eak gave in to the urge to laugh. "Only my zhi would sleep through a warp core detonation."

"I didn't sleep through anything," Dashii protested, an outwardly-pointed finger insistent. "I was passed out. There's a huge difference." Her pointed finger came to her temple, massaging it. "Damn, my head is pounding."

Spera was laughing, too. "Come over to the science station, there's a ship's systems display. We'll explain everything."

"I'll see if I can get something out of the med locker for that darkness of yours," Bianca added with a smile.

* * *

Some hours passed idly by - Tw'eak had lost count of how long, though there hadn't been much to do. A clearing crew had taken Gambles' remains to the shuttlebay for identification some time earlier. From that same shuttlebay, the shuttle relay had been deployed. Aurora had not returned to the bridge, but with Dashii's assistance, Tw'eak had managed to send a general distress signal across the subspace relays nearby. When no one had come tor respond, the options had been limited to 'sit' and 'wait' as a result. Not that Tw'eak minded. It gave Doc and her staff time to work, and it also wasn't like Warspite was going anywhere in the meantime.

"Anyone else getting kind of hungry?" Bianca asked from the science station.

"Yeah," Spera acknowledged from tactical. "That's not a bad idea."

"I agree." Tw'eak got up from the captain's chair, where she had been completing her after-action report. "If you'd all like to use the conference room for dinner, please go ahead."

"Are the replicators working in there?" Bianca wondered.

Spera smiled. "I'm gonna go find out. I'm so hungry."

Dashii rubbed her stomach. "Not sure I'm settled enough for food."

"Might be the best thing for you," Bianca replied. "Come on."

The turbolift opened, allowing Octavia to step onto the bridge. "Captain," Bianca said to her, "we were just going to go get something to eat."

Octavia nodded at her. "Please go ahead."

"Right." Nodding in remembrance that her commanding officer needed to regenerate rather than eat, Bianca turned away from her station and headed to the conference room with Spera and Dashii.

Spera turned. "What about you, Shreya?" she asked.

"In a bit." Tw'eak held up her padd. "I want to get this done. Octavia and I can look after things here for now."

"Sure."

"If Aurora comes up," Bianca asked, "could you ask her to join us?" She shook her head. "Never mind, I'll just use the comms."

Spera looked to Octavia. "Sorry about the ship."

Octavia tilted her head slightly. "I do not understand."

"The damage, I mean. From the Borg. I just... wanted to say I'm sorry our plan didn't work."

Tw'eak foresaw a lengthy dissertation from Octavia and intervened. "She's trying to say she regrets that you lost your command like this."

"I cannot devise a method of losing one's command that would not be regrettable. Perhaps in sacrifice, as a final act of defiance." Octavia shook her head. "An inefficient use of a starship, however, at such great risk. The odds of survival would... not be favourable."

"They weren't this time either. But we did what we could."

"Indeed. The Borg we faced were implacable, their energies devoted solely to destruction of that which they did not intend to assimilate. Our forces may be doomed regardless of their chances of succeeding."

Spera was unimpressed. "You mean the Borg will probably win."

"I am unable to ascertain a precise percentage of likelihood, however, it should be noted that our best efforts were completely ineffective. A larger application of such force is not likely to alter the outcome."

Tw'eak turned to Spera. "You'd best go get something to eat."

"Yeah," Spera replied as she turned to go. "Sounds like we'll be here a while."

This left Tw'eak standing next to Octavia. The two stood in silence for a moment, before the liberated Borg spoke up. "Perhaps it is my turn to apologize?"

"What for?"

Octavia brushed her thin hair from her face. "My... indiscretion in discussing our potential outcomes with Commander Spera."

"She comes from worse, if it's any consolation."

"Regrettably, I find very little... consolation in this entire scenario."

Tw'eak nodded. "Indeed. If we'd had more time, there were a few other things I would've liked to have tried. But they got us before we had the chance."

"I sincerely hope that you are not feeling apologetic for your role in the combat."

"Me? No..." Tw'eak's eyes ventured forward across the bloodied carpet. "You never get used to seeing dead crew, to blown-out bulkheads, the board lit up with damage reports... You're not supposed to, right?"

"Indeed. Yet one must be prepared for the eventuality."

"The... Good choice of words. 'The eventuality.' Certainly seems that way lately, doesn't it. Can't stay six days out of port without having to be towed back."

"I have reviewed your tactics and overall approach in the assault phase."

Tw'eak looked up, surprised. "When did you have time for that?"

"While treating the burned leg of Lieutenant Masters."

"Ah. Right. Multi-tasking as usual."

"Of course." Octavia raised her hands as she spoke, as though her fist represented the cube, and the fingers of her hand together drove towards it like a wedge. "Our initial approach was at a vector intended to prevent its escaping into warp speed. We then established contact with the Independence, which brought us-"

Tw'eak's mind drifted to the sight of a blinking light on the console. "Hold that thought." She went to tactical and read an incoming hail. "Well, I'll be-" She answered the hail. "Warspite, Admiral Sh'abbas here."

"Tw'eak?" It was the voice of Va'Kel Shon. "You're all right?"

"A little worse for wear across the ship, but yeah. Do you have contact with the fleet?"

"We're just on our way back from the sharp end, actually."

Tw'eak's antennae narrowed with anxiety. "Tell me you got them."

"Yeah. The Borg cube has been neutralized."

"Neutralized?" Tw'eak looked up at Octavia.

"Long story. But you made it through."

"Happy to say yes. We're in rather dire straits over here though."

"I understand. Starfleet's dispatched a number of auxiliary vessels to aid with repair and return to spacedock. They'll be here in thirty minutes or so to assist with wounded and to take Warspite under tow for the return to Utopia Planitia. But they've also asked me to have you beamed aboard, for immediate return to Earth."

A summons to return to the Federation's capital world aboard its flagship. This sounded serious. Tw'eak waited a moment before inquiring further. "May I ask why?"

"Not something I can discuss over channel. Sorry."

Tw'eak sighed. "One of those."

"Afraid so."

She turned to Octavia. "You can handle everything from here?"

"Of course," came the reply.

"And you'll tell Spera?"

"She may be somewhat disappointed to miss the chance to see the Enterprise."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Nowhere she hasn't gone before."

"I see. Very well, then."

"Captain Shon, I'm standing by for transport."

"Transporter room, energize."

Tw'eak gave her friend a small smile, frantic concerns about the unexpected twist in the situation playing upon her mind. The blue wave of dematerialization commenced, and with it, she left behind the crippled ship she had so proudly rode into battle, and the friends she had brought along into harm's way for what she hoped to be the last time, however unlikely the odds of that.


	66. Part IV, Chapter 15

The guest quarters to which Tw'eak was shown were magnificent, but perhaps most importantly, they were clean and well-lit. The long hours under emergency lighting and power had made her felt like she was emerging to the surface for the first time when she had beamed aboard the Enterprise-F not long before. Now, taking a long view of the room from the doorway, she let out a sigh.

"What is it?" Behind her, the escorting presence of Va'kel Shon also helped her relax, to feel at home despite not being onboard the ship where she felt she belonged.

"Just... thinking." Tw'eak took a look from the replicator and seating area to the left, around towards another area with sumptuous couches and glass coffee tables, extending to the far corner where a rather sizable desk and a doorway to the adjacent bedroom could be seen. "My surviving crew will be bunking up three to a room and here I am with you."

"Do you really think of them that way?" Shon asked as the door swooshed shut behind him. "I mean, you're a vice admiral now. You have more than one ship to call your own."

"That's true, but... Warspite is special somehow. I can't explain it. I've seen her through since they asked me to oversee the early design troubles we had with the Avenger class. It's almost what I figured having a child might be like."

"A child with tritanium skin, quantum torpedoes, and the ability to leap between stars at will," Shon quipped.

"Not at will, come to think of it. Needs a helmsman."

Shon smiled, then moved to another question. "What about your actual daughter? How's she?"

"Spera? She's... would you like to sit down?"

"I'm due back on the bridge any time."

Tw'eak's eyes twinkled. "You're not afraid, are you?"

"No." Shon shuffled in place slightly. "Maybe a little."

She took a few steps towards him. "Tell me when you'd like me to stop."

"That's the problem," he laughed. "I don't think I would." He lowered his head, his antennae inclining towards each other slowly as he spoke. "I wasn't happy they sent me back this way to retrieve you, once the Borg had gone again."

"Yes, the Borg." Tw'eak was now standing a mere few inches from Shon. She took a short step forward. "Let's come back to them later. You're not happy to see me."

"I don't know. It's all a bit complicated."

"That's what I was afraid you'd say." Tw'eak put her hands together in front of her, deliberately showing him where they were without making contact. "I only wanted to help."

"And you did - I mean, I care about you, Tw'eak. Always have. This isn't going to change the respect or the appreciation I have for you."

Shon's words fell on Tw'eak's heart as if each were its own torpedo. "This is the part where we find each other in the 'friend zone', isn't it."

"Hold on, now. That's not what I'm saying."

"But what you said... sounds like it to me."

"No. Just saying - we have known each other a long time, that's all."

"Right."

"Honestly?" Shon looked aggrieved. "I... I don't know what it is that I would want from you right now. You're the same old Tw'eak you've always been, the one I've always been proud to know, but you're Admiral Tw'eak now, and-"

"Hey, just Vice Admiral, thanks, let's not go promoting me again."

"See, that's what I mean. Your career is on this great upward trajectory right now. I wouldn't want this to complicate things for us if you were put in a position where you had the Enterprise in your task force, even temporarily."

Tw'eak looked up at Shon, her eyes sparkling. "Do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Put your duty ahead of your heart."

"Well, most of the time. I don't think you understand what it's like - when we were called to answer the distress signal from Vega colony, knowing who was down there... every decision I made that day, I went over and over in the weeks that followed, like a court-martial in my head... I'm still not comfortable with the fact that I was safely aboard a starship, cannons at the ready, while my family was defenseless against the very enemy the Defiant-class was designed to fight."

"But- oh..." Tw'eak fought the urge to reach out to Shon. "I want to know if you'd be okay with me..." She extended a hand into the space between them, raising her arms as if to embrace him.

Shon did not respond verbally, merely pulling Tw'eak in towards him. He held her for a moment, and she returned the embrace, before the two of them came to an intimate distance, sufficient enough for her to speak.

"I understand how hard it's been for you. This war's been so terrible, and with the Iconians seemingly behind it all - and soon to make everything so much worse - it just feels like we're never going to find peace again."

"I know. And I've talked to Phillipa about this countless times, but I just... I'm scared to put that much meaning into anyone else ever again. I have no idea what might happen to you, and we've seen that fear can be exploited."

"I understand how you feel." Tw'eak clenched her teeth. "Someone just murdered Leo back on Risa, you know."

"Starfleet told me. They said you hadn't yet been cleared as a suspect."

"There wasn't time for them to clear me. I meant to answer their questions, it's just... there was a battle to wage."

Shon laughed. "Oh, is that all."

"Yeah."

"But... you-"

"No, I didn't."

Shon looked relieved. "Good." He shook his head. "I mean - good, I was right."

"You'd know if I'd killed him. I wouldn't feel... like I do. But I understand how you feel - about not wanting to get too close to anyone, knowing you could lose them. It's the opposite of how I do this. I usually care more about the ones I know I'm going to lose. I'd rather regret the chance I lost than the chance I never took the risk of taking."

"Makes sense."

"While we're on the subject of risks, I'll tell you what... Captain." She gave him a slight squeeze. "Duty and honour always being first and foremost between us... why don't we go back to your place?"

Shon looked alarmed. "I don't understand."

Tw'eak's face wore a wry smile. "Your ready room, silly. We're at warp on a course to somewhere, probably Earth?"

"That's correct."

"It won't take us long to get there. And I do want to find out what happened with these alternate Borg."

"That's simple enough to clear up - one of our away teams led an assault that disabled their N-dimensional resonance emitter, and that-"

Tw'eak placed a finger over Shon's lips. "Shh... let's continue this conversation, with your senior officers present, and with this away team of yours present, whether that happens in your ready room, or on your bridge, wherever. I want to hear it from them. I want them to be proud of what they've done, and I well remember how Admiral So-and-So saying 'well done' meant so much more to me before I was of command rank."

"Alright. That's a pretty good idea, actually."

"Finally using this 'admiral' thing for a good reason? I agree." Tw'eak's smile slowly spread across her face. "But that's not all. Maybe... if there's time, and if you want it, too, after we've been to your place..." Tw'eak looked over her shoulder, then up at Shon with an impish grin. "Then we come back to mine."

Shon gave a shy, restrained laugh, one which showed his anxiety with the idea. "I don't know."

"No obligations, of course. Maybe a little dinner first."

"That sounds nice, actually." Shon pressed Tw'eak up against himself and gave her a firm embrace. For her part, Tw'eak pulled in close, placing a soft kiss upon the rugged lines of Shon's cheek.

Moments thereafter, the two of them separated, simultaneously (if unintentionally) adjusted their uniform tunics, and had a laugh at each other for doing so.

"Did you just-?"

Shon laughed. "Yeah. Same as you did."

"Uzaveh's name... we really are both bonded to our duty, aren't we."

"Something like that, I suppose. Better than nothing."

Tw'eak took Shon's hand in hers, halting his motion towards the door. "Va'kel... there's one last thing I want you to know."

"What?"

"I know I made a joke of it, but I had nothing to do with Leo's death. I'm..." She looked down. "I'm not sure how to feel, knowing he's gone. The man I thought I knew was gone long before. He made a complete ass of himself, embarrassed us both on Risa with his stupid antics. I would've liked to have spoken to him again. Just to know if he really meant it."

"I understand. There are a lot of people I would've liked one more conversation with, over the years... if not more." Shon reached over with his free hand, tilting her face towards him. "I would never want you to be one of them."

"Same for you." Tw'eak pursed her lips and furrowed her brows, frustrated. "It's so strange - I would think nothing of killing anyone who posed a threat to me, to Spera ...to you. In fact, I've probably killed dozens of people for the simple fact that they had a gun pointed at me, or that their ship targeted mine. One death on Risa doesn't seem all that significant in the face of the number of people whom I've watched die, or killed, over the years. And yet, even if I'd been there, even if I'd been given the chance... I wouldn't have pulled the trigger. As stupid as it is to admit, I still love him, even now that he's gone. I want to believe he still loved me too."

"I'd bet that's what his killers were counting upon. I remember you telling me you'd had problems with the Orions."

"It'd be pretty brazen for even the Syndicate to attack and kill someone on Risa."

"True, but they've put a price on your head, you know. Kyona mentioned it to me a few months ago. There's a lot of latinum involved. I'd imagine it's part of the reason Starfleet sent us."

Tw'eak gave Shon a suspicious look. "To keep them from getting to me - or to keep me from going after them?"

Shon shrugged. "I wish I could answer that. I'd assume the former, but Starfleet only knows." He tapped his commbadge. "Shon to Kyona."

A pleasant female Caitian voice became audible. "Kyona here, Captain."

"Please have the members of our Hazard Team join the admiral and I on the bridge."

"Happy to, sir. Kyona out." The commbadge deactivated.

"Back to business," Shon said.

"For now." Tw'eak patted Shon on the shoulder. "But, like I said - no obligations, alright?"

Shon touched Tw'eak's hand with his. "Sure."

"I mean it," Tw'eak insisted, her voice earnest.

Shon nodded, his hand falling away. "I know you do. They'll be assembled on the bridge by now."

"Really? They're that fast?"

"Oh yeah. They scare me sometimes. They're that good."

"Looking forward to meeting them, then," Tw'eak said, stepping past Shon. "C'mon, let's do this."

* * *

Returning some hours later, after an officers' conference that featured a detailed de-briefing on the Enterprise's work in preventing the Borg super-cube (as they had taken to calling it) from striking further Federation targets, and a dinner reception that followed, once again Tw'eak found herself walking down the corridor towards her quarters in the company of Va'kel Shon.

"They're really something, that Hazard team," she said after a few steps from the turbolift.

"They do excellent work," Shon replied.

"And so young. Were we ever that young?"

"Doesn't feel like it anymore, does it."

"No. I look at them and I wonder if any Starfleet captain, or admiral, ever looked at me like that, when I was that age."

"Someone must have. We didn't all get the Enterprise as our first assignment."

Tw'eak smiled, glancing around. "You made up for it, I think. We all thought we should be captaining the Enterprise straight after graduation. Even James Kirk didn't get to do that."

"Fair point," Shon said with a laugh. They arrived at the door of Tw'eak's quarters.

"I wonder if Spera might be a good fit for that sort of thing."

"What?"

"Hazard team duty."

"She would have to demonstrate all the proficiencies. They're very specific qualifications."

"No doubt. I'm sure she could earn them. Not sure she'll have time to, though."

Shon seemed to hesitate with each word. "There are also requirements around... resilience and personal character..."

Tw'eak looked up at Shon sharply. "You don't think she'd qualify?"

"How... how is she doing, anyway?"

"It was a momentary lapse, Va'kel. They're depressingly common. It's just, in her case, she thinks the fate of the galaxy rests upon her. She's not wrong - the intelligence she's provided us on the Iconians, their Heralds, all that comes along with the apocalypse... we've gained vital time in preparing weapons for the war that's coming. It's just a question of time, at this point."

"But will she be ready?" Shon shook his head. "What I mean is, do you really think that someone who came from a universe where a Herald patrol meant flight or doom... is she really going to be able to handle operations, or combat, when those same Herald ships arrive?"

"Will any of us be? I don't know if that applies strictly to Spera."

"You're probably right. And I see your point about the intel - Starfleet tends to do better when we know the threats in advance. We should be able to have our defenses upgraded to withstand the initial Herald assault, assuming the Klingons don't cause too much trouble."

"Or the Undine," Tw'eak noted. "They have planet-killing ships waiting in fluidic space, apparently."

"Can't leave them out of the party," Shon quipped. "Anyway, I should get going."

"You're not going to-?"

"I'm afraid I can't. We're only a few hours from Earth now, and I have to oversee crew transfer reports and cargo manifests before we dock. We're overdue for replenishment as it is. With all the work to be done in the Jouret system, there hasn't been time."

Tw'eak nodded, disappointed. "I understand. The life of a ship's captain." She snickered. "I miss it."

"I keep telling myself I will, too. It's the only thing that keeps me sane, some days. How am I ever going to miss 'paperwork'?" Shon patted her on the arm. "It's been good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too." Before she could make any further move, however, Shon turned and walked off, at a brisk pace, nodding to a lieutenant as he passed. Tw'eak watched him vanish around the corner of the corridor and, feeling somewhat abandoned, ventured into her quarters.

"Lights," she said to the computer. Instantly, the room illuminated, what before had been massive space now feeling almost like being on Andoria again. She had, in her youth, often explored ice caves on the surface with her sisters - gargantuan halls of air under sheer surfaces, sometimes with a ceiling of icicles threatening to plummet guillotine-like at the slightest sound. These quarters reminded her of such - the curvature of the walls, the sparsity of the decor, and an unmistakable perception of ice. It was enough to make her heart race, the metabolic particularities of her people kicking in, strictly due to the comparison.

She arched an eyebrow in remembrance of a potential companion. "Pal?" she asked aloud. "I don't suppose you're here?" After a moment of further frosty silence in the quarters, her forlorn hope now thoroughly exhausted, Tw'eak gave in to the feeling of betrayed isolation she had been fighting. Even the Jem'Hadar security chief she had relied upon in other such moments of threat as at least being someone around hadn't made his way to the Enterprise to oversee her safety. She wanted to curse him for being absent, but thought better of it. After all, she had ordered him to assist with the wounded. He probably hadn't learned of her departure until some time later.

Indeed, Spera would have been much the same, still enjoying a much-needed break when the call from the Enterprise had come for Tw'eak to beam aboard. She wondered if Shon had been too harsh on her daughter - in fact, it had been her initial, if biased, reaction, to his words, though his tone had been delicate, one of concern rather than criticism. She had meant what she said in reply. She was sincerely uncertain any of them would be able to fight the Iconians and win - herself included. Even if they did, the price of victory would likely be enormous. As she moved towards the bedroom, for a few hours' rest, the thought crossed her mind that pretty guest quarters and luxurious starships like this one would soon be a thing of the past. Best to make what use of them she could while she had the time.

* * *

A few hours later, Tw'eak found herself awakened by what she was sure had been the sound of the exterior door opening and closing. She rose from her bed slowly, crept towards the doorway linking the bedroom to the rest of the quarters, and while she had the sense that something was not right, she could not distinctively figure on anything. Her antennae were of little use in a strange room - she had no idea of what was normal interference and what was a threat. "Lights!" she called out after a moment. Quickly scanning the room, she noted no irregularities or clearly discernible threats. And the door was definitely closed. She moved towards that door now, and went out into the corridor. As she emerged, she startled an ensign who was passing by.

"Is everything all right?" the ensign, a Pakled female asked. Her massive eyebrows were both well-elevated at the sight of a vice admiral in pajamas.

"Yes, I..." Tw'eak thought quickly. "I seem to be sleepwalking again." She put a hand to her head, hoping the ensign would have no knowledge of Andorian physiology or sleep psychology, and thus be able to determine whether 'sleepwalking' was typical of her people. Tw'eak herself, of course, knew that it wasn't.

"Oh." The ensign seemed more interested in walking away than debating plausible narrative.

"As you were," Tw'eak said quickly, ushering the ensign along on her way. As the ensign turned to go, she stepped back into her fully lit quarters, the door swishing shut behind her. Tw'eak closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Time, computer?"

"The time is currently oh-four-forty-seven hours."

"How much longer until we arrive at Earth Spacedock?"

"Present ship's location is Earth Spacedock."

Tw'eak winced. They must already have arrived. She had slept - not long at all, as it happened, but-

"Don't tell me you were going out dressed like that," Tw'eak suddenly heard from the doorway to the bedroom. She took a half-step back, startled, when the sight of Corbin, Section 31 operative, clad in an iridescent black-green outfit, came into view. Corbin stepped out into the quarters. "Sorry to startle you. Well, not really. But it seems we have quite a lot to talk about."

"Oh, really." Tw'eak rubbed her forehead. "Would you believe this really isn't a good time?"

"Never is with you, spitfire. All the hustle and bustle of getting your ship blown up yet again. Don't you ever get tired of ruining perfectly space-worthy starships?"

"At least I'm only responsible for damaging starships, not the Federation as a whole."

"I'm sure that was meant to be some sort of witty repartee on your part, but you lost me there."

"I do what I do in defense of the Federation and its good name in the universe."

"And I don't?" Corbin looked slightly wounded. "Well."

"Not even close - hard to think of any group more responsible for damaging the reputations of the Federation and Starfleet alike."

"Oh! Oh, now I get it." Corbin let himself laugh, if ironically. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Well. I didn't think Andorians did comedy. Mostly epic singalongs and mortal combat, in my experience."

"What the hell do you want, anyway?"

"All in good time, spitfire, all in good time. Did you know that your personnel record doesn't indicate you have any children? You should update that."

"I don't see what that has to do-"

"Starfleet prides itself on accurate records-keeping. That is, of course, unless we need something removed. In which case, Starfleet prides itself on keeping the most accurate records-keeping available. It's a subtle difference, but you get more comfortable with those subtleties the older you get."

Tw'eak threw up her hands and sat down in a chair, crossing her legs. She sat silently for a moment, her eyes unfocused, noticing in her peripheral vision as Corbin took a step slightly to his left. A few more beats passed. "Continue, please," she indicated after at least a minute of the two of them in this sort of standoff.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Tw'eak looked up at him. "Being professional."

"Oh, I see. That's your defense, is it?"

"I have no need to defend myself against the likes of you." She gave a half-smile. "Although you're welcome to find out what that means if you'd dare."

"The practical application of hand-to-hand combat skills might be immensely satisfying for one such as yourself - after all, as I said, it's the Andorian way - but I have no interest in your offered demonstration, sorry."

"Don't mention it." Tw'eak looked away again, returning to stony silence.

Corbin took a few steps, in no particular direction, yet Tw'eak refused to pay him any attention. She raised a hand and looked at the cuticle of one of her fingernails, in need of a bit of repair. She ran the adjacent fingertip against it and saw a small bead of blood form at its base, then wondered how that had happened. A few moments passed before she looked up at Corbin in disgust. "Look, you're the one who has things to say. Either say them or get going."

"That's what you think. I'm here to lecture you."

"No, I know you're going to lecture me. It's about all you're good for."

"Well, perhaps. But that's because I want you to understand that there's more to this United Federation of Planets, that you claim to believe in, than just starships and landing parties. Decisions need to be made. Well before a starship gets to a world, well before Captain Good Intentions can be involved, we need to know the threats to the Federation, and sometimes, we need to act."

Tw'eak gave Corbin a smarmy look. "I told you this would be a lecture."

"It wouldn't have to be if you'd just accept that I'm right. It takes exceptional sorts of people - the kind you are - to do what we do. To do what needs doing. You'll see in time that these 'lectures', as you call them, aren't just words said in the night. My organization exists because people like you make it happen. It also exists to protect the Federation from people like you, wilfully blind to the fact that the universe doesn't align to your moral compass."

Tw'eak scratched her stomach. "Could you get to the point already? I'm getting hungry, and if you don't hurry you're going to make me late for work."

Corbin chuckled. "That sense of humour again. Perhaps you won't be laughing so hard when I tell you that I know precisely who it was that killed Leo de Salaberry."

This brought Tw'eak out of her passive resistance. She successfully resisted the urge to break eye contact with the spot on the wall she had selected. Instead she merely raised an eyebrow. "I've heard that name before somewhere," she said after a moment, her antennae curling slightly, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"Don't be coy. I know everything. Your daughter had to have two parents, after all. You're not so arrogant as to clone yourself - nor would that doctor friend of yours have offered her support if you were. How many tries did it take for your bouncing baby with the telepathic powers to finally be brought into this world? Well, not this world, exactly - after all, the plans have changed, haven't they? 'Shirley Ellington and Kim Hewson are happy to announce the birth of their daughter,' I'm sure the announcement will read. If it gets that far."

Tw'eak slowly allowed her increasingly moist eyes to cross to meet Corbin's. "Is that a threat?"

"Oh, you'd like that, if I told you we were baby killers. Atrocities on exhibition for your viewing enjoyment, courtesy of my organization. But we're not in that sort of business."

"Really. Even if that baby became the next Khan Singh, or Hakeev?"

"Too much like temporal incursion. Nasty business, that. Not our sort of business either."

"Your business is none of mine. Why don't we go back to Leo?"

"Good question. Why didn't you?" Tw'eak blinked at Corbin's inquiry. "Go back to him, I mean. It's a fair question, spitfire. You wanted a man in your life - and there he was."

Tw'eak grimaced, looking away. "We weren't compatible."

"But you must have been, at one point. Really compatible, enough to conceive. Maybe not in this timeline - certainly not anymore in this timeline."

"I thought you just said you don't deal in temporal incursions."

"No, but we deal with them. Sela, for instance. Whatever's happened to her was of interest to the Iconians, as well you know. But well before she disappeared during that fiasco you and the Reman resistance presided over... we knew that she'd only come into existence because of a temporal incursion involving the Enterprise-C. To think how much could've been avoided if only that universe's Jean-Luc Picard had disallowed their Tasha Yar from returning with that vessel. But now his mistake is the universe's problem." He narrowed his eyes. "Can you think of any other ambitious, timeline-hopping young women whom the universe might find to be a problem?"

"You're suggesting Spera could become something like Sela. You're insane."

"Perhaps. Only time will tell. But your relationship, the one that led to her... never flourished in this timeline. The pressures of parenthood must have gotten to him, I suppose. Or maybe to you."

"You'll forgive me if I fail to see how that's any of your business."

"That's where we differ - your business is very much mine as well. As I said, threats to the Federation and its well-being require people like us to take whatever measures are necessary to defend it. Which is why my organization authorized agents to neutralize de Salaberry."

Tw'eak's eyes widened. "You - you're serious."

"Oh yes. I don't want to get into it, but his little flotilla out there was proving to be a real problem for us."

Tw'eak couldn't keep her head from shaking. "You're insane. How could you possibly justify murdering him?"

"Calling it 'murder' is so - I thought you'd be happy to hear the news. After all, that scene you two made the last time you were together... so unlike Risa, wouldn't you say."

"A scene I regret. Profoundly. Even more so now that you've had him killed."

"Again - you disappoint me." Corbin shook his head. "I wish you could understand, I really do. But you two were so much alike - do-gooders with no sense of the real difference between right and wrong. Not that it matters now."

It was Tw'eak's turn to shake her head. "You're wrong. I have people, they're here right now-"

Corbin took two steps towards Tw'eak. "They'll get nowhere. We've seen to that." He looked down at his hands, gesturing angrily. "Again, if only you could embrace a less narrow vision-"

This, however, was as far as Corbin got. From behind him, stepping out from his shroud, emerged Pal, in his hands the long handle of a kar'takin polearm. He brought the butt end of it across the back of Corbin's head, knocking the Section 31 man to the ground. Holding the polearm with one hand, he reached over to tap the communications button on the bedroom doorway console. "Security to admiral's quarters!"

Tw'eak was on her feet in a moment. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"I came through the doorway, some time earlier," Pal replied. "I am sorry. He was too close to the wall. I had to be certain."

"No, no, not that - it's all right. But that was you, when the door opened earlier?"

"Yes. I should explain - with the captain's permission, I followed in a shuttle as soon as I heard you had left the Warspite. I arrived at Earth Spacedock before the Enterprise, and beamed aboard once this ship had docked. Again, I apologize - I was told you would be asleep." He looked down at Corbin's unconscious form. "There was much I had not expected."

Tw'eak smiled. "Pal, I could kiss you."

Pal seemed slightly disgusted by the notion. "That would not be proper, Admiral."

"Never - never mind." She looked down at Corbin. "Looks like he got that combat demonstration anyway."

"I sincerely hope my application of force was not excessive."

Tw'eak looked over at Pal. "Would you care if it was?"

"Yes! My people pride ourselves on such things."

Smiling, Tw'eak fought the urge to kick Corbin while he was down. "Point taken."

The door flew open, and several red-shirted security personnel stepped inside, phasers drawn. Instinctively, they pointed their weapons at Pal.

"Not him," Tw'eak said, stepping in front of Pal before anyone opened fire. She pointed to Corbin. "Take that man on the ground there to the brig. Notify Captain Shon that we have a Section 31 agent in custody, one with material evidence in a murder investigation."

"Yes, ma'am!" the lead lieutenant, a tall male Rigelian, replied as he and another, a female Vulcan, took Corbin into custody. The third, a Bajoran male, remained for a moment until Lieutenant Kyona arrived.

"Is everything all right, ma'am?" Kyona asked Tw'eak, her ears and eyes darting about, ready for anything.

"Much better now," Tw'eak replied, turning to Pal. "All thanks to you," she added.


	67. Part IV, Chapter 16

The interior of the Enterprise's brig was almost identical to that of the Warspite's, functional, spartan, definitely not the kind of place one wanted to find oneself aboard ship. Tw'eak stepped into the brig, Pal close behind, and a security officer at an adjacent desk leapt to his feet. "He's over here, ma'am."

"It's alright," Tw'eak said, holding up a hand. "I just wanted to see that he was still here."

"Oh. Do you expect him to disappear or something?"

Tw'eak nodded, pursing her lips. "Surprised he hasn't."

"Well, Lieutenant Kyona put the scrambler codes in herself, ma'am. There's no way he's getting past us."

Wishing she could share the officer's enthusiasm, Tw'eak turned at the sound of the door opening. Lieutenant Kyona approached through it. The sight of Tw'eak surprised her. "Admiral!"

"Lieutenant."

"I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Are you sure it's me?" Tw'eak asked, somewhat mischievously.

Kyona didn't follow. "What do you mean?"

"I could be an Undine infiltrator, or a surgically-modified Orion."

"Not with a Jem'Hadar at your side."

Tw'eak looked over at Pal. "Good point. Maybe a changeling in disguise."

Pal scoffed. "Hardly," he grunted.

The door opened yet again, revealing Va'Kel Shon, accompanied by his Betazoid operations officer, Jirelle Kav. "Good morning," he said cordially, if brusquely, to Tw'eak. He turned to Kyona. "Are you ready?"

"Everything's in position."

"Good."

"What's your plan?" Tw'eak asked.

Shon looked to Tw'eak, nodding at the brig. "Well, given your overnight visitor, I figured that we should have a few words." He glanced at Kav. "A few honest words, at that."

"Not sure that'll be happening."

"Wait, so you know him?"

"Corbin? Oh yeah. He's been a pest at various moments for the past year or so. Why?" Tw'eak looked up at Shon with a dawning realization. "You know this guy, too."

"I do, actually. He first turned up when I was still commanding the Belfast. I was never a party to their actions. I've always wondered if they had anything to do with my selection as captain of the Enterprise."

"Probably not." Tw'eak smiled at Shon. "You earned that one, fair and square."

Shon gave Tw'eak a half-grin, uncertain, the presence of his officers making him nervous. "So how do you want to handle this?"

"Me? He's your prisoner, Kyona."

"Not how this works, ma'am," Kyona replied, "you're the ranking officer. We do what you want."

Tw'eak looked at Shon. Kav merely nodded in reply. "Alright," Tw'eak said, shrugging. "Give me five minutes with him."

"Five minutes," Kyona noted. "May I ask what for?"

"You're sure there are scramblers in place?"

"Yeah. We're within Earth Spacedock anyway, so the subspace distortions should be enough to-" Kyona trailed off as Tw'eak gave her a look that made her whiskers stand on end. Her tail twitched in anxiety. "Which of course we've augmented with our own transporter inhibitor and a subspace scrambler of our own. At least until we can get him into Starfleet Security's hands."

"Thank you," Tw'eak said. That's better, she didn't say.

"Shall I accompany you?" Pal asked.

"I know better than to keep you away."

"Smart move," Kyona said to Pal, "using the polearm. Your rifle wouldn't have worked in those quarters anyway."

"Perhaps not from the muzzle," Pal replied, holding up its butt. "But this end would have sufficed."

Kyona's ears perked up in appreciation, and she nodded. Shon chuckled. "Anyone ever tell you we're glad you're on our side?" he asked Pal.

"Frequently," Pal answered, no humour in his voice. He turned to his admiral.

"Come on." Tw'eak moved closer to Corbin's cell. Within, the Section 31 agent sat on his bed, knees shoulder-width apart, looking downwards at his hands. "How are you liking it in there?" she asked. Corbin made no move, and did not reply. Tw'eak looked back to Kyona.

"Oh, right. Sorry, he's in sensory suppression. He can't see or hear you." Kyona looked to the security officer. "Lower that - but not the force field."

The field fizzled slightly, and Corbin looked up. "Well, hello again." He stood and moved towards Tw'eak. "I suppose you're quite proud of yourself - probably think you've turned the tables or something. This is cute. Comfortable, even. Just like a vacation."

"I only have one question for you, Corbin."

"Oh. Somehow I'm disappointed."

"I want you to explain to me, precisely, the justification for killing Leo."

"I can't do that."

Tw'eak arched an eyebrow. "Really."

"I'm afraid so."

"Why's that?"

"Can't tell you that, either." Corbin sat back down, then adjusted to laying across the bed, feet crossed, arms behind his head. "Anything else, or can I get back to my vacation?"

"You said the flotilla was becoming a problem. Why is that?"

"Not answering," Corbin maintained.

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "I can understand, actually."

"You can."

"Well, yeah. Section 31 had a quota of civilian targets for the week. I'm surprised you didn't just... blow up the whole thing."

"Nice try. Remember, you're not interrogating some small-time slavemaster here. It's me."

"The big-time slavemaster. Is that it? Section 31 is in the slaving business now?"

Corbin waved a hand at Tw'eak. "Get out of here. Amateur hour's over."

"Wasn't it - Pal, the Tal Shiar, they were taking slaves, were they not?"

"Indeed," the Jem'Hadar replied.

"And turning them over to the Elachi. The same Elachi who we're alleging to be working with the Iconians."

"The very same."

"So if Section 31 were to intentionally destroy an anti-slaver flotilla like the one Leo commanded... well!" Tw'eak looked back towards Corbin. "Kind of follows suit. If the Romulans' shadow organization working with the Iconians... maybe... just maybe Section 31 is, too."

"Delusions," Corbin replied.

"We don't need you to do this for us. We just get the story out on the Federation News Service and let the suspicion convict your entire organization for us."

Corbin guffawed. "The Federation typically relies upon more than just conspiracy theories to run, spitfire. It relies on people like us."

"Oh, there's nothing alike between you and I, let's be clear."

Corbin sprang to his feet. "There is everything - everything- alike between us. Believe me."

"So why have him killed then?"

"This again," he muttered, stepping away from Tw'eak.

"You say there's everything alike between us - but I didn't kill him."

Corbin turned sharply. "But you did. You killed his spirit. He was the weak link in that entire chain of command. You knew that."

"Everyone knew that. Leo knew that. Selkirk knew that. That's why Selkirk never wanted him in command."

"Exactly."

She continued. "A good man, but a terrible commander. He needed someone else to ...rein him in." Tw'eak's eyes softened. "I was too busy, and when Spera showed up, he ran. He was the best second you could ask for, especially in a crisis... but command isn't for everyone."

"I don't think you really need to ask me anything," Corbin said, sitting back down. "You already have the answers."

"You wanted the flotilla to succeed?"

"What I want? Why is that relevant?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "Your organization. Section 31 wants someone out there stopping the slavers, assuming you were sincere about not working with them. Why not use your 'special' gifts to have one of your lackeys in Starfleet put together a task force, then?"

"Can't answer that."

"Oh, come on, Corbin. You know it's the right thing. You didn't have to have Leo killed to do it - you could've just worked with someone higher up the chain of command and made that happen. You could've had it just the right way. Instead now it's going to come to nothing."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Corbin stood up.

"Why's that?"

He walked almost right to the very edge of the force field, so close Tw'eak was certain he would singe his nose or the hemline of his shimmering suit. "I suggest you ask his wife."

"What's that?"

"Ask his wife." Corbin took a few steps towards the cell's toilet area. "That's all."

Tw'eak looked down, and as she did, she noted a slight resonance, a sensation she hadn't experienced since- "Kyona!"

The security lieutenant came running to the cell. She turned quickly to the security officer. "Lower the force field!"

The officer at the desk had been barely paying attention. "I - what? Right!"

The force field fell away, and Tw'eak, Pal and Kyona all vaulted into the empty cell. "He's gone," Pal observed.

"Son of a bitch," Tw'eak muttered.

Kyona looked back to Shon, who now approached with Kav. "I'm sorry, sir - I was sure that I had that thing sorted this time."

"It's not your fault," Tw'eak observed.

"It's the way they work," Kav added. "We'll have had enough internal sensors on this area - we'll get more information from him disappearing than he bargained for."

"What'd he mean, though?" Shon asked. "I thought you hadn't married him."

"I didn't," Tw'eak replied. "But I know who did."

* * *

Being aboard Earth Spacedock again annoyed Tw'eak. As she moved down the central cruciform corridor to the observation deck, it occurred to her that every time she was here, it was because her entire universe was about to be reorganized, whether she liked it or not. She remembered being here to receive orders to take command, temporarily, of the Repulse once she had been cleared of wrongdoing after killing the Undine which had replaced Captain Corlett. Then there was her reassignment to the Bonaventure a few months after. Once again she had returned when the Bonnie had been damaged by the Hirogen for a period of medical leave, then shortly thereafter when the same starship was near-destroyed by the Borg. That had seen her reunited with her sister, awarded the Pike Medal, and given responsibility for not just the Warspite but the finalization of its construction. There had also been her recent court-martial, and the discovery of Task Force Silhouette awaiting her in secret at Utopia Planitia. Now Warspite was in the process of being salvaged and refit, a man Tw'eak had loved had apparently been struck down by Section 31, and once again, Tw'eak crossed through the central section of the great space station, another revelation at hand - or so she hoped.

She noted the presence of Lieutenant E'genn and nodded, receiving a sharp salute in return from the station's chief science consultant. Egg felt like a constant presence aboard Earth Spacedock, much like Boothby had been for generations of young cadets at the Academy, always on duty, always cheerfully extolling the virtues of the science branch and voyages of discovery. He was the kind of officer Tw'eak wished would steer Starfleet away from its defense-heavy focus of recent years, in order to resume endeavours and expeditions seeking out new worlds and civilizations.

She continued along, emerging in an area where the Federation Outreach Department had its operations centre. She knew provisions and resources were available to captains on their way to the frontier worlds of the Federation. It was here that she found Dani and Zed, both looking out an exterior-facing window. Passing a nearby Outreach desk, she picked up a padd at random, without drawing the attention of the duty officer there, and moved towards the two of them. "Hello," she said as she approached.

"Admiral," Zed said in reply. "Glad you could make it."

"Hey," Dani added.

"How'd we do?"

"They turned us down flat," Zed replied.

Dani nodded sadly. "Not even one starship."

Zed frowned. "We've been in touch with some of the freighter captains. They know about Leo, they know we're here and why. Some of them want to carry on regardless. Some of them... may have just said as much because they thought we expected to hear it. Honestly, it was hard to tell."

"So where does that leave us?" Tw'eak asked.

"We don't know. Won't know for sure until we can get back out there. The way things are now, it's hard to tell what the story is. Starfleet - the admiral we met with seemed to be talking out both sides of his mouth."

"Oh yeah," Dani interrupted. "We know you do good work. We can't help you do good work. We want what you want. We can't do what you want. We strongly believe in this. We strongly believe, he said. Sure you do. Just won't do anything about what you believe. Kind of belief is that?"

"Bureaucrats," Zed grumbled. "Typical." He looked down at Tw'eak's hands. "You got better news on that padd?"

"This? No, I..." Tw'eak looked to Zed. "Do me a favour and just... give us a minute, okay?"

"Alright," Zed replied. "Was going to go check the Exchange for a couple things anyway before we head out. Might as well do that now." He moved towards an adjacent doorway leading around the curve of the station.

"What's up?" Dani asked.

"I just... wanted to offer my condolences on your loss."

"Heh. What loss." Dani looked out the window, her eyes hardening. "Some guy we chose, huh."

Tw'eak changed the subject slightly, hinting as she did. "You know, something like this happens, and you hear from the most unusual people."

"I bet. Got a card from his old regiment. Flowers, too. You believe that? Flowers."

Tw'eak remembered the fragrant bouquet that the Marines had provided for her thavan's funeral, brightly coloured with thousands of flowers from across the galaxy. "Yeah. There was one person in particular that I spoke to... he seemed to know something of how this all happened."

Dani gave Tw'eak a sidelong glance. "Yeah? Anyone I know?"

"Maybe. He - I'm not sure even I know him by his actual name, but I know him as Corbin." Tw'eak sensed a chill running through Dani. "He works for a ...particular organization. Mind you, he wasn't altogether that helpful."

"That right."

"In fact, he told me that if I wanted answers to my questions... I should be asking you."

"Me?" Dani shook her head. A moment of uncomfortable silence hung in the air. "Ask me?" Dani bounced from one foot to another. "Ask me what?"

"The same thing that I'd imagine the chief investigator on Risa is going to ask at some point. Whether or not you know anything about who killed Leo."

"Corbin told you - to ask me?" Dani looked over at Tw'eak.

"Yeah." Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "So, let me ask again. Do you know who killed Leo?"

Dani hesitated for a moment, her head hanging slightly to her left. "That's funny." She laughed, then looked away from Tw'eak. Her eyes gradually came back into contact with Tw'eak's. "Yeah. Yeah, I know who."

Tw'eak held up a padd. "I contacted the Risian Hedony Constabulary, and asked them for the cause of death. Report's right here." She looked at the padd - a shipping registry from a freighter in the Outreach Program - and pretended to read. "A penetration wound consistent with a high-speed projectile."

Dani hung her head.

"I seem to recall you having access to - what'd you call it? That fancy rifle you had on Nimbus, what was it called... had one of those acronym names, letters and numbers."

"TR-116," Dani mumbled.

"That's it. It'd been used - you had that whole story you told me about how it'd been used on DS-Nine by some crazy Vulcan. You'd even improved the design. Isn't that right."

"Yup."

Tw'eak pressed a button on the padd and lowered it. "Corbin did tell me one thing - he said he'd authorized agents to neutralize Leo."

"Just one," Dani said anxiously, throwing her head back to look up to the ceiling. "Picked the right one, too, he did."

Tw'eak took a deep breath, shaking her head. After a long moment, she let her breath back out. "Did he pay you to do it?"

"Corbin? No. Didn't have to." Dani laughed. "I knew Leo was going to be trouble even before you were done with him. He... you didn't see him for what he really was. Pressure would get on him and he'd get anxious, see. He'd start doing things this way and that. People would call him on it - we do it this way, not that - even if that way made more sense. He'd get angry. I spent a lot of my time goin' around to people, making nice, fixing stuff he'd mess up. And either I made it better or another ship left the team. And if they did, good riddance, he'd say. He didn't know how to apologize. It went like that for a while. We weren't doing anything, just constantly bickering, wasting resources. People were getting frustrated. Something had to happen."

"So you took Corbin's offer."

"If I hadn't done him, someone else would've. Or they would've tried. Might've taken me down, too - I saw it coming. If it had come to that, we'd have been no better than the Orions."

"You mean a society where the women routinely murder anyone who stands in their way?"

"Hey-" Dani pointed into Tw'eak's chest, her tone subdued, but full of fury. "You weren't there. You don't get it. You spend time on your ship, carpets and replicators and all that, and everyone's kissin' your ass the whole time, Admiral." She pointed to the stars, her tone settling back into narrative voice. "Out there, what we were doing? Nobody knew how to make it work. Nobody does. I don't even think Selkirk could've fixed it. That's how bad it got once he bunked off. So I put myself right where I needed to be to keep it working, best I could. If that meant playing Leo, well, he was playing me, too. And when he didn't play to win, I went out and looked for someone who could get us that win."

"Corbin."

"That's right. He shows up one night - one night when he knows that Leo's puttin' in a late shift over in some other bunk, if you follow me. Says he wants to make a deal. At first I think he's Orions, maybe an independent operator - a merc, basically - but he puts me right, starts talking about the good we're doing, about how the Federation needs what we're doing, how he thinks I can make the hard call. Then he talks down Leo a bit, and I surprise him, I think, because I'm way ahead of him. I know Leo's the problem. He offers his deal - a solution, let's say. I say sure. Later that night when Leo gets back I do what needs to be done to get him to Risa."

"Why Risa, though?"

"That was Corbin's idea. Neutral place, see. Not on the flotilla. Leo was getting paranoid. Good choice, I think. But because it's Risa, and it happens away from home, now I can go back and tell them, Orions got him." Dani's face became mockingly grievous. "I can't believe it. He's gone. Oh no. Not even safe on Risa from those bastards. He was the best of us. Let's go get 'em - for him, that lousy son of a bitch." Dani chuckled. "Flotilla rallies behind me, and boom. We're back in business." She nodded emphatically, then chuckled again. "Leo was some nervous about Risa, though. Was convinced we'd run into someone who hated him. Old squad mates, actual Orions... you... I told him, don't worry, baby, the old blue lady doesn't do vacations. Honestly, I'd have rather you'd been anywhere else right about then. Made it complicated."

Tw'eak shook her head. "So it was just bad timing that we ran into each other there."

"Nah, you got your feels out. Needed to happen - maybe not quite that loudly, but who am I to judge. Don't worry, half the planet heard you two havin' it out that night."

"I still cared about him. I couldn't believe what he'd become."

"You think he was ever different? Nah, he just cleaned up nice when he was making a play. Worked on you, didn't it. But I knew what he was - always did. Made it easier to work my way onto his good side." Dani brushed a streak of black hair from her eyes, and shrugged. "And yeah, maybe I loved him. I dunno. Doubt he ever loved me, though."

Tw'eak gritted her teeth. She doubted Dani had the capacity for love of any kind, but restrained herself from screaming. After all, this wasn't the time or place for that. Through her clenched jaw, she slowly said, "you shot a man - a man I thought you loved - in cold blood."

"Wasn't that hard, really. Just like anyone else with that thing. Point and click." Dani shrugged. "You killed lots of people that way, don't tell me otherwise. Doesn't matter who it is. I don't got any feeling for someone who gets under my scope. Never have. Don't work different for you. Otherwise you'd be dead. Same as him."

And that was it. Dani turned away from Tw'eak, and returned to looking out the window. No contrition, not even a slight show of emotion. There was little point in trying to explain to her precisely where Tw'eak disagreed with her. Obviously it would be a blanket refusal, but Tw'eak felt as though the adjacent bulkhead would be as likely to listen. She wondered how she could have been so, so wrong about these two people - first about Leo, who she had taken as dashing and brave when he had been insecure and obsessive. But the bulk of her astonishment was directed at Dani. She had thought this former Marine to be a bit dense, even harmless. Now she had revealed herself - literally - to be a hardened killer with little hope of reform.

Tw'eak waited a long moment before asking. "You don't regret it?"

Dani looked over her shoulder, hesitated, then gave another fierce chuckle. "Regrets... ain't my department. Where I'm from? No time to waste doin' that. No point weepin' for stupids." She glanced quickly over her shoulder at Tw'eak. "Maybe that's my problem. I come to a place like this and I might as well be a green-skin slaver to you soft-bed types. Starfleet doesn't want our trouble - we're not nice." Dani took a hard sniff. "Out there? Out there we're the good guys. Doesn't suit Starfleet to know the truth of what we do, or how. I get that. They got their wars to fight. They think their crews are all fighting clean? Fat chance." She made a hard noise - not so much another chuckle as a scoff. "But they'll forget we're out there as soon as the stardate changes. Then, back to it. And I figure, month from now? Maybe not even that long, and we'll be back to business." She turned back towards Tw'eak. "And it won't come good by being good, if you follow me."

Mortified, Tw'eak could only nod. Her moral sense was practically drowning out her conscious thought - she knew she had an obligation to take Dani into custody. It was her duty as a Starfleet officer, as a vice-admiral in a star service that prided itself on its guiding principle, the truth. It was the only justice that Leo de Salaberry would ever know - flawed in his leadership or otherwise, his mistakes and misdeeds hardly warranted a death sentence. And more than that, it was the only method of clearing her name. She knew she had an obligation. And yet, she swallowed hard, stepped forward, and stood in side-profile between Dani and the exterior window.

"I want you to know that I've been recording this entire conversation."

"You what-?"

Tw'eak held up the padd. "The whole thing. On audio - and ready to transmit to Risa."

"Oh, that is just-"

"Now. Pay attention." Tw'eak looked Dani squarely in the eye with a look so fierce it turned Dani to ice. "You find your way to the next transport. You head back to your precious flotilla, and you do your job. You get those ships back together and you knock those Orion bastards on their green asses so hard they'll never get back up. You understand me?"

"You're letting me go?"

"Hell no. There'll be a warrant for your arrest - for murder - on every Federation world, colony and space station. There'll be prices on your head, bounty hunter types all the way from here to the Delta Quadrant, and absolutely no rest for you until that job is done."

Dani looked back and forth. "How am I supposed to 'do my job' like that?"

"As you put it before..." Tw'eak made a half-grin. "...ain't MY department."

"This your idea of justice?"

"As a matter of fact, it is. You're worth more to me - to the Federation - out there, where you belong, with your kind. You're right that I couldn't do what you do - to do that I'd have to come down to your level. I can't do that - so you're going to do it for me. That's your penance - for Leo. You make it sound like hell out there. So I'm sending you right back to hell. It's where you belong." Tw'eak prodded Dani in the chest with the padd. "Do your damn job. And I swear to you, if I ever see you again, if I ever so much as share the same sector, I will finish what we started today. Because no matter what you thought of him, you took a good man from this universe... and that, I will not forgive."

Dani took a step back from Tw'eak, nervously laughing. "Was wrong about you, blue. You're all right. If you walked as good as you talk, you'd be a legend out where I'm from."

Tw'eak put her back to Dani and, over her shoulder, said flatly, "If you're still on this station in an hour, it'll be 'cause you're in the morgue."

"That a fact?"

It was Tw'eak's turn to smile. She brought her shoulders around so her eyes met Dani's. "That was your mistake. Careless honesty. Now you're not the only one with the rifle that shoots through walls. And like you said, someone comes under that scope, they made a mistake. From there it's just..." Tw'eak raised her hands as if aiming her pulsewave at Dani. "Point and click."

Not another word was said. Dani stumbled backwards on the flat surface of the floor, then tipped her head back in acknowledgement - some might say dismissal - of Tw'eak. Tw'eak lowered her hands and crossed them behind her back, watching as Dani made her way quickly to the nearest turbolift.

From Tw'eak's right, Zed approached. "What in the hell was that about?"

Tw'eak stared at the turbolift door. "That's an admiral's prerogative."

"She say she killed Leo?"

"I don't know," Tw'eak said, tapping the padd. "I wasn't listening."

"I was. You said you recorded the whole thing."

Tw'eak held up the cargo manifest. "This? I just picked this up off that desk over there when I walked up to you two."

"Whoa, Admiral... if she finds that out-"

Tw'eak cut Zed off with a sharp glance. "Do you really want to finish that sentence?"

Zed held up his hands in mock-surrender. "Okay, okay."

Tw'eak took a few steps towards the bulkhead, then once again glanced in the direction that Dani had gone. "She believes it to be true. That's all I need." She turned to Zed. "That means you heard nothing - and that's an order."

"Didn't need to order me to forget that - what were we talking about?"

"You find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah, actually. I was trying to get a line on some water purifiers for the flotilla. We need 'em pretty bad out there."

"Forget the flotilla. I need you here."

Zed's face was astonished. "Say what?"

"I'm ordering you to return to duty immediately, Lieutenant Commander."

"But - hold up. You'll send her back and not me?"

"Starfleet's not interested in what the flotilla has to offer. Neither am I. And I don't intend upon tarnishing your career any further by association with them. I understand if you find this difficult."

Zed nodded emphatically. "Uh, yeah. Permission to speak freely?"

"Sure."

"I know you had... a relationship with Leo. And that you were friends with Selkirk and maybe a few others out there. They're not all like her. A lot of them... deserve better. The past six months, I've gotten to know quite a few of them."

Tw'eak was nonplussed, and cut Zed off with a quick shake of the head. "No. Starfleet... the Federation may not have another six months." She looked at Zed, fear in her eyes.

Admittedly, it was insulting to call a Saurian bug-eyed, yet Zed's large yellow eyes nearly leapt from his skull in a cartoonish fashion. "You're - damn, you're not joking."

"No. The Iconians are on the march. We're going to be overextended very, very quickly between them, the Undine, and the Klingons. To say nothing of the Borg. I'm leading a task force, we have a mission that will take us on the trail of the Iconians, hopefully stop their war before it starts. That task force needs analysts, scientists, talented officers... good people like you." Tw'eak suppressed the urge to shudder, well aware that her words resonated with Corbin's rhetoric. "The Federation needs you now, more than ever. As do I. Can I count on you?"

"Wow, that - I... yes. It's just..." Zed took a look down at himself. "I'm way out of uniform."

"Tailor's shop is right over there," Tw'eak said, pointing.

"Don't know if I'll be able to stand the sight of myself in that uniform again. A lot of things have happened the past few months."

"So I've heard. No need for you to tell me unless I ask. Until then - you forget it along with the rest, unless you're in a counselor's office. It's over now. We move on."

"So that's just... it, then. For the flotilla, I mean."

"We move on," Tw'eak repeated. "You're a Starfleet officer." She straightened her jaw, her words intended as much for herself as for Zed. "It's time we remembered what that means. Everything depends on it - and on us. Get going."

"Where should I report?"

Tw'eak looked around. "I'm not sure. I'm going to go see Fleet Admiral Kells, get orders, a sense of direction. Then I'll know more."

"Got it." Zed turned away, then came back. "Oh, and-" He saluted Tw'eak, who returned the gesture with one of her own.

"Good to have you back on our side, Zed."

"Yeah, we'll see." He patted his slender midriff. "I shoulda never stopped workin' out. It's gonna hang off me. Not gonna look as badass as I used to."

"You'll be back in trim again before long. Be in touch." Tw'eak nodded, then moved in the direction of the Admiralty offices. She wasn't quite certain of her decision - either with what Dani would make of it, or whether or not she could live with it. One thing in her mind was definite, however. She had an urgent need for something to do, anything to take her mind off of what had just happened... and off of her sudden, compelling desire to see Leo, alive, just one more time.


	68. Part V, Chapter I

"I still don't understand what you need."

Tw'eak sat to one side of the passenger section of the shuttle Hypatia, next to Octavia. On the opposite bench sat Aurora and Bianca duBois, while Lieutenant Aewon maintained the flight controls in the forward compartment. Normally, it would be unusual for this many senior officers to be in one shuttle, but with the upcoming war games, Tw'eak figured she needed all the help she could get.

"What I need?" Tw'eak said, replying to Aurora's question. "I'm just fortunate you're all available to help."

"But shouldn't I be helping aboard Warspite?"

"A day or two helping me with the task force is all I ask. They'll be making structural checks in EV suits for most of that."

"And you hate EV suit work," Bianca pointed out to her sister.

"Only because it smells so bad in there." Aurora made a face.

Tw'eak closed her eyes briefly. "Listen. The task force is going to be engaging in war games against a formation of ships led by Fleet Admiral Kells. Now, I've read up on Kells, he's a good tactician, comes highly rated. Tends to prefer big ships - cruisers and dreadnoughts - as his striking force. Doesn't rate escorts."

"That information is exclusively tactical," Octavia replied. "The commander is correct - we have responsibilities aboard Warspite."

"But I don't want to go into combat until I've had all of my ships checked out by people I trust. Tactical and command, I can cover. Operations, engineering, science... I could use a little help with those. That's where all of you come in."

"I get it," Bianca inferred. "You want us for consultant work."

"Sort of. It's more than that. Tell me what else is available that I can use on these ships, if I need to throw something else at them."

Octavia arched an eyebrow. "You would like us to exclusively focus on one particular aspect of the vessel's efficiency ratings-"

"The one you're best suited to, yeah. So for you, Octavia, that'd be operations. The two of you, it should be obvious."

"Get more power out of them," Aurora said.

Bianca shrugged. "I'll... see what sorts of tactical applications of science equipment I can offer. It probably won't be much. Sorry."

"Doesn't have to be much - but the more I know, the better prepared we'll be. I've also had some time to resolve a few tactical formations, attack patterns, that sort of thing." Tw'eak looked at Octavia. "If you've got the time, I would appreciate your input."

"Of course," Octavia replied. "Given your task force's prevalence of smaller, faster vessels, against an aggressor force presumably made of more resilient vessels, speed becomes paramount. Given the prevalence of Phantom-class escorts, stealth will likely be instrumental as well."

"I agree. Fast attack will be my strategy - random patterns, keep them changing, exploit their weaknesses, and then... strike."

"Do you know what ships will be part of his formation?" Bianca asked.

"Not yet. I'm hoping it isn't anything we can't handle. If he shows up with some new class of mega-ship, we're essentially doomed."

"What about that ship you and Captain Shon used in the Jouret system?"

"The - what's the term for it again..."

"Solanae Obelisk carrier," Octavia advised.

"Thank you. It's in the hands of the Republic at the moment."

"It's too bad we didn't get one for ourselves," Aurora said. "I would've loved to have a closer look at what they could do."

Tw'eak remembered the sight of the surgical torture-tables, and the memory of Va'kel Shon so close to death made her shiver. "Not sure that's a good idea. Long story. Besides, there's only the one."

"That we know of. A girl can dream, that's all."

"So once we're done," Bianca reasoned, "we bring our suggestions to you?"

"Yes, and then I'll refer them to our respective captains." Tw'eak leaned in a bit. "One other thing. If you see anything suspicious or unusual aboard ship, or have reason to doubt that any particular officer is up to the task, please let me know."

Octavia and Bianca nodded. "Sure will," Aurora replied. "Let's get started."

Tw'eak turned and looked towards the forward compartment. "We almost there, Aewon?"

"Yes, ma'am," came the reply. "Forty-seven seconds to holo-perimeter."

"Wait'll you see these things," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Ugly, but very capable."

Both duBois sisters were on their feet, Aurora a bit more quickly than Bianca, and they moved to the forward compartment. Octavia, for her part, merely remained seated. "You all right?"

"Yes. I believe so. However, I am troubled by the loss of my first command."

"You didn't lose your ship. It's in repair. That's all."

"Quite. Yet I cannot recall having lost so many crew members in a single action before, on any ship aboard which I have served."

"You're just lucky so far," Tw'eak quipped. "I didn't lose nearly this many ever before either. On the Enterprise and Nelson, we hardly ever lost anyone - here and there, maybe, but not like this. Even on the Repulse it was mostly the upper echelons of the command staff. And Bonaventure dwarfed this, too, in sheer numbers - all those times we all nearly died."

"Indeed," Octavia replied. "It did seem a likely fate for all of us."

"I don't think you can avoid feeling this way," Tw'eak continued. "We lost a lot of good people. We would've lost Warspite if it wasn't for you, and Aurora, configuring the EPS junctions and relays the way you did. It restricted blowback - made a huge internal explosion survivable. Still, you find your own peace with it. I've known an officer who resigned her post because just one person died under her command. She couldn't take it. I've known others who were oblivious right through boards of inquiry - and even after the judgement came down, they refused to see what they'd done wrong. It's all relative. It's all about who you are. I've never really forgotten all the people who I've let down that badly over the years. Can't let myself. The day I get used to losses, deaths, casualties, on my watch? Then it's time to step down."

"I would agree. Nevertheless, I should acknowledge that I have completed a review of my own, considering the tactics and approach used under your command against the alternate Borg. I found your tactics to be within sufficient parameters for success. The odds of our being able to influence the outcome in a positive fashion were not promising in the face of such superior firepower."

"We did our best. We didn't give up. I realize that's cold comfort for the families of those we lost, to say that when they lost their lives. But the outcomes would've been far worse if we hadn't acted. Somehow I have to believe that. The only solace I get, doing this job, is the knowledge that I did everything I reasonably could in order to complete my mission and follow my orders."

"Would that not follow for all such officers?"

"It would. Do all you can and don't give up. Seems simple enough, right?"

"Quite. Thank you, Admiral."

"Hey, Admiral!" Aurora came back into the passenger compartment. "You're missing the- oh, wait, you've already seen the new ships, haven't you."

"Yeah."

"Captain, you should really come take a look at these. I like the big one - what's it called again?"

"That's the Turing," Tw'eak replied. "Eclipse-class."

"Yeah! Oh, wow, they look fast. Maybe it's just the angles. Can I start there?"

"Sure. Let's just get ourselves safely aboard the Silhouette first."

"Thirty seconds to final approach," Aewon said loudly enough that Tw'eak could hear.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Tw'eak turned back to her friends. "Let's sit and we'll be aboard in a moment."

* * *

Arriving aboard the Silhouette, Tw'eak saw Spera come quickly across the shuttlebay to meet her. "Hey, Shreya?"

"Hello," Tw'eak replied, gesturing towards the shuttle. "I brought some company."

Down the ramp came Aurora, then Octavia, followed by Aewon and Bianca.

"Oh, wow, did you ever. Hello everyone."

"Commander," Octavia said with a nod.

"Um, Captain McQueen is running a tactical exercise, so she couldn't come down to greet you. Sorry about that. But I really need to talk to you."

"Go ahead."

Spera blinked at Tw'eak. "You know... talk to you. Shreya."

"Oh." Tw'eak made her way back into the shuttle. "Lieutenant, would you mind showing our guests to the war room, please?"

"Happy to, ma'am."

Tw'eak ducked back into the shuttle. Spera followed, pacing, agitated. "I don't know what to do..."

"About what?"

"I just got off the comms with Admiral Tuvok. You know who I mean?"

"I certainly do - he's a legend. He called you?"

"Yeah. He asked for me. Specifically. He said he's been very impressed with the stuff I brought back from my time. He wants me to go with him to the Dyson sphere."

"Really."

"Yeah. Said he'd draw up orders and everything. They've found what they think is a control station within the Dyson sphere, way down close to the star's surface. If the Voth get hold of it, then they might be able to make the whole thing just... jump someplace else. That'd be bad."

"I'll say. The thing runs on Omega particles. The Voth want those particles. If they take the sphere to wherever they'd like, they have unrestricted access - the last thing we want."

"That's part of what Admiral Tuvok is going to investigate. He's taking a science expert with him to see if we can figure out how something that big can just... cross the galaxy like that. And he wants me to come. That whole 'Iconian expert' thing again."

"But that's good."

"No it's not! I'm not the expert - you were! I don't know what I can contribute."

"Neither does Tuvok. Your being there might be the difference he needs."

"No, these science guys are who he needs, Shreya. They know what they're doing."

"Are you sure about that? Chances are they can do a better job, assuming they know what they're doing. But if we haven't seen technology of this kind before, maybe you have. I understand Tuvok's thinking."

"You ever meet him before? He didn't survive into my time."

"I don't think so. I've met a few others over the years who served on Voyager - Admiral Janeway, for instance, I've met a couple times... and Admiral Chakotay. Admiral Paris contacted me once, after a temporal incident I was involved in, rescuing his daughter from a crazy Klingon named B'Vat. Long story. But - wait, he's Captain Paris again now, come to think of it. And I know Octavia knows Seven of Nine really well - she was one of the primary people involved in Octavia's recovery and return to active duty."

"I used to read these kid stories, 'Adventures of the Starship Voyager'. It was a holo-book, there must have been a hundred of them. I'm sure some of them were made up. In this one, they broke the warp ten threshold - and there was this other where they-"

Tw'eak smiled. "Maybe we should call you our Delta Quadrant expert, then."

"I don't know - I barely know anything about the Voth, for example."

"It's a big quadrant out there. A lot like our own. And we've only just begun exploring and making friends there - but you've been there before, in your time. Your knowledge of their cultures and civilizations may be just what the mission requires."

"Yeah, I know." Spera squirmed a little. "You really think I should go?"

"Well, if Admiral Tuvok's giving 'orders', Commander... you know, Starfleet..."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. I forgot all about it actually. I'm just so used to - no, you're right."

Tw'eak patted her daughter on the shoulder. "Be careful. Take the Hypatia - signal Shuttle Control and let them know you're leaving, but get going. I'm sure he'll want to get underway."

"There's a ship - the Dyson, oddly enough - it's some kind of prototype science destroyer. I'm supposed to meet him there."

"You have the co-ordinates?"

"Yeah. I can get there fairly quickly. If I have your permission to depart, of course, Admiral Shreya."

Tw'eak wrinkled her nose. "Sounds horrible when you say it like that."

"Sorry! You pulled rank first, though."

Tw'eak gave Spera a hug. "Good luck. Let me know if you need us."

"I will. Love you."

Tw'eak hadn't really departed with any sort of formal word spoken when she had left Warspite earlier. The thought of saying 'love you' while Spera left hadn't yet occurred to her as an option. Fortunately, Spera had made the overture, giving Tw'eak the simplicity of her expected response. "Love you, too, kid," she replied and stepped off the shuttlecraft, leaving Spera to prepare for takeoff.

* * *

The remainder of that day had passed fairly quickly. Tw'eak had seen Bianca aboard the Scorpion, had run into Aurora on the Turing, and seen Octavia during her trip to the Polaris. Everything seemed to be good - with the notable exception of Captain Nazza aboard Polaris (still settling in after commanding the Vesta-class Rutherford during a recently-completed and exhaustive survey of the Silravi Cluster), each of the captains had extensive combat experience. Breaking down specific tactics and co-ordinating communications between the ships of the fleet had thankfully been brief. Two of the ships of the task force - the Salamander and the Scorpion - were equipped with dual-linked heavy phaser cannon armaments, while of the remainder, Spirit utilized tetryon beams and Skarbek was built with the assistance of the Romulan Republic, resulting in her sporting an armament of Romulan plasma beams and cannons in an experimental mixed configuration. This left Swiftsure and Silhouette, both of which were, like the science ships Polaris and Partisan and the Eclipse-class cruiser Turing, given standard-issue phaser beam arrays and twin-firing beam banks as their primary armament. Silhouette incorporated a forward-firing quantum torpedo launcher as well, while Swiftsure launched photon mines aftwards and photon torpedoes forwards. Like Skarbek, Swiftsure had also been built with a combination of phaser cannons and beam arrays. This tactical sorting was an important series of considerations - it would take some time for the fleet admiral's task force to sort out who was armed with what, what they could expect from each of the ships and how best to counter. This would be time best used to Tw'eak's advantage.

Late the next day, once reconvened, Tw'eak sat in the conference area of the Silhouette's war room in a pensive mood. "I wish one of our ships was armed with polaron beams. The ones like the Jem'Hadar use."

Octavia, seated across from Bianca and Kit McQueen, with Aurora beside her, looked towards Tw'eak at the head of the table. "An intriguing notion."

"We're going to be using a lot of their sorts of maneuver. Wolfpack-style tactics."

"I wish we'd been consistent in our weapons choices," Aurora said. "It would've been easier to sort out engineering problems that way."

"No. I did that intentionally, once I saw that Skarbek had already been armed once she arrived in the task force."

"Those plasma cannons draw a lot of power."

"I know. They're plasma weapons, that's just par for the course. But that variability means an advantage. Look." Tw'eak poked at the console on the table, and the holo-display showed the six escorts, two science ships and intelligence cruiser as three-dimensional wire diagrams. "Salamander and Scorpion - they're both heavy cannon boats, they'll fly together. Skarbek and Spirit can probably take down most single targets - one burns the hull, while Spirit's tetryon weapons can do a number on shields. They make a killer tandem pair."

"Couple them with one of the science ships," Bianca noted, "and the tachyon beam focusing ability they have, and you can really neutralize a single target quickly."

"Exactly. Silhouette and Swiftsure can support either pairing, or ride with Skarbek and Spirit to maximize effect of attack. And there's no reason they can't strike with Turing as well."

Octavia pointed to Turing. "The Turing's energy field is masked to such an extent that, when not under cloak, its emissions read almost like a light escort rather than a ship of such substantial size."

"And the other starships each look like shuttles," Aurora added.

"Precisely. But that's our only advantage. Besides Turing, none of our ships are strong enough to last in a stand-up fight." Tw'eak looked around. "Which is why I've suggested our captains give maximum priority to utilizing fast-attack patterns and remain evasive after their attack runs."

Kit McQueen nodded. "There are quite a few built-in systems which we would use for deep-lying surveillance activities. Commander Varek and I have been working to integrate the sensor probes and other intelligence systems into our attack and defense. We've been copying our progress out across the task force."

"Good idea."

"I also have a suggestion," Bianca said. "It's more of a psychological one than anything."

"Go ahead."

"I think we should go back and take a look at what Fleet Admiral Kells knows about us - or thinks he knows, maybe I should say."

Tw'eak nodded with half a grin. "Finish your thought, Commander."

"Well, I'm just thinking that if he thinks he knows us so well, he'll think he knows our vulnerabilities as well."

"Exactly. Which is why I've already instructed our other captains, for the most part, to toy with them at first."

" 'Toy with them'?" Octavia inquired.

"We've got to keep some secrets for ourselves. Don't turn as sharply as you can - don't use full power - don't always use full thrusters. Leave a few surprises for later in the game."

Octavia nodded. "In order to deceive them as to our true potential."

"Exactly. The sooner they sort us out, or think they have us sorted out, the worse it'll be. Aside from the schematics we know they have, maybe a few simulations, none of their officers will have set aboard. They'll be analyzing us on sensors continually. So we give them a few rounds at a lower setting, let them think we're not as advanced as they feared-"

"And then BAM! We're just what they feared all along!" Aurora exclaimed.

Tw'eak smiled. "That's the idea. We'll also stay under cloak for as long as possible, in order to prevent their sensors from getting any kind of look at us. Our secrecy is our greatest weapon."

"And you've indicated this to all the other captains of the task force?" Kit inquired.

"You were the last to hear me say it, yeah." Tw'eak shrugged. "Hope you don't mind."

"Bad habit of mine, being the last to know," Kit said, getting up. "I'd best go brief my officers."

"Indeed. You're all dismissed."

Tw'eak sat and watched as Aurora and Bianca got up from their chairs, following Kit out the door. Octavia remained behind. "Admiral? A word, please."

"Sure."

"I am... pleased to see that you are taking these simulated maneuvers so seriously."

"I really want to beat this guy, Octavia. I'm not usually the competitive sort, but when it comes to this sort of thing..."

"I would disagree. I think your ambition lends itself to these sorts of occasions - indeed, the reason we still survive is because you have such a capacity in turning certain destruction into victory."

"Not always victory. Sometimes just survival."

"One might call that victory in and of itself."

"Exactly." Tw'eak smiled. "Pal, for instance."

Octavia nodded. "I would like to request to remain aboard during the war games as an observer, if I may."

"Certainly. Though I really wish Warspite could come along with us."

"As do I."

"Did they give you any sort of timeline as to when she'll be ready again?"

"No, though my personal estimate is roughly nine days, thirteen hours and sixteen minutes."

Tw'eak raised her eyebrows. "Give or take a nanosecond."

"I voluntarily excluded mention of the seconds. I find that to state too precise a time frame is... socially disadvantageous."

"Nine days is long enough to miss the show, I'm afraid. Still, who will look after your roses in the meantime?"

"I have successfully adapted a hydroponic subroutine in the arboretum by which the roses will be monitored by certain modified nanoprobes in my absence. The botanic drones - or rather, the 'nano-bees' - I devised will be more than sufficient in maintaining an equilibrium in the meantime. I anticipate blooms on the roses a day or so before our return to duty."

"That's good."

"You approve."

"Of your roses? I think it's wonderful."

Octavia looked slightly annoyed. "No, of my use of timeframe in conversation. I was attempting to adapt to your earlier point of discussion on the subject."

Tw'eak's eyes widened. "Oh! Yes. But... Octavia?"

"Admiral."

"Should we be under attack or whatever, please don't advise me that the torpedoes will be ready for launch ...sometime today."

Octavia looked at the captain, confused. "Why would I offer such a report?"

Tw'eak laughed, smiling. She patted her friend on the hand. "Never... never mind." Tw'eak's smile remained. "It'll be good to have you along for the fun."

"Do you anticipate we have a chance of success, then?"

"It probably won't be easy, by any stretch. Still, depending on what's arrayed against us... this task force is probably the finest I've ever encountered. I still can't believe they let me command it."

"May I inquire - I did not see Commander Spera at any point over the past thirty hours, yet she met us at the shuttle."

"Yes. I... can't get into that too much, but she has orders of her own, outside of the task force at the moment." Tw'eak found herself missing Spera, her happy face, her uncertainty with every aspect of being here, the simple fact of her company. Tw'eak stood up, making a mental note to give her a call on subspace at some point in the near future, and took a deep breath. "I'm sure she'll be fine." Octavia stood as well, and Tw'eak indicated the large intelligence monitor. "Did I ever show you this part of the war room? This is where our analysis division does its work."

She showed Octavia down the ramp and into the heart of the war room, introducing her to the means by which Starfleet hoped a slaughter at the Iconians' hands might be avoided. The war games were scheduled to begin in fifteen hours' time.


	69. Part V, Chapter 2

The war games were due to begin in four hours' time. Tw'eak had been able to get a few hours' sleep, have a conversation with her captain about tactics and strategies for the upcoming event over breakfast, and receive the day's intelligence briefing. She had also completed her review of the last remaining letters home to the families of those who had died aboard Warspite - with a clear head, she was able to fine-tune the wording so that it conveyed both the official message and a note of some meaning, a difficult balance to achieve. She had also had enough time for a quick run on the holodeck across a simulation of Starfleet Academy's grounds in San Francisco. Her usual run was something she had felt to be a bit neglected recently, but to be back in San Francisco - even by holo-simulation - made her feel even more refreshed, the smell of the Pacific and the sense of youth all about her doing her wonders, even if the slight strain she felt in her leg muscles was an unwelcome reminder of how badly she had needed the exercise.

Comfortable. That was the problem, Tw'eak figured - she was getting comfortable. She had never been comfortable with herself at the Academy - and it had pushed her to excel. But it was beginning to feel that way aboard Silhouette, a level of comfort with her position aboard ship (if not her responsibilities), a sense of leisure, of being able to rely upon everyone else around her to live up to her expectations, if not exceed them. She took it as a bad omen. Tw'eak distrusted her more leisurely impulses as soon as she encountered them. After all, the comfortable so frequently become the complacent, and complacency was something she could not afford given the stakes at hand in the war games to come.

"It was something my thavan always told me," she explained to Octavia later that day, with whom she was seated in her admiral's office, adjacent to her quarters. "He'd tell me, 'Get comfortable with being uncomfortable'."

"A contradiction in terms," Octavia noted in response.

"Not really. It's like expecting the unexpected - it's not specific in its terms, it's the idea that feeling like you're not following the plan means you're doing alright, to remember you're not going to be given the cushy stuff very often, or for very long. Just because these starships are wall-to-wall carpet doesn't mean that we should take our boots off and enjoy them. We're always called upon to do things that are out of the routine, not quite normal. Some of those tasks are messy, difficult, hazardous, what have you. It's important not to let your sense of indignity keep you from doing what you're being expected to do - whether expected by Starfleet or dignitaries or anyone else, even just yourself - don't presume that your station elevates you above it, whatever it happens to be."

"A prudent precaution."

"Well, it's probably more than I'm making it out to be. I don't know how to explain it."

The door chime sounded. Tw'eak looked up at Octavia, who replied, "perhaps you will at a later time."

"Yeah. Come."

The door opened, and Aurora duBois entered the room, followed closely by her sister, Bianca. Both were in uniform, but Aurora's was slightly unbuttoned at the top. She looked positively distraught with frustration. "Admiral, we have a problem."

"Indeed," Octavia observed, looking upwards. "Your collar is not properly fastened."

"Oh." Aurora brought the uniform top into a properly closed position, placing a padd on Tw'eak's desk in order to do so. "Sorry, Captain."

"What's this?"

"I finally was able to review of the scoring system for the war games. It's... it's...!"

Bianca's calm demeanour was the opposite of her sister's outrage. "Unfair."

"Completely unfair! Extremely unfair! We can't fight like this! I don't know anyone who would!"

Tw'eak took a look at the schematic on the padd which indicated the scoring system. "I don't follow."

"They're keeping score - we're simulating weapons and all that. But the accounting is all wrong. The simulation is going to be inaccurate, and we're going to lose for it."

Tw'eak handed the padd to Octavia. "Take a look."

"The damage mechanic is ridiculous. They're marking ship's systems as four categories. They're counting all engines as the same. My warp core is nothing like an impulse engine - and don't even get me started about thrusters. Or sensors - they're an auxiliary system all of a sudden! How!? What's so 'auxiliary' about a deflector dish?" Aurora took a moment to fume before she continued. "And then there's the weapons! We all know that a phaser relay doesn't work the same way as a plasma infuser, but they're counting all damage as identical!"

"Indeed," Octavia noted. "All directed weapon energy is counted in a single category."

"As is hull strength. Hull strength! They've reduced it down to a series of... of... INTEGERS!" Aurora's exasperation led her to strike her fist into her palm. "Any damage we take - whether it's to the warp nacelle support or to the heart of the saucer section - it all counts against an integer. There's no consideration for ablative armour or hull alloys or anything, beyond a modifier for 'resistance'. And shields may actually be worse - they're not even accounting for top and bottom shields. Just left, right, fore, aft. Like we would ever get to fight in just two dimensions."

Octavia nodded, referring to the padd. "The commander is correct."

"They think we'll count as 'destroyed' because some number is reduced to zero - we've fought through damage under far worse conditions!"

Bianca stepped in. "Even in a perfect system, those numbers aren't necessarily going to be balanced - if I put an escort up against a cruiser or a dreadnought, they're going to have some value-adjusted damage done to a hull, but that won't mean much unless you factor in everything under the hull. As a matter of our past experience alone, we know there are sensitive spots on every target - a single shot can kill a whole starship. This doesn't factor for that at all."

"Well," Tw'eak considered, "maybe that's a bonus. They can't blow our nacelles off like the Borg did to Warspite."

Aurora waved a hand at Bianca. "Tell her - the other science thing."

"I- what 'science thing'?"

"The science damage."

"Right." Bianca looked to Tw'eak. "The simulation counts all forms of non-weapons damage as 'exotic'."

"What's so 'exotic' about it?" Tw'eak asked.

"Anything which falls outside of directed energy or projectiles, presumably. That would be the vast majority of the particles, charges and electromagnetic energies of the universe."

Aurora continued shaking her head. "It's just not right. If I'd turned this in as- as an Academy project they would've flunked me out."

"Wait, so all non-weapons energies?"

"Yes." Bianca raised her hands, using one as a sort of pseudo-starship, tapping her fingers in lieu of a deflector dish, warp nacelle and sensor grid as she spoke. "That means all deflector-generated means like gravity wells or tachyon pulses are rated the same as using the Bussard collectors or scrambling sensors - they're all rated to do a specified amount of damage, when we know they may simply influence the ship's behaviour without causing actual damage - and if so, then where on this integer system that number would be. This also creates the possibility of 'healing' the starship, if you will, using auxiliary energies to reproduce more of the specified integer - since the damage is simple subtraction, anything we would do to reinforce structural integrity would simply add up."

"I know we usually report shield strength or hull strength as a percentage, but it's not meant to be literally taken as such - this is ridiculous!" Aurora exclaimed.

Tw'eak raised a hand in suggestion. "What about emergency repairs and rerouting of power-"

"Not what they have in mind," Bianca replied flatly. "There are allocations for emergency power shunting, but again, there are limited choices available since there are limited systems being simulated. And there are certain parts of what they have listed on here that don't reflect any Starfleet practice I know. We certainly can extend shields to other vessels or reinforce their power network to boost their structural integrity, but again - since they've eliminated the idea of a hull as a multi-faceted metal alloy and replaced it with a number, anything we do will only affect the number. Any systems underneath can't be destroyed - just disabled, and even then for a duration."

"So what you're telling me is, in this system, having just enough hull strength while doing maximum damage equals victory?"

"Precisely. And of course, those sorts of systems tend to favour either of those factors rather than both - cruisers have maximum hull strength while escorts can do higher damage. They've almost set it up like flying fortresses versus damage projectors - strictly numerical attrition. It's not reflective of any tactics we'd recognize."

Tw'eak pursed her lips. "I didn't hear any specific role for science vessels."

"Not that you need science ships anyway, according to this," Aurora continued, still indignant.

"It's true," Bianca added, "but they do have a purpose, much of it asymmetrical warfare."

"These ships have some asymmetrical-warfare abilities as well," Tw'eak said, referring to the Phantom class.

"That's true, but in this simulation that's just about their only job. Well-used science ships can turn the tide, either by providing those boosts to damaged ships or by targeting specific systems. They can't punch as hard - and can 'heal' more easily if hit hard, but that's about it."

Tw'eak gave a sour look. "Wait a minute. I could go up to Silhouette's bridge right now and ask Lini to fire upon a target in order to disable, I don't know, its engines or its weapons."

"I realize that - what I'm telling you is that, in this system, our damage will either fall upon shields or hull. Any additional effects will come about due to the 'critical hit' calculations, which apparently simulate damage to systems in addition to causing hull or shield damage well above normal."

"Not that you need 'critical' hits - You can just keep on shooting them until they're zero on both hull and shields and you win!" Aurora frowned and sat down in a chair, flummoxed.

"These concerns appear to be wholly justified," Octavia said once Aurora had taken a moment to breathe. "Based upon the nature of this scenario, with the possible exception of the science ships and their interventions, one may reasonably expect that the ship or ships which are simply capable of producing the largest percentage of damage per second to the opposing target or team will inevitably be the victor in the contest, regardless of hull or shield strength. The sole possibilities available to the vanquished would be to interrupt the sustained period of those attacks, or to seek to outlast them through evasive tactics."

"And that's stupid!" Aurora added. "We could win the entire war tomorrow just by doing more damage than the Klingons, apparently!"

"Well, that's sort of true," Bianca said quietly.

"Doesn't mean we'd be able to do that! Doesn't meant that we'd be right to try! I know this is a war game, but come on - we're still Starfleet officers, we're not going to just kill things over and over again because they're available targets! There are so many more rules of engagement than this to take into account - you know it! We all do! We can't just go blazing through the entire Klingon side of the line just because we have damage enough to do it with!"

"Does the crew know about this?" Tw'eak asked.

"That's another thing! Crew is also an integer!"

"Aurora, please. I know you're upset, but... let's keep it together, now."

"Right, right. Sorry, Admiral." Aurora paused for a moment, closing her eyes to bring herself to a more professional tone. "Crew numbers are what I meant. They play some sort of role - it says they're somehow worked in as a percentage when it comes to hull strength or repairs or ...or something. I don't really understand how. It's not clear. I don't see how it would work, anyway."

Bianca took the opportunity to interrupt. "The impact of science abilities in terms of damage to crew isn't entirely clear, either, although certain types of exotic damage - like radiation - are listed as a factor in the simulation."

"Which types of radiation?" Tw'eak asked.

Bianca's eyes went wide. "ALL of them."

"All of-? Well."

Octavia offered a few inputs into the system. "I can confirm that crew complements of vessels are also rendered as an integer" - here Octavia looked at Aurora as she pronounced that hateful word - "which factors towards response time in regards to length of disabled systems as well as time to commence repairs. Furthermore, most forms of radiation are so specified as suggested - they are all taken as identical. The sole differences are those produced by weapons, such as plasma or certain types of projectile."

"What about chronitons?" Tw'eak asked, thinking aloud.

"They count as both projectile energy and exotic damage, although their effects will be simulated by reducing ship's speed and turn rate."

Tw'eak chuckled. "Seems a safe bet."

Bianca shook her head. "Only for anti-chronitons. Chronitons would actually increase the speed and turn rate."

"I am not entirely certain that is accurate," Octavia retorted.

"They're not stable enough to be consistent, anyway," Bianca replied.

"Your point, however, remains. It is clear that there are specific outcomes listed which may not reflect our expectations, especially where such expectations can encounter other variables. This seems to be true of theta radiation, thalaron radiation, tachyon particles, aceton-"

"Bridge to Admiral."

Tw'eak perked up. "Go ahead, O'Leary."

"Task force now arriving in Elvren system, ma'am."

"Any other starships on sensors?"

O'Leary made a sucking sort of noise. "Nothing but vacuum."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Signal all ships to engage cloak, and set course for the sixth planet. Be sure to avoid any of the micronebulae sighted on forward sensors."

"Don't worry, I know - and I'll be sure to remind them. O'Leary out."

"I wish we had more time to study the micronebulae," Bianca said somberly. "They're home to some really interesting energy creatures. We don't know if they're aware of us, though. It'd be a fascinating project, if we had a chance."

"No time for science in Starfleet - we've got integers to annihilate!" Aurora retorted, her snark set to maximum. "You see what I mean though, right, Admiral? This is ridiculous."

"Alright, listen." Tw'eak raised her hands. "What do you want me to do? We're here. This all kicks off in a matter of hours."

"Just... just get them to explain these numbers, I guess - why they're using this system when it's so... so lacking."

"We haven't heard from Fleet Admiral Kells at all yet. We don't even know which ships we're going up against, or what kinds of rules of engagement he has in mind."

Octavia brushed her hair away from her ocular implant. "He is, to borrow a term from poker, playing with his cards close to his vest."

"Exactly. He's holding everything back. Probably thinks it's a more honest test of my abilities this way."

"But it's not just you, Admiral!" Aurora protested. "We're all involved in this. Everyone I talked to wanted you to know how much of a good job they all hope they do for you."

"I heard a lot of the same," Bianca confirmed.

Octavia merely nodded.

Suddenly, Tw'eak found herself beginning to smile. "He's expecting us to protest."

"He IS?" Aurora somehow managed to sound more outraged.

"Of course he is. We're Intelligence, to his mind. He's probably rallying his people around the idea of their being good old fashioned proper Starfleet - while we're the complicated Intelligence interloper that threatens their way of doing their jobs. That's why he's stacking the deck."

"Another poker metaphor?"

"Just like the one you used - it reflects the nature of the game. He knows we've got analysts, so he's giving us something to analyze. And over-analyze. The way I see it, one of two things is possible. Either the fleet admiral wants to win so badly, he's set us up for failure..."

"...or he's set the rules of the game so that we can figure them out," Bianca said, finishing Tw'eak's sentence.

"Exactly. And I don't think he thinks we can." Tw'eak suddenly realized the stakes she was playing for in these war games were in fact far, far higher than she had previously realized. It wasn't so much that Kells was all-in; it was that he was essentially betting the house on Tw'eak not being able to overcome the game.

"So what should we do?"

"Well, there are a few options available. I'm presuming that re-stacking the deck so it suits us is out of the question."

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Changing the conditions of the game."

"Just like James Kirk would do, exactly. They've given us a Kobayashi Maru scenario writ large - now it's our job to re-program the simulator."

"I doubt sincerely that we would be given free access to the scorekeeping process."

"Maybe not, but we would have to send along observers in order to ensure a fairly-kept score." Tw'eak looked from Octavia to Bianca. "That'd be the two of you, I think."

Bianca nodded. "Makes sense. I can observe and sort out exactly how things are coming together - and if we need to alter the modifiers or the simulation, the captain can probably do the altering."

"That is a massive presumption," Octavia replied. "Nevertheless, I will endeavour to alter the odds in our favour however I might be able."

Aurora, seemingly feeling a bit left out, interjected. "What do I do, then, Admiral?"

"I want you to work with Iffy Wren. Figure out how this simulation software works. If there's any way we can use some sort of an exploit or a workaround in the programming to loophole our way to victory, find it, and we'll use it."

"Ohhh... this sounds an awful lot like cheating..."

"We've already lost, 'rora." Bianca stepped into her sister's line of sight. "You were so angry just a minute ago at how unfair this is. Now the admiral thinks we can do something to level the playing field."

"If necessary." Tw'eak smiled at her officers. "After all, we've all come up against these sorts of scenarios when the integers weren't given to us in advance. It's possible that he's setting this up to see if we'll make a go of it... or knuckle under."

"In which event," Octavia said, "it would be an even more significant victory were we to prevail."

"When we prevail," Tw'eak corrected, still smiling. She cleared her throat. "Alright, thank you for bringing this to my attention. If we need to file a formal complaint about the scorekeeping, Commander, I think we're best to do that after the victor is declared, not before. Not when we have the chance to show them just what we can do."

Aurora let out a little squeal of satisfaction. "Damn right," Bianca said in reply.

"This all presumes that the fleet admiral does not detect our manipulations," Octavia cautioned. "Should he do so, he will no doubt lodge a protest of his own."

"I'd think that's a foregone conclusion," Tw'eak replied with a fiendish grin. "In fact, I'm looking forward to seeing his face when he realizes we've outplayed him at his own game."

* * *

Tw'eak emerged onto the bridge of the Silhouette. Dashii, Lini and O'Leary were at their stations. From the captain's chair, Kit McQueen called out, "Admiral on deck!"

Tw'eak went over to where her flag captain was standing. "You can stop doing that, you know."

"I- ma'am?"

"I appreciate the courtesy, but let's save it for non-bridge situations, like staff meetings and so forth, okay?"

"If you'd prefer." Kit looked a bit hurt.

"No need to apologize." Tw'eak sat at Kit's right, rather than taking the captain's chair, as she might have in another moment. The memory of her last time in the big chair - aboard Warspite - flashed through her mind, pessimistic in her superstitions as she was.

Dashii and Lini looked up from the operations and tactical stations. "All systems standing by for de-cloak," Dashii advised her sister.

"Weapons systems and shields on hot standby," Lini added.

"And we're still flying in a straight line." O'Leary joined in from the conn. "Don't all thank me at once."

"Full impulse?"

"Thrusters only, ma'am. Easier to get around the micronebula that way. Less inertia. Stealthier, too."

"Very well. Still nothing on sensors?"

"No contacts other than our task force," Lini noted. Tw'eak checked her armchair's mini-viewer. The planet Elvren VI, a small planet with an active atmosphere, its singular moon hanging by its side, was some ninety thousand kilometres off.

Tw'eak looked to Kit. "This is damned peculiar."

Kit checked the chronometer. "We're right where we should be. Any hints on the sensors?"

"Already on it, Captain," Dashii said, looking to the sensor console. "I'm getting a faint ion trail. Possible residuals from impulse engines."

"Bread crumbs?" Kit asked Tw'eak.

"What do you m- a trail for us to follow? Maybe."

"Seems a bit unnecessary, doesn't it?" Dashii asked. "I mean, we were ordered to turn up here. If we take off after them, they could show up right back here and we'd look like idiots for going on a wild ...moose chase, is it?"

"Wild goose chase," O'Leary corrected. He then added, "I hate those."

Kit deferred to Tw'eak. "What do you think, Admiral?"

Tw'eak winced at the screen. She knew Kells could be petty, but to order them to report and force them to follow a trail to their location? It seemed somehow beneath him. She considered detaching another ship - one of the science vessels, perhaps Polaris - to go follow the trail, but again, would having just a single ship turn up prove to be a mark against them? Were they overthinking the entire matter? They were still under cloak, so the advantages were theirs entirely. Still, Tw'eak had expected them to turn up in-system ahead of time. The idea of approaching under cloak had mostly been intended as a sort of one-time surprise, a reminder that they had the ability to approach unseen. Perhaps-

"Multiple contacts!" Lini called out. "Reading four - no, five - starships on an intercept course at full impulse."

"Ambush," Dashii said, frowning at her sister. "I spotted them the moment they fired their engines."

"No way they know we're here," Kit said with a shake of her head.

Tw'eak looked at the readings on the sensors through her arm-side viewer. "Doesn't matter - assume we've been spotted, but keep the cloak up until we know for sure. Put them on screen, magnified."

Lini announced the tactical readout as the viewscreen showed the starships emerging from the shadow of Elvren VI's moon. "I'm reading... two Odyssey-class dreadnoughts..." Not a surprise, Tw'eak considered to herself, that Kells would bring two of them to the fight. "Two Armitage-class heavy escort carriers..." A decent tactical disposition. "And a- it's a Nebula."

"There are a lot of those," O'Leary observed, referring to the micronebulae.

"Nebula class starship, she means," Tw'eak noted. Then her eyes fixated on the formation on the viewscreen. The Odyssey class starships were in front, their expansive saucer sections approaching, with the Nebula seemingly distant. The two carriers were barely visible at all, in the centre of the formation.

"They're launching fighters," Dashii observed.

Kit wore a slightly weary look of confusion. "What the hell would they do that for?"

Tw'eak had already figured it out. The presence of a Nebula-class starship meant a tachyon detection grid was active between the ships. She turned to Kit McQueen at fleet-coordination. "Kit, signal evasive pattern Tau four to the fleet."

"Already? But they haven't even-" The look on Tw'eak's face swept any further protestations of unfair practice from Kit's mind. The flag captain pressed a series of controls on her armrest. "Tau four signalled."

O'Leary looked back towards the admiral. "No quick kiss hello before we kill each other, then."

"Dashii?"

Tw'eak's sister ran her hands over her sensor console, then looked to Lini. "I'm reading all weapons systems active, Admiral."

"Looks like you were right, then. Red alert!" The sound of the klaxon resonated through the air.

Kit tapped her console. "Task force now at red alert."

"Signal - Wings One and Three go Alpha-six on the left Odyssey. Wing Two and Turing to Beta-two, target Nebula."

"Sent."

"Programming attack run, Alpha-six," O'Leary noted.

"They haven't opened fire yet, shi," Dashii said quickly. "Shouldn't we let them fire first? Just for appearance's sake?"

"Aggressive posture on their part," Tw'eak replied. "They knew right where we were - Kit. Signal to all ships to forget they even have cloaking devices until we neutralize that Nebula class ship. And have them initiate scrambler code one-one-seven until further notice."

"Got it." Kit tapped out her message. "Sent. And scrambler's active."

"May I identify our adversaries, Admiral?" Lini asked.

"Don't see why you should."

"It may be of interest for you to know that one of those Armitage class carriers is the USS Bonaventure." Tw'eak's head snapped towards Lini. "Your old command. The other is USS Peleliu. And the Nebula-class starship USS Meitner."

Tw'eak bit her lip. "Why am I not surprised?" Kells really was using every trick in the book - a sneak attack to begin the combat, the psychological warfare of forcing her to fire on ships she had once commanded, and now this. "Next thing you'll tell me is that one of those dreadnoughts is the Enterprise."

Lini looked up at Tw'eak with an uneasy smile. "Actually... yeah. USS Enterprise-F alongside USS Nelson."

Tw'eak buried her face in her palm for a moment. "Uzaveh's name." Kells had intentionally arranged his task force to include ships aboard which she had friends or other emotional ties - in the case of USS Nelson, intentionally choosing the ship which had been successor to the Sovereign-class starship where she had spent most of her career, that ship having been lost in the early days of the war with the Klingons. Nelson, Enterprise, Bonaventure, Meitner - all starships whose names (in the case of the Meitner, as a result of court-martial) appeared in Tw'eak's own service record.

Too bad he couldn't find a USS Repulse to join him, she thought to herself.

It was as though Kells had gone out of his way to assemble a task force whose very composition was both tactically and psychologically directed against her in a direct, even provocative fashion. She didn't know whether to feel honoured by the level of detail on display or embarrassed that Kells had seemingly so little else to do except to make such a studied antagonist of himself.

Tw'eak looked up after a moment, putting the fact that this was a mere simulation first and foremost in her mind. No actual damage would befall any of these ships because of weapons fire. Thus, she had nothing to fear from doing the job she was expected to do so long as it was solely with simulated weapons. She put the names and faces of those aboard the adversary vessels out of her mind and concentrated on the task at hand. "Continue our attack run - full thrusters, ready to fire. Make sure the Nebula-class starship's sensors are neutralized so we can get back to our usual tactics."

"Yes, ma'am," O'Leary confirmed.

"Okay, people." Tw'eak gritted her teeth, ready for what came next. "Let's do this."


	70. Part V, Chapter 3

The bridge doors opened, and Bianca duBois came onto the bridge of the starship Silhouette, followed by Octavia. This wasn't their usual battle station, of course, but Tw'eak appreciated their presence all the same.

"Glad you're both here."

"Nowhere else to be, Admiral." Bianca looked up at the screen. "They tried to ambush us?"

"Yeah. Could use you both."

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "It has been some time since I functioned as a bridge officer."

"Is that a problem?"

"Actually, the reduced responsibility of a single station has its advantages. I find myself... relieved?"

Tw'eak smiled at her friend. "Me too."

Lini's directions from the tactical station made Tw'eak turn back forwards again. "Simulated weapons will be within range in ten seconds."

"Be sure to stay evasive, O'Leary."

From the conn, Denver O'Leary merely gave Tw'eak a thumbs-up without looking backwards.

"Spirit is signalling ready to fire," Kit noted. "They're in echelon with us."

"Perfect. The other wings?"

"Wing Four is awaiting orders - Wings One and Three will make contact with target Nelson shortly."

"What are they doing, Lini?"

"Just a minute, ma'am." The weapons opened fire, and a series of electronic boops sounded across the bridge. Tw'eak expected to see the flashes of beam fire from the forward section on the viewer, but as it was, there was no visible effect - the weapons, after all, were simulated. "We've taken a few hits from Enterprise and Nelson. Peleliu and Bonaventure fighters are pursuing."

"Ignore them - come off high to their port side, don't cross their beam."

"Avoid their torpedoes - right."

"Have they deployed their Aquarius escorts yet?"

"Not yet," Dashii said, referring to the small attack ship Odyssey-class vessels had mounted within their stardrive section's tails.

"Notify me if they try anything multi-vectored - the second either of them separates the chevron, call it out."

"On it," Dashii replied. "Simulated shields are down to seventy-eight percent."

"Hull remains unaffected," Octavia added.

Tw'eak turned to Kit. "How's the rest of it going?"

"Skarbek's been hit hardest, but it also hit Nelson for the most damage - Nelson's forward shields are at thirty-six percent, slight hull damage."

"There's a lot of hull there to damage," Tw'eak noted. She looked up to Lini. "Attack pattern Delta - try to hit the sensors if you can."

"I don't think it'll matter." Lini frowned. "Short of a chance hit, I mean."

"Coming around," O'Leary said quickly.

Tw'eak turned to Bianca. "Can you jam their sensors at all?"

"I think so." Bianca turned to her console and worked it out. "Got it!"

The ship suddenly jerked hard to the left. "Meitner's got us in a tractor beam!" O'Leary noted.

"This oughta fix that problem," Bianca noted, her hands flying over her controls. "Meitner sensors jammed!"

"We're free!" Lini replied.

"Continue attack run," Tw'eak said calmly. She looked over to Kit. "Order all wings to continue focus on the Nelson."

"Even Turing?"

"Have they engaged yet?"

"Yes, ma'am. They're at our three o'clock, turning towards our twelve."

"Give them a little room, Mister O'Leary."

"You got it," came the reply from the helm.

"Firing now," Lini noted.

The Phantom-class escort responded nimbly, its attack run completed, cutting under the Meitner in order to confuse its targeting sensors. In so doing, it put the broadside of the Enterprise directly into its path, giving it little room to maneuver. Enterprise, seemingly blind to the obstacle it posed, actually banked away from Silhouette, causing O'Leary to make an evasive maneuver that caused it to pass between the ship's lengthy nacelle and its stardrive.

This made Tw'eak nearly stand up and take notice. "How did you do that?"

"No shields," O'Leary noted. "Normally we couldn't do that. Today? Nothing there to stop us."

"I - oh."

"Yeah, just about the only benefit of simulated combat, right?"

Tw'eak gave a quick grin. "Are Meitner's sensors still down?"

"No, they didn't stay down for long," Bianca replied.

"Perhaps we might consider utilizing an directed tachyon beam towards their shields," Octavia reasoned.

"I can set that up - won't be very powerful, though."

"In combination with Spirit's attacks, it may create a hole in the Meitner's shields."

Tw'eak winced. "That still doesn't take down their sensors. Which means we're hopeless against these guys."

"I don't understand," Kit countered. "We're doing fine."

"At full strength, yes - but if they take down any one of us, we lose a little more attacking power and give them one less target to divide their fire between. Our task is that much harder. It'll be much harder to drop an Odyssey without enough firepower."

"Okay. Is there any way we can-"

There was a flash on the viewscreen as Silhouette came around for another pass. "Holy crap!" O'Leary shouted.

Tw'eak was alarmed. "What happened?"

Lini looked to her console, as did Dashii. It was the older of the two, at operations, who spoke first. "Looks like a collision," Dashii observed. "Scorpion seems to have clipped nacelles with Peleliu."

"How?"

"I don't know, shi."

"No shields," O'Leary pointed out. "That's how."

"I'm reviewing the sensor data - he's right." Dashii grimaced at her sister. "It looks like they both broke the same way in an evasive maneuver. At those speeds, even nav-shields wouldn't have prevented it."

Tw'eak looked to Kit. "Have the task force disengage attack."

"Confirmed," Kit noted.

"The damage to Peleliu appears to be quite severe," Octavia noted.

"How bad?"

Octavia brought up a schematic of the Peleliu, its Akira-class wireframe glowing bright red along its port side aft. "The impact seems to have caused the port nacelle housing to become fractured. The whole nacelle is losing structural integrity."

"What about Scorpion?"

Octavia tapped a few controls. "Impact appears to have been along the forward starboard edge of the saucer. There is extensive hull damage but their starboard nacelle appears intact and their systems remain fully functional otherwise." An alert flashed on her screen. "Peleliu is shutting down its warp field."

Tw'eak had heard enough. "Order all ships - disengage and get clear. Not just ours - all of them."

"Damn, I hope everyone's alright over there," Bianca said, her voice aggrieved.

Octavia nodded somberly. "Indeed."

"Ma'am," Lini blurted out anxiously, "we're still taking weapons fire."

"We what?"

"In simulation. Nelson and Bonaventure are pursuing."

"Seriously?" Bianca was unimpressed.

"Our ships are mostly out of their weapons range now," Kit added.

"Evasive maneuvers. Get some distance. Hail the Nelson," Tw'eak instructed.

Dashii did as she was asked. "No reply, Admiral." Her face bore a mystified expression.

"Send as open signal, then. Uncoded, to all ships - Task Force Silhouette stands down."

After a few moments, Dashii shook her head. "I think they're jamming us."

"Like hell." Tw'eak took a deep breath. This was just a simulation. Was Kells sincerely this obsessive? She considered for a moment. "Helm, bring us about. I want you to aim our nose right squarely at the bridge of the Nelson."

O'Leary spun in place. "Ma'am?"

"What?" Dashii gasped.

"He doesn't want to talk. And he's seen what happens when we get too close. So let's drop in and say hello." Silhouette's course remained unchanged for a moment. "You heard me, mister."

"But - it's just that, at these speeds, with only nav-shielding-"

Tw'eak was nonplussed. "Ramming speed."

"Holy crap," O'Leary stated.

"Admiral," Octavia said sharply, "this is not to be advised."

"I've got this. Really. Please, just carry out my orders."

"Holy craaaap," O'Leary repeated, turning back to his console. "Coming around."

Tw'eak sat down and looked at Kit. "I want all other ships to focus full attack patterns and weapons fire on Nelson - but have them continue on a heading away until I order them to come about and fire."

"I - okay." Kit keyed in the sequence of orders.

"Intercept course laid in," O'Leary said.

Kit tapped her console. "Orders sent."

"Fire at will," Tw'eak instructed Lini. "Simulated shields full fore."

"Compensating," Dashii said.

"Shift to full rear once we're past them."

"So we're not going to die today," O'Leary asked, only half in jest. He turned to Tw'eak. "Right?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "But he doesn't know that."

"Who?" Kit asked.

"Kells. Either he's on the bridge right now or I'm a zabathu's zhavey."

Octavia looked over at Tw'eak. "Technically, Admiral, it would be impossible for you to be a zhavey, as you are-"

"Joke," Tw'eak said with a smile.

"Ah. Of course." Octavia looked back to her console. "May I pose an inquiry, Admiral?"

"Now's as good a time as any."

"Our success in this maneuver seems predicated upon the Nelson behaving as we predict."

"Something like that, yes." Tw'eak permitted herself a small smile.

"Suppose they do nothing of the sort?"

"Then we'll get to see Mister O'Leary at his best."

"Holy craaaaaap," O'Leary said once again.

"Oh, and Octavia - if you'd please, give me emergency power to weapons and auxiliary power to the inertial dampeners, please."

Kit started to giggle at Tw'eak's left. "I don't know what you're up to, but I can't wait to see it."

Tw'eak looked up at Kit and winked. "Have the task force come around in... ten seconds."

"Right," Kit said, still chuckling to herself.

"Fifteen seconds to collision," O'Leary noted.

"Forward sim-shields down to forty-seven percent," Dashii observed.

"I'll see if I can transfer auxiliary power to the shields," Bianca said helpfully.

"Simulated torpedo impact," Lini noted. "Hull damage, forward."

"O'Leary, put us into a shallow roll."

"I- what?"

"Invert us. Now."

Now it was O'Leary's turn to laugh. "Yee-haw," he said as he did, and then positioned the ship.

"Kit?"

"They're right behind us!" Kit was practically bouncing in her seat.

In the distance beyond Silhouette's direction of travel, the task force with which it shared its name had come about, and formed up into a tight radial formation, poised to attack with Turing at the centre of the wheel. Scorpion struggled to keep its place within the formation, the damage to its forward hull - actual, non-simulated, collision damage - causing it to accelerate asymmetrically. The shearing force caused the forward hull to begin to buckle under the strain. This did not go unobserved - a narrow-beam energy transfer from Polaris began to supplement the stricken vessel's structural integrity with its own power. Before them, the lead escort came upside-down towards the Nelson, causing that vessel's pathing to alter just slightly downward. This was precisely the evasive maneuver Tw'eak had expected - and needed. She looked up, through the clear dome of the Silhouette's bridge, at the bright grey surface which passed through its field of vision. Somehow, implausibly given the speeds involved, she imagined Kells' face, utterly ashen with shock at her maneuver. The urge to wave, to offer some gesture of contempt, to just generally glower through the upper viewport, was overwhelming, but Tw'eak merely watched the grey streak of duranium-tritanium pass over the transparency,

"Right us and intercept the Peleliu," Tw'eak said. "Have an engineering team standing by in transporter room."

"Got it," O'Leary replied.

"I will do so," Octavia said.

"Nelson is taking multiple simulated hits," Lini added. "They're down to - Nelson disabled!"

"Who'd we lose?"

"No one!"

"Kit - have them neutralize Bonnie as well."

"Bonnie-" Kit looked around the console's viewscreen. "Bonaventure. Right."

"Dashii, once we've passed their jamming field-"

"We're being hailed!"

"By?"

Dashii checked her board. "USS Peleliu."

"On screen."

The bridge of USS Peleliu looked like a scene out of Tw'eak's nightmares. Bridge monitors sparking, bridge station chairs tossed asunder, wounded being treated, and at the centre, a single individual brushing the smoke aside to see the forward viewscreen, coughing. "Silhouette?"

"Silhouette. Vice Admiral Sh'abbas."

"Captain Pedro d'Sosa." He coughed again. "Requesting assistance."

"We're on our way - what's your situation?"

"That maneuver wasn't something we were expecting. The starship Meitner is coming into range now to take off wounded and non-essential personnel, they'll help us hold together long enough to evacuate. But there isn't much time."

"I can send help as well - what do you need?"

"Our warp core is going critical. The warp nacelle impact caused a cascade failure in our EPS routing - we're not sure how we're still alive, actually. My senior surviving engineer estimates we have eight, maybe ten minutes. But that's an estimate."

Tw'eak saw Octavia turn to her console from the corner of her eye. "Launch as many shuttles and other craft as you can - have you given the evacuation order yet?"

"Yes, but my people want to stay and save the ship if they can."

"I believe it is possible, Admiral," Octavia announced.

Tw'eak turned to Octavia. "You do?"

"Yes. But I will need to go aboard the Peleliu in order to assess feasibility."

"I-" Tw'eak hesitated for just a moment. She turned back to the screen. "Get as many of your people off as you can, Captain - bare minimum remaining behind."

"That means I'll be staying too, then," the captain said.

"You're an old-fashioned sort," Tw'eak gave a slight smile to Captain d'Sosa. "So was I. Good luck."

"Thanks. Peleliu out."

The screen snapped off, and Octavia stepped forward. "Requesting permission to beam over."

"You'll be killed," O'Leary said.

"A distinct possibility. Yet my familiarity with the Akira-class design, from my time aboard Bonaventure, gives me a series of advantages if we are to save the Peleliu." Octavia raised an eyebrow. "The odds of which which decrease with each passing second if we do not act."

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Bridge to transporter room - beam Captain Eight of Twelve directly to the Peleliu's engine room. Once you've done that, commence evacuation of all personnel that you can from Peleliu. Hurry."

"Yes ma'am," came the reply.

Bianca turned away from her console, and she and Tw'eak both watched as Octavia dematerialized into the transporter beam, a slight smile on her face.

Tw'eak hit her commbadge again. "Bridge to Aurora duBois."

"Admiral?"

"I, uh... I'm gonna need you up here, Aurora."

"Where's Octavia?"

"Just get up here, 'rora." This came not from Tw'eak, but Bianca.

"On my way."

"Shi?" Dashii quietly sought her own sister's attention. "We're getting a hail."

"From?"

"Fleet Admiral Kells would like to speak to you."

Tw'eak scoffed. She knew it was unprofessional to do so, especially in front of younger officers. But for once, Kells had finally succeeded in getting to her. "No time for that. Let him eat static."

"Right on, shi."

Tw'eak looked over at Lini. To her surprise, the junior officer present merely gave a half-nod to her admiral, every bit as outraged. She turned to Kit. "Wonder if he'll court-martial me for that, too."

Kit shrugged. "Wouldn't surprise me."

"Dashii, hail the Turing."

"I have Captain Lee standing by, actually. He just hailed us."

"On screen."

The Turing's commander filled the forward viewscreen. "Admiral, I'm requesting permission to assist in rescue operations."

"Granted. Begin evacuations. You've got more transporters than we do."

"So we do. Our sensors read a build-up to detonation in their warp core. Perhaps an engineering party might be able to assist."

"Don't risk it. We've sent-" Tw'eak tilted her head slightly, her voice catching in her throat. "Our best people are over there now, helping out. All we can do now is get everyone off and hope for the best."

"Our rescue operation will commence the moment we are in range," Lee said. "Turing out."

Tw'eak looked up towards Dashii. "Where's Meitner?"

"They're at our ten o'clock, they're assisting with retrieval and repairs. Hazard emitters are active, and they're reinforcing the structural integrity - not sure what that'll do to keep them together if the warp core goes."

Tw'eak pondered for a moment. "Captain Connaught is in command of the Meitner now, is he not?"

"I don't know? Probably."

"Not your favourite person, is he," Tw'eak said to Bianca.

Her efforts to lighten the mood, however, faltered into silence. After a moment, the turbolift door opened, admitting Aurora duBois to the bridge. "Where's the captain?" she whispered to her sister.

Her face solemn, Bianca looked up towards the damaged Peleliu. Aurora's eyes followed her, and both they and Tw'eak were watching as an explosion ripped apart the stricken nacelle.

"Oh my God," Aurora said.

A series of alarms began sounding from Lini's station. "I don't believe it!" she screamed.

Tw'eak didn't take her eyes off the Peleliu. "What is it?"

Lini's eyes went wide. "I have multiple enemy contacts in-system."

"Oh, for crap's sake. You gotta be kidding me," O'Leary muttered.

"Data-link from Meitner. I have three cloaked Klingon Birds-of-Prey and a Klingon battlecruiser, Mogh class, in-system."

"Do the Klingons know we're here?"

"Meitner data-link indicates they're following that same ion trail we left earlier."

"They must think we're a wounded freighter or something," Bianca conjectured.

"Whatever they think we are, they just made things a whole lot more complicated," Tw'eak noted. "Signal the task force to disengage all simulated weapons. This war game just got real."

* * *

It took several minutes for the task force to respond to the Meitner's sensor information. "All allied ships have powered down simulation equipment - normal systems active and all ships report ready for action," Kit announced. "Scorpion reports they're going to have to withdraw sooner than later due to hull damage."

"Status of Peleliu?" Tw'eak asked aloud.

At the engineering station, Aurora read the tracking report. "Not good. I'm reading their warp core is about to go critical. We should really get clear, Admiral."

"Do we have everyone, though?"

At the operations station, Dashii read aloud. "Only about twenty people left over there - all in the engine room. Starships Turing and Meitner are both clear. Meitner just went - yeah, there goes Turing, too now. Full impulse, the other way."

From the conn, O'Leary looked back towards Tw'eak. "I'm gonna back her off just a touch."

"Not yet."

Aurora made a slight noise of discontent. "Admiral, we're in the blast zone - with our shields down."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. She could beam the last twenty crew members - one of whom was her friend and former first officer Octavia - out despite their efforts. That would mean the definite loss of the starship Peleliu. But at the same time, they might succeed - or might not. And increasing distance would mean increasing the risk of transport. The micronebulae of the Elvren system interfered with their sensors just enough that it might throw off a transporter lock to be at a safe distance - dooming those few remaining on Peleliu to a meaningless sacrifice.

And then there were the Klingons to think about. "Activate cloaking device."

"Admiral?" Lieutenant Lini asked incredulously from tactical.

"You heard me."

"But we won't be able to raise shields."

"I know. Mister O'Leary, I want full impulse the moment we activate beamout."

O'Leary turned to his console. "Ohhhh-kay?"

"Put my heading one six three mark one one five. Get the Peleliu in our aft quarter - now."

"Changing course - ready for... full impulse on your command." O'Leary's input caused the main viewscreen to pan away, towards an expanse of the Elvren system, leaving the crew unable to see Peleliu in real time.

"Transporter lock is holding," Dashii advised. Her console beeped. "Fleet Admiral Kells again on channels."

Tw'eak turned to her flag captain. "Kit, signal all ships in the task force to engage cloak."

"Sure."

"We don't know what the Klingons out there can see." She looked up to tactical. "Lini, request further information from Meitner. Tell them not to lose sight of that battlecruiser and its escorts."

"Right," Lini replied. "They're still coming in slowly, almost in what we know to be their sensor range now. I think they're anticipating an ambush - from us."

"Or springing one," Kit added.

"My guess," Dashii interrupted to add, "is that they're following our impulse trails. They know something was here. They probably think we're just a big freighter, maybe a convoy. But if they come across Peleliu in the state she's in, we're in trouble."

"If there's anything left of Peleliu," Aurora muttered.

"How bad is it?"

"If they haven't got her stable in the next... I'd say thirty seconds, they never will."

Tw'eak took a sharp breath. This was a difficult call. She had concealed the presence of her task force, but five other vessels were here as well, none of them with the benefit of a cloak, and one of them on the verge of catastrophic warp core failure.

"There will be extensive damage to the surrounding micronebulae if Peleliu does explode," Bianca noted. "And to the energy beings who live there."

Tw'eak nodded sadly. "Not much we can do about that, I'm afraid."

"Admiral!" Lini nearly shrieked. "Their shields just went up!"

"Whose shields?"

"Peleliu's!"

Aurora turned back to her console. "It's true - they've - what the hell..."

"Report, Aurora."

"They've inverted their shield. They've re-routed all their power into structural integrity and the shields, but the shields are essentially facing both ways!"

"Is that possible?"

"Yes, but - I mean, why would you ever want to do that?"

Tw'eak smiled. "Octavia." She looked over to Bianca. "Those micronebulae you mentioned. She's using Peleliu's own shields to mitigate the blast damage."

"But that won't do much," Dashii noted. "And it means we can't beam anyone out."

"Move us away, O'Leary."

"Finally," O'Leary remarked.

The starship Silhouette flew across space in the direction of the two task forces, who were making best speed for the far side of Elvren VI. The distance sufficiently far to keep the unshielded vessel safe, Tw'eak closed her eyes and quietly hoped for better news than what she expected.

"I don't believe it," Dashii said after a moment.

Tw'eak looked up at her sister. "What?"

"Peleliu's weapons are powering up!"

"Impossible," Aurora remarked.

"No, really," Lini said to Aurora.

Aurora looked to her console. "I don't believe it! They did it! And now they're gonna fight!"

"How in Uzaveh's name did they manage that?"

"Won't matter - they won't be able to do much," Dashii noted appreciatively, "but that doesn't seem to be stopping them. They're turning to face the Klingons."

"Do the Klingons know they're there?"

"Definitely. Meitner data link indicates the battle cruiser is hailing Peleliu."

"Where is Meitner?"

"Both it and Bonaventure are on course to intercept Peleliu - I'd imagine to provide support."

"What about Enterprise?"

Dashii shook her head. "Going the other way." She waited a moment before adding, "Nelson's with them. And the fleet admiral's hailing us again, big surprise."

"Task Force Silhouette standing by for orders," Kit added.

"And they're - where?" Tw'eak checked the map display. The task force was midway between the two Odyssey class starships and the crippled Meitner. Tw'eak looked up towards Dashii. "Hail the Peleliu."

"But I still have Fleet Ad-"

"Drop him. Get me Peleliu. And have Bonaventure on standby."

"Right." Dashii worked the controls, and Captain Pedro d'Sosa's face came up on the screen. He stood with his back to the engine room.

"Good work, Captain."

"It's your specialist I have to thank. She did an amazing job. Never thought I'd be so happy to have a Borg show up onboard."

"What's your plan for now?"

"We can't get away. So we're going to warn them off and hope they don't notice the damage. The warp core is stabilizing - give us another forty-five seconds or so and we'll be back underway at... half-power."

"Should we beam your crew contingent back over to you?"

"That'd be great, yeah. We're a bit short-staffed for now."

Tw'eak tapped her armchair console, opening the frequency across the ship. "Attention all personnel of USS Peleliu, this is Admiral Sh'abbas. Your starship is no longer in danger of destroying itself, but she'll need help against the incoming Klingon raiding party. We will be making an emergency beam-out of those of you who are aboard. Please return to the transporter room and stand by." Tw'eak then tapped another button. "Transporter room, did you get that?"

"Yes, ma'am. Calibrating transporter for emergency transport of thirty-four personnel."

On the screen, Captain d'Sosa briefly lowered the starship's shields. "Well, it's some, anyway. Standing by over here."

The disembodied voice of the transporter chief came over the comms. "Beam-out complete, Admiral."

"Good work."

D'Sosa quietly resumed the prior shield status, then noted his auxiliary command console blinking. "The Klingons are hailing us - I better take this. Gonna see if I can stall them. Thanks, Admiral."

Tw'eak smiled. "Good luck. Silhouette out."

Moments thereafter, Dashii nodded at Tw'eak and brought up the communication from USS Bonaventure. The sight of a burly Caitian in the command chair brought a huge smile to Tw'eak's face.

"Greetings, Admiral," Lio'wan said.

"Commander Lio'wan - how've you been?"

"Five by five, ma'am. I wish we'd had more time to catch up. It's Captain now. The Bonnie's mine to command."

Tw'eak was surprised. "Congratulations."

"Sorry to tell you like this, but Captain Sharpe never really recovered from our experience with the Hirogen. He handed command over to me just last week."

"We'll have to have a little celebration later - all of us from the old Bonnie."

"I'd like that - is that O'Leary at your conn?"

"How's it going, big guy?" O'Leary said with a huge smile.

Aurora waved from her console. "Hey! Me too!"

Lio'wan made a sort of clicking, purring noise. "Good to see you all here." He furrowed his brow. "We're launching fighters to screen Peleliu. Meitner will provide cover. You'll probably want to disengage - keep your secrets safe."

"At first, yes. But if you need support, we'll be right here. I think you can handle this."

Lio'wan raised both eyebrows. "You're sure."

Tw'eak nodded. "I think you're more than ready for the big chair... Captain."

"Big chair for a big Caitian," O'Leary quipped.

Lio'wan's ears came fully up and forward. "We shall make the most of the occasion. Bonaventure out."

Kit McQueen leaned over towards Tw'eak. "Old friend of yours?"

"Very. He saved my life - at least twice that I can count."

"Nice. Good for him, making captain's rank. We'll remain up here while they sort out the Klingons, then."

"For the moment. Order the task force to stand by - except for Scorpion - order them to lay in an immediate evasive course, break system and head to Starbase 39-Sierra for repairs."

"Just a second - got it. Sent."

"Now, then," Tw'eak said, looking to her sister. "Get me the fleet admiral."

"Don't even need to," Dashii said with a sarcastic smile. "He's right here." She pushed a button, revealing the face of Fleet Admiral Kells, equal shades of grey and red, on screen.

"What is the meaning of this delay, Vice Admiral?"

"Sorry, sir, we... had other duties to perform."

"Like hell you did. Your orders don't include anything about charging off against Klingons."

"I'm aware of my responsibilities to my task force, sir." Tw'eak made a point of clipping the last word slightly.

"And another thing - what in the hell were you playing at, ramming one of my ships?"

"Ramming? We did nothing of the sort."

"Like hell you didn't. I'm going to have that captain of yours up on charges as soon as we get to spacedock. And if I like the sound of what you're about to say, you'll be lucky to avoid them yourself."

"We have extensive sensor data to prove that the collision was accidental - the term that's typically used for what happened is 'human error', sir, but as Captain Th'sazik is Andorian, like myself, I don't know if it's applicable."

Kells ground his teeth for a moment. "And you'd be prepared to provide that data - untampered and unmodified?"

"As always, sir, our first duty lies with the truth."

Kells seemed slightly abashed. Tw'eak elevated her chin slightly in facing him. "Right," he growled after a moment.

"May I ask, sir, what your intention was in pursuing us as you did?"

"My what?"

Tw'eak kept a light, inquisitive tone in her voice. "After the collision, I ordered my task force to break off and rendez-vous. Elements of your task force" - here Tw'eak was careful not to specify that it was Kells' own ship - " continued pursuit despite our having deactivated our simulated weapons and signalled our intention to stand down. This would be a gross violation of the rules of conduct in this simulation. May I query the admiral's intention in so doing?"

This seemed to merely enrage Kells further, possibly because the result had been his vessel neutralized. Tw'eak merely raised an eyebrow in the Vulcan fashion as he spoke, studiously avoiding showing any reaction of any kind. "You think you're so damn smart, you and your... intelligence people, your secret fleet, and who knows what else you're up to. Alright, I admit it. I was fully intent on bringing you down to size. I've watched your career - studied you, gotten to know you. And you... you're a very lucky lady. You've caught one break after another. We've seen far better crews than yours die in the line of duty, under less pressure than you've faced, and yet there you are, flying in the face of regulations and protocols, left, right and centre. Looks like you just got lucky again - but maybe this time is the last time. Consider that."

"I see." Tw'eak was measured in her response - far more than the Admiral's unprofessional tone deserved. "May I make the admiral two suggestions?"

Kells gave Tw'eak a look of fiery, unrestrained contempt. "You go right ahead."

"Firstly. I have always found that my... luck, as you call it, can largely be attributed to maintaining control over my own emotions during combat. It may serve the admiral well to work on doing so in future simulations."

Kells blushed - somehow becoming more incandescent as a result. His face glowered on screen like an impending supernova.

"Secondly, I would like to suggest - or perhaps rather request - that my task force be transferred to the oversight and command of a different fleet admiral than yourself."

"On what grounds?" Kells barked.

Tw'eak crossed her legs, indicating the bridge crew surrounding her. "I have numerous references to witness your statement - it is my belief that you have demonstrated an ...unsound level of obsession with both my task force, and with myself personally. I believe I speak for my crew when I say that we no longer wish to serve under your command."

This remark seemed to wound Kells in his last tender spot. He swallowed hard, leaned back in his chair, gritting his teeth again. "I will take your suggestions under advisement. This starship will escort your wounded vessel to Starbase 39-Sierra, and from there, return to Earth Spacedock... where I will process your requested transfer."

"Thank you, sir. May I say it's been an honour to serve with you, regardless." This was a lie, but Tw'eak knew the importance of keeping up appearances.

Kells merely switched off the viewer, his expression memorable, to say the least.

Dashii laughed. "How in Uzaveh's name did you do that?"

Tw'eak looked over at her sister and burst out into giggles of her own. "I don't even know."

"Spera wasn't kidding - she told me about the last time you faced that guy down... wow, shi."

O'Leary had turned around, and was also chuckling. He broke into an impression of Kells. "You people just got lucky - maybe for the last time."

"I think that's what he was after," Lini suggested.

"You think he wanted to kill us?" Kit asked.

"Maybe he was hoping to... 'get lucky' in another way."

"What? Ew!" Aurora sounded disgusted. "Him and the admiral!?"

"I'm just saying. You know what those kinds of guys are like."

"Lieutenant!" It was Tw'eak herself who intervened. "Are you accusing the fleet admiral of having some sort of... interest beyond the professional in me?"

"No, ma'am! I - uh, I mean, well, yeah, I absolutely was. I'm sorry."

"That's a very serious charge, one I would warn you is unbecoming of a Starfleet officer to make."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the moment that followed. Then Bianca spoke. "I kinda saw it that way too, ma'am."

"Uh, yeah," Kit McQueen added. "Like, creepy old man stuff." Tw'eak gave Kit a sideways glance. "Ma'am."

"Let's get two things straight. First, Fleet Admiral Kells told me himself that he's married."

"Oh, yeah, 'cause that's ever counted for anything," Dashii snarked.

"And secondly," Tw'eak said, her voice rising to sound something like Kells', "I can do so, so much better."

This finally broke the tension on the bridge, and all assembled had a good laugh for a moment. Then Lini spoke up. "I should probably point out that we've turned back the Klingons," she reported. "Whatever Peleliu said to them, looks like it worked."

"Excellent news."

"Hey, I'm getting a hail," Dashii noted. "Oh, it's the Bonaventure. Captain Cutie Caitian calling for you again."

Tw'eak shook her head at her sister. "Can we just - like, decorum, people, please. Let's all pretend I'm not the last professional officer left in Starfleet."

"Hey, you said yourself, shi - you can do so much better. Well, I have so much better on priority channel."

"Dashichal - Lieutenant Commander zh'Abbas. That will be enough."

Dashii smiled. "Hailing frequencies open."

Lio'wan's face appeared on the screen. "Admiral - I have something to report."

"By all means."

"The Klingon battlecruiser. It's... well, let me be plain. Its captain was rather unexpectedly... Andorian."

The humour was drawn out of the room as if a vacuum had opened in the external hull. "Did this Andorian identify him or herself?"

"Herself, ma'am. She called herself General Sassil Sh'abbas. Of the Klingon Imperial Guard."

"Uzaveh's name," Dashii swore yet again.

Tw'eak, however, did not waste a moment. She stood up, not even taking a moment to bid Lio'wan and the Bonaventure a proper farewell. "Find me that battlecruiser - pursuit course - full impulse - engage!"


	71. Part V, Chapter 4

On the bridge of the Silhouette, Tw'eak leaned forward in her chair. The ship was closing distance on the last known co-ordinates of a Klingon battle cruiser upon which she believed her sister Sassil, now apparently a general in the Klingon Defense Force, was serving, possibly even in command.

From behind Tw'eak, Bianca duBois came forward. "Admiral, may I point out something?"

"What's that?"

"I obviously appreciate the fact that this is important to you, and honestly, I want you to catch her. But is it really worth revealing the Silhouette to them? The moment we lower our cloak, they'll have a full sensor scan of a brand-new class of Federation escort - at close range."

Tw'eak snapped her head around towards Bianca. "I hadn't thought of that. Nicely put." She stood up, moving towards the operations station. "Dashichal, stand up."

"I- what?"

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Transporter, two to beam directly to the bridge of the Bonaventure."

"What the hell, shi?" Dashii stumbled into place next to Tw'eak.

"Lini, hail Lio'wan - tell him we're coming."

Lini nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Helm, all stop," Kit McQueen ordered, then came to her feet. "I suppose we'll see you when you get back."

"Thanks. Stay under cloak and cover us."

"Sure will. I'll find a spot to hide - and we won't come out until we're absolutely sure you need us."

"Good plan. Transporter?"

Lini nodded. "Bonaventure's lowering shields for transport."

"Good," was all Tw'eak had the chance to say before the beam-out began.

* * *

The bridge of the starship Bonaventure was exactly as Tw'eak remembered it, with one notable difference - seated in the command chair she had once occupied was an old friend, burly shoulders and soft fur bristling out all over. Captain Lio'wan stood and saluted Tw'eak. "Admiral."

Tw'eak returned the salute - as, belatedly, so did Dashii, who was still scowling at her sister. "Request permission to come aboard."

"Never needed here." Lio'wan smiled, his ears perking up. He stepped aside and seated himself in the first officer's chair. "It'd be an honour to see you sit there again."

"Signal the Meitner that I'm aboard," Tw'eak said to the operations officer.

"The Meitner?" Dashii asked. "Not the Sil- uh, our ship?"

"Meitner's got the right kind of sensors for this. I want them to keep track of where she is." Tw'eak looked up to the tactical station. "Lieutenant."

This lieutenant was a tall, slim Rigelian. "Ma'am?"

"Do you have telemetry on the route the Klingon battlecruiser is taking?"

"Yes, ma'am. Tracking their course and speed. We've deployed both wings of fighters in pursuit. They're screening its position now."

"Those fighters are helping us triangulate through the Meitner's sensor grid," Lio'wan pointed out.

"Of course. Tachyon detection takes more than one starship."

"Exactly," Lio'wan said with a purring smile.

Tw'eak turned to the conn. "Helm, pursuit course, please."

"Laid in - engaging," the helm officer, a dark-skinned Saurian female, replied.

Tw'eak turned to Dashii, who had settled into the third chair in the command section of the bridge. "What do I say to her?"

"She used to hate it when you teased her," Dashii offered, helpfully.

"So did you," Tw'eak replied.

"And how N'klin used to flick her antennae."

"He did that to all of us, though."

"Not me - at least not after that one time, remember? Not after I kicked him in the-"

"Admiral?" the tactical station lieutenant asked. "Should I prepare attack patterns?"

"Not yet," Tw'eak replied, looking back to her sister. "I'll think of something, I guess." She looked back upwards to tactical as she stood up. "Open hailing frequencies."

"Hailing frequencies open."

"To all Klingon starships in range: this is Vice Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas of - aboard the Federation starship Bonaventure, requesting contact with General Sassil Sh'abbas of the Klingon Defense Force. Please reply." A few moments of silence followed. "I say again, this is Vice Admiral Sh'abbas, calling General Sh'abbas. Please reply."

The tactical lieutenant shook his head. "No response, Admiral."

Dashii rose to her feet as well. "Hey, Sass - it's Dashii. You never did know when to quit playing hide and seek, did you?"

Tw'eak leaned towards her sister, shooting an embarrassed look to a bemused Lio'wan. "That's not helping."

Dashii stepped away from Tw'eak. "Not like you're any good at it, stupid. Come on, you ice vole - we know you're out there somewhere." Dashii and Tw'eak both looked up towards the tactical officer. Tw'eak gave a nod to Dashii, urging her on. "Or are we keeping you from your usual work, blowing up innocent freighters and mining operations? Wouldn't want to get in the way of civilian casualties, now would we. Oh, wait, of COURSE we would, we're Starfleet. And you're not."

"Admiral," the tactical lieutenant said. He waved Tw'eak over to his console, and as he came, she could clearly see the anomaly which represented the Klingon battlecruiser was engaging in a turn. "It's working," he whispered.

"Not good enough for Starfleet, but always too good to show your face," Dashii said boldly. Her voice trailed off as the viewscreen revealed the forward section of a Mogh class battlecruiser, decloaking and squarely aimed at the middle of the screen. "What else is new..." Dashii trailed off as she turned, her eyes widening at the sight of the demon she'd summoned.

The tactical console beeped. "They're hailing us."

"About time." Tw'eak stepped back forward, just in front of Dashii. "Excuse me, zhi, you're in my spot."

Dashii made a noise that was partly a scoff, and partly a chuckle, as she resumed her seat. "Didn't think it'd work."

"She might be a general, but she's still the same old Sassil. On screen."

The viewer switched to the interior of a Klingon starship, its massive command deck replete with metal buttresses and stairs leading to a command chair in shadow. Multiple KDF officers - two Letheans, a Ferasan, a Gorn, but mostly Klingon - were visible scuttling about in the periphery. "Who is this Starfleet voice that asks for Sassil Sh'abbas?" a low voice said from the interior.

"That would be me. Vice Admiral Sh'abbas, of the United Federation of Planets. To whom am I speaking?"

The figure in the command chair rose, crossing down the stairs, revealing a glossy, metallic suit of armour worn by a lithe, attractive feminine figure. A lengthy scarlet cape draped from fabric-lined shoulders fluttered in the wake of her motion. The light came up to around the face, and while at first glance this woman appeared Orion, her pale greenish hue visible at last, the trace of the light continued to spread upwards along her raven-black hairline, revealing a pair of antennae - and a set of eyes and cheek bones much like Tw'eak's.

"General Sh'abbas of the Klingon Defense Force. You seek for Sassil in despair. She is no more."

Dashii gave Tw'eak a funny look. "What's she mean?"

Tw'eak ignored her. "But you are, in fact, our sister by birth, are you not?"

"By birth, yes... and by birth alone. My body and my antennae may be Andorian, but my heart is Klingon!" Her voice rose to a crescendo, and her crew cheered in the background as her hand rose to the screen. "My blood has been spilled many a time for this crew - my true brothers and sisters of the Empire!" Another cheer punctuated the dialogue, and Sassil's eyes looked crazed, her features taking on a violent grin.

Tw'eak smiled appreciatively, adjusting her uniform tunic. She understood what this was - a show of bravado for the troops, much like Selkirk Rex might have organized. Tw'eak raised a cautionary hand to Dashii moments before the younger of the two piped up with something else to add."If you'll forgive me, General, the sister that my family and I knew would have wanted us to bring some surviving part of her to rest in the eternal glory of the Wall of Heroes."

The general narrowed her eyes at Tw'eak. "Improper tactics, Admiral." Her voice snarled out the title of rank. "Appealing to the long-dead sentiments of a warrior."

"In that case, General..." Tw'eak let the inflection in her voice rise with the same derision as she pronounced Sassil's rank. "I would remind the honourless dog who commands the battlecruiser you currently occupy that you are in violation of interstellar boundaries at the moment."

"You speak to me of honour? You know nothing of the term."

"I know enough to know that when the so-called Klingon Defense Force makes such a bold offensive move as you have, to show your miserable faces here, in our territory... well, it's as my sister Dashii said. Civilian casualties soon follow. Surely there's... no honour in that."

"Are you prepared to give us more worthy prizes, then, Starfleet?"

"You could say that." Tw'eak gritted her teeth. "I'm going to give you precisely one minute to start making your way out of this system."

"Or else?"

"At that time, I will either secure your unconditional surrender... or I'll send you and your... siblings to Sto-vo-Kor." It was Tw'eak's turn to grin, as she pronouced the word 'siblings'.

This was enough to provoke a further snarl from the general. "You and your pitiful handful of starships - two heavy escorts and a science vessel? Against our mighty power? No, Starfleet. It is we who demand YOUR surrender. But I do so hope you'll refuse."

"Sir, another hail is coming in," the lieutenant at tactical remarked, startling Dashii.

"This is Captain Va'kel Shon of the starship Enterprise." The screen split, and now Shon was visible, seated comfortably in his command chair. "Your sister was trying to play nice, Sassil. Now run along back where you belong, before this vessel also has you within weapons range."

Sassil narrowed her eyes, surveying the scene. She raised her head slightly, as if looking down her nose at her sisters and Shon. "The pride of Andoria, come to get me. They can't tolerate the idea of a warrior standing against their kind, on the side of honour and glory, can they?" Once again, the crew roared its approval.

"Against your own kind," Tw'eak interrupted. "Against the very Andoria you swore to protect."

Sassil shook her head, eyes wide, antennae straight-up. "You're gravely mistaken. The Andoria I recognize is not the supine Federation vassal you recognize. Her glory, her might, her greatness... were dead and buried the day we joined the Federation."

Despite her typical control being firmly in place, this wilful misinterpretation of Andorian history angered Tw'eak. She could barely believe that Sassil believed that her ancestors, her own parents, their careers - and their deaths - in the service of Starfleet meant nothing. "It appears she's correct, Captain Shon. My sister is well and truly dead." Tw'eak turned her back, and seated herself. "As soon as Enterprise is in range, you have permission to destroy them."

Shon hesitated, visibly, on screen. "Kyona?" He nodded to his tactical officer, whose response had been inaudible to Tw'eak. "Twelve seconds to weapons range."

"No need, Captain. We shall withdraw - for the time. But rest assured, Admiral." Sassil pointed a gauntleted finger at Tw'eak. "You and I will meet again."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes in identical fashion to her sister, and crossed her arms. "For your sake, and the sake of that deluded mass you call a 'crew', I hope not. Die well, General. And if you ever happen to see my sister..." Tw'eak felt her voice quaver. "Tell her we love her. Bonaventure out." The communications channel from the KDF side terminated before Sassil could get a word in, leaving a visibly relieved Shon to take up the whole viewscreen.

"Admiral, they're withdrawing," the tactical lieutenant noted, then adding, "and at full impulse, no less."

"You played a good hand, Tw'eak," Shon said after a moment.

"I'm not sure," Tw'eak replied.

"No, you really did," Dashii insisted. "That last twist at the end, what you said... ouch."

"No, no," Tw'eak demurred. She knew that what Sassil had said could have been interpreted a certain way - whether she had meant it that way, or had been coldly sincere in her remarks, wasn't quite so straightforward. She had always been a devotee of a different kind of Andoria, one which its long membership in the Federation had undeniably brought it away from being able to achieve. To Tw'eak, this was an unquestionably good thing - though she could see where others' opinions might diverge, as Sassil's clearly did. It left Tw'eak wondering whether Sassil would try to explain her viewpoint at their next meeting, or whether Tw'eak would need to pack a pulsewave for the occasion. "Thanks for cutting in, though, Va'kel," she said to Shon after a brief moment.

"Least I could do. I needed to get your attention anyway."

"Oh?"

"Nelson and Scorpion have cleared the system, but we've received a distress signal from the USS Dyson. We're breaking system in order to check it out."

"Dyson?" Dashii said. "That's the ship-"

"I know," Tw'eak acknowledged grimly. "Spera."

"I realize you'll have responsibilities here," Shon observed.

"You go, check it out. We'll meet you at Starbase 39."

"We'll bring her back. I promise."

Tw'eak looked at Shon, as an appreciative, heartfelt smile crossed her lips. "I told you before, Captain. No promises."

Shon gave a chuckle. For once, Tw'eak was quite certain that the underlying message had been fully understood. "We've laid in the fastest course out of the system - and we'll be on our way. I'll let you know the moment we know anything. Enterprise out."

"What," Dashii asked, "did you mean by that?"

Tw'eak looked over at her sister, still smiling, a gleam in her eye. "Admiral's prerogative."

"Is there - are you-?"

Tw'eak snubbed her sister's inquiries and turned to Lio'wan. "Thanks for letting us borrow the old Bonnie for a bit."

"Anytime, Admiral. It's always a pleasure to have you aboard." Lio'wan nodded to Dashii. "Nice to meet you as well."

"Same to you," Dashii said, a slight allure in her tone. Her eyes followed the line of Lio'wan's uniform for a moment, which the Caitian carefully avoided seeming to notice as he looked to Tw'eak.

"Maybe at some point when this is all over," Lio'wan suggested, "we can get the old crew together again, like we did before we shipped out."

"I'd like that," Tw'eak remarked. "I was sorry to hear about Captain Sharpe."

"As was I. His injuries were too severe. He's since retired, and has some of the best care available. I went to visit him myself just a few weeks back. Still, it's a bit of a surprise that they'd promote me to captain rather than bring in a more experienced command officer."

"The way things are going, there aren't enough experienced command officers left to go around." Tw'eak shrugged. "You're qualified just because you're the senior surviving officer aboard. Still, a lot of ships are going that way lately - out of necessity. And it's not going to get any better anytime soon."

"I heard. The Iconians." Lio'wan's jaw clenched.

"Yes. But I will definitely keep your suggestion in mind. I'll talk to O'Leary, see if his mom and his new wife wouldn't mind us dropping by for breakfast again."

"He did end up marrying that girl?" Lio'wan's face took on an enormous grin. "Good, he listened to me. Didn't know if he would."

"Yeah." Tw'eak looked around the bridge. Aside from Lio'wan and Dashii, no familiar faces presented themselves. "So much has changed since the last time I was here."

"Especially for you." Lio'wan turned to Dashii. "And for you as well, I suppose, now that she's safe."

"After Nimbus, you mean? Oh, yes. That was ...interesting."

"But not a rescue," Dashii insisted. "Let's get that straight."

"May I ask... the starship Dyson. Captain Shon said you'd like to know about it."

"Yes, of course he did. I have a daughter who's aboard her presently."

"Really?" Lio'wan's eyes quickly darted south. "You've recovered quickly."

"Very quickly. She's twenty-one."

Lio'wan's eyes flashed in surprise. "I - what."

"That's what I said," Dashii quipped.

"Some sort of spatial anomaly?" Lio'wan queried. "Maybe a Q thing. Or a temporal incident."

"Temporal incident," Tw'eak confirmed. "Long story."

"Ah! Okay. One thing for sure that I've found out - you've never heard it all in Starfleet."

"She's actually here for a very good reason. Much of the intelligence we have about ...what's coming was provided by her. If she hadn't shown up, I don't think they would've given me a commission as a vice-admiral, I might add."

"And this top-secret intelligence task force, I take it," Lio'wan added.

"That, too. Hopefully now that Kells won't be around to put any more barriers in our path, we can finally get on with our mission."

"I don't mind telling you," Lio'wan said quietly, "but something about that guy... like he was offended by the idea your task force existed. He went on and on at that briefing about it. The Intel people."

"He's old Starfleet. Can't stand the idea of someone other than Command being in control of the situation. But this situation will develop, and if the Iconians prove to be what we expect, there won't be a Starfleet left if we don't adapt to the challenges ahead."

Lio'wan nodded. "Couldn't agree more. But I presume you'll want to follow the Enterprise, see about your daughter. We should get you back to your ship."

"Actually, we have orders to return to Starbase 39. To tell the truth, I have more questions about my sister - and I think I know who can answer them. Spera's in good hands with the Enterprise en route."

"No question. Captain Shon is a fine officer. I would've liked to have met him."

"I'll have to introduce the two of you - maybe I'll even ask him to join us for breakfast."

"That'd be fun. Until then." He extended a huge hand to Tw'eak to shake. "It was good to see you again."

Tw'eak smiled bashfully. "Now you know that's not how I usually say goodbye to you."

Lio'wan gave a bashful smile of his own. "I know." His hand fell away. "I was kind of hoping we might try something different this time. It's my bridge now, you know."

"Alright." Tw'eak put her hand out and shook Lio'wan's. "No big hug - but just this once, now."

"She hugs you?" Dashii asked, astonished. "She never hugs anyone."

* * *

It had been a long time since Tw'eak had been to Starbase 39-Sierra. The facility, and its main concourse, seemed somehow smaller to Tw'eak after so much time. But she had business to attend to - and she found the nearest turbolift after beaming over, then went to the admiral's office.

Tw'eak had worked with Admiral T'nae in the past. The dark-skinned Vulcan admiral had been responsible for issuing her orders during her brief time co-ordinating with the Reman resistance which was fighting the Tal Shiar. It had been Tw'eak's first opportunity to learn of the Elachi and their forces, a rather bad time in her overall command. It had seen the death of Hakeev, the Tal Shiar's commander and lackey of the Iconians, as well as the last known appearance of Sela, the elusive self-styled Empress for whom the Iconians themselves had seen fit to abduct, flagship and all, using a gateway of theirs concealed within a moon of planet Dera IV. That gateway had been neutralized, the planet restored to the Romulan people, and the threat of the Tal Shiar - and, at that time, of the Iconians, it had seemed. Tw'eak, however, now knew far better, and as the turbolift opened into the admiral's office, she knew there would be questions of where and how she intended to proceed next.

Or at least, that was what she had expected. She surprised even herself with the direction of her thoughts.

Admiral T'nae rose from behind her desk as Tw'eak approached. "Welcome, Vice Admiral."

"Thank you." Tw'eak stepped past one of T'nae's people and saluted the admiral, who returned the gesture.

"Please sit down."

"It's a pleasure to be here again."

"Indeed. It is most agreeable to see you have progressed so far in rank, in such short time. You have proven to be an exemplary officer. I last knew you to be captain of the ...was it not the Bonaventure?"

Tw'eak nodded. "It was indeed, ma'am. By random chance, I was just aboard that ship again a few hours ago. But thank you, all the same. It means a lot to be thought of so highly in offices like this one."

T'nae lowered her chin to look at her desktop computer terminal. "I find myself troubled by a number of things. I am gratified that you came so forthrightly to my office."

"It's how I always do things. Although I had a matter of my own which I sought to discuss with you."

"Indeed?" T'nae raised an eyebrow, turning back to Tw'eak.

"I recently undertook war games exercises with my task force in the Elvren system, as you are no doubt aware. While we were there, a small formation of Klingon ships were present, under the command of my sister."

"You are certain? She was not under any duress?"

"I didn't get that impression," Tw'eak replied, putting it mildly. "I was hoping you might know something about it."

T'nae turned to her computer terminal. "Forgive me, but I was under the impression that she was now a lieutenant commander - under your command."

"I have two sisters, ma'am. Dashichal is still right where she should be - I mean Sassilinthras. She's a shan-female, like myself. She was in Starfleet service for a number of years, but was reported lost in 2408, aboard... it was the Cernan."

"Yes." T'nae consulted her screen. "I see that now. My mistake. Sassilinthras Sh'abbas. Lieutenant, engineering branch, missing in action stardate 98422.1 - fascinating. You claim that she was not only aboard that ship, but in command?"

"Exactly. I wondered if there was any further intelligence on the subject present in her records."

"No such records are associated with her file, although there might be others of which I am unaware. I am puzzled as to what her motivation would be."

"Is it possible that she defected?"

T'nae nodded. "That would be the logical explanation. For her to not only serve, but achieve command rank would seem to rule out the possibility of her being taken prisoner. Klingons typically reduce those so taken to be seen as less than sentient, meant to be worked to death in such places as Rura Penthe. Surrender is, of course, unthinkable to a Klingon."

"So I understood as well. Is it possible - I was just thinking of the last time I was here, when we worked to track down Hakeev and Sela. Could it be a situation something like we know what Sela's mother endured, to lose a ship and then become the consort of a ship's commander?"

"Perhaps." T'nae considered for a moment. "However, she would appear to have risen in the ranks since then, in order to command in her own right. Did she identify herself by name? Or rank?"

Tw'eak nodded. "General Sassil Sh'abbas, of the Klingon Defense Force."

"Indeed. That is profoundly troubling." T'nae leaned forward slightly. "You have completed the requisite reports on the encounter?"

"Yes - I took the liberty of filing a copy to Starfleet Intelligence, in the hopes of getting answers. Sassil had no bond group of her own. No children, either - it's doubtful my family would hear from her at all."

"May I inquire as to why?"

"Sassil and I... we obviously grew up together. We never really got along - none of us really got along with each other - but we all had one thing in common, all three of us girls. We all hated Andoria." Tw'eak looked up at T'nae, her face apologetic. "It's not the kind of thing we typically talk about with anyone who isn't, y'know... blue."

"I can assure you that our discussion will remain in strictest confidence."

"Thank you." Tw'eak shrugged, looking for where to begin. "Andoria is a wonderful place - physically. The mountains, the valleys, even the places where we live, they're ...they're home. But not all of us are comfortable at home - so many of our customs and practices, you either adopt them, and carry them on without question, into the next generation... or you muddle through until you can get off-world. And then you stay there, off-world, until your bond group comes together to... for their reasons. Then you go home again, have a family, and just... muddle through together, I guess."

"I see. These customs and practices... they are of a spiritual nature?"

"Maybe for some." Tw'eak adjusted in her chair. "I mean, we have our religions. The one I'm a part of has a very well-written story about the end times, that keeps me up some nights, to be honest with you."

"This is another part of what I wish to discuss - your task force and its mission. Yet I would like you to continue on the subject of your sister, if you would."

Tw'eak found herself sort of thankful for the guiding voice and listening ear of an admiral who wasn't quite so enthusiastic about leaping to conclusions. "Yes, of course. But anyway - for me, I left home early, went to Vulcan, studied there, made friends, learned that there were as many ways to see the universe and organize our worlds as there were worlds to be organized. My sister Dashii went her own way, and got in a lot of trouble for it. But we both had a different problem from Sassil - we saw Andorian society as being too obsessed with personal honour, dueling, the glories of past warriors, that sort of thing. Sassil felt we weren't doing enough."

T'nae nodded thoughtfully. "Extraordinary."

"Well, not really - not on Andoria. There are still too many people who think that way - even to the extent that some of them think we'd be better off without the Federation, if you can believe it. But even those people didn't go as far with it as Sassil liked. There were too many concessions to Federation ways in our everyday life, and they were, to her mind, making us less truly Andorian. She even managed to - our whole society is based around having a family, belonging to a family, then once your family connections get you into the right bond group, you do great things, and then come home again to start the process anew. But for Sassil, the heavy emphasis on bond groups and, well, reproduction... she didn't think anyone was worthy of her as a bond mate."

"She did not want children?"

"No, and I-" Tw'eak stopped short of explaining her inner turmoil, with regards to Sassil, in as complete a fashion as she might have. Sassil had willingly turned her back on bonding, on becoming Whole, exercising for herself the kind of choice Tw'eak had never been given the chance to make. Tw'eak had lived an existence which, were it not for Spera, would have been devoid of the experience of motherhood by medical necessity, because there had been no other way for her to bond. Sassil had refused the experience, not wanting to be weakened by her association with three others and their children. Her decision to forego bonding had been a regrettable, lamentable decision from the family's perspective, albeit one they had eventually relented in order to allow to happen. In time, Tw'eak had made her peace with Sassil, or at least, the Sassil she had believed to be dead. But Spera's revelation that Sassil had survived into her future, on the KDF side of the war, had turned closure into anticipation of crossing paths yet again. Having met her at last, Tw'eak had been overwhelmed with questions begging to be asked. The viewscreens of their respective starships had hardly seemed like the time or the place for that conversation, however.

"Admiral?" T'nae asked after a moment.

"Sorry, I... I was just lost in a memory for a moment. Forgive me."

T'nae merely nodded. "It has been known to happen in such matters. As a Vulcan, I cannot claim to have experienced anything like it, though I understand."

"I appreciate that."

"I was reminded, as you spoke, of the Earth scientist who referred to his homeworld as a cradle which one cannot remain within forever."

Tw'eak smiled. "Very good point."

"Nevertheless, until the war has ended, your sister's decision to serve against the Federation will be a factor with which you will have to contend, in both your own command and in your personal life as well. Should she choose to rehabilitate herself once the war ends, she may face court-martial."

"Yes, I know. I hope her choices won't influence Starfleet's judgment of me."

T'nae seemed surprised. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've proven myself time and again to have enough combat experience, yet no ship under my command has ever been brought into the front lines. I wonder if someone up in the highest echelon knew my sister was over there, so they intentionally set it up this way."

"Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I believe such an exercise in hypotheticals both illogical and unlikely to be borne out in fact. Starfleet rarely proceeds in as compassionate or as deliberate a fashion."

Tw'eak nodded, smiling again. "I see your point."

"I would like to take the opportunity to inform you, however, that your request has been granted. Admiral Quinn himself has arranged for a solution to the matter of your ...interpersonal disagreement with Fleet Admiral Kells."

"He has?"

"Yes. In fact, he has authorized me to tell you that your immediate superior officer, for the time being, is to be Admiral Quinn himself. Given the importance of your mission, your task force has been ...concealed from the official table of organization, for the time being."

Tw'eak was dismayed. "But that's exactly what everyone was so concerned about, that we'd be the new Obsidian Order or something."

"I do not see your parallel as proceeding from a logical starting point - the Obsidian Order had far greater resources at its disposal than your task force, and was an established component of Cardassian society from before the Bajoran Occupation, or any of our other records. As a further proof, I would also note that your task force will not be operating within, or indeed against, the Federation or its best interests."

"Still, we were Starfleet Intelligence's idea - and they're the ones who make people nervous."

"Perhaps I may be able to explain by referring to new policy guidelines. Starfleet has decided to institute a new policy of further specialization for those who have reached sufficient rank. This decision was taken partly due to the considerable number of newer captains whose ascension through the ranks happened rapidly as a circumstance of our losses in wartime. The practice of intelligence gathering, along with command itself, are to become primary specializations for all Starfleet officers from this time forward. In time, we may introduce other specializations as well. This will alleviate some of the inter-departmental conflict over assets and operatives, as well as fully integrate the concepts of intelligence gathering and command prerogative into the ordinary practice of all Starfleet captains. This will also, in effect, give officers of flag rank no reason to form strong allegiances to their career path, as the path will broaden as one attains higher ranks."

"That's... wow." Tw'eak was astonished. "That's a huge change."

"An adaptation - and a necessary one."

"No kidding." Tw'eak blew out her cheeks. "Sorry."

"This is why Admiral Quinn felt it was appropriate to return Task Force Silhouette to covert status - in order to further facilitate your mission."

So Silhouette would fall back into shadow ops, Tw'eak thought to herself. "That's also a huge change. Kells is right out?"

"Fleet Admiral Kells will be reassigned as admiral commanding Thirteenth Fleet before the end of this week."

"A promotion?" This astonished Tw'eak more than even the other news. "Seriously?"

"An increase in responsibilities, certainly, but a transfer - Fleet Admiral Doxx will be retiring before the end of the year, for medical reasons. No increase in rank will follow in turn."

Tw'eak nodded, shifting in her chair uncomfortably. "Well. Thank you for the update, of course." And keep me the hell out of Thirteenth Fleet, she didn't add.

"Should any further updates arrive regarding your other sister, I will certainly see to it that they are transmitted to you for consideration."

"Thank you for that as well."

"I can well understand your feelings on the matter. Family matters are often the hardest for flag officers to account for in their regular duties. I find myself appreciative of your task force's organization - bringing the families of those who serve with you along for the voyage."

"You do." Tw'eak was taken aback. "Most admirals I talk to about it think it's proof of conspiracy."

"Hardly a logical conclusion. It is a sensible precaution, given your task force will be operating covertly, avoiding combat and casualties - and especially given the nature of the Iconian threat. Which reminds me." T'nae examined the chronometer on her terminal. "It may be prudent for us to utilize the remaining time I have allocated to this meeting in order to discuss your force disposition and your intended routes of exploration."

"I would appreciate your insights. But we won't get underway again, as a task force, until Scorpion is fully repaired. If that's alright."

"Perfectly. Your report discusses that collision?"

"In detail," Tw'eak said with a frown. "We only lost three people, nineteen on the starship Peleliu... although losses on Peleliu could have been catastrophic."

"Indeed," T'nae observed. "It was most fortunate that the crew was able to stabilize the warp core so expediently. I look forward to reading how they managed that, in fact."

Tw'eak felt the impulse to mention Octavia's name, but figured that, with 'Captain Eight of Twelve' featuring so prominently in the official report, there was no need to trumpet her praises again here. Tw'eak merely smiled in response, settling in comfortably with the two biggest issues on her mind finally resolved - for the time being, at least. She focused on the details of her command, of the intelligence they had, and on where the task force would be best utilized next. For once, her uncertainty about Spera notwithstanding, she was able to focus without the slightest concern for the need to be prudent in her remarks. Admiral T'nae was as forthright a sounding-board as she could hope to make use of, and Tw'eak looked forward to hearing her counsel, advice and consideration.

It would be some hours in happening, but by the time Tw'eak left Admiral T'nae's office, she felt a confidence - and a pride - in her role that she could not remember having felt before. As the door opened to the turbolift heading back to Starbase 39-Sierra's main deck, and transporter room, Tw'eak had a wide, enthusiastic smile on her face. She couldn't wait to get started again.


	72. Part V, Chapter 5

**Author's note:** The next couple chapters involve the events of two STO missions, A Step Between Stars and Surface Tension. Obviously you're probably reading this far because you know what happens. But if not, um... well, you'll find out the hard way what happens, like Tw'eak will. Also, I realize that these two missions were released in STO months apart from each other, but I'm treating it as though it happens concurrently. Just for the record.

* * *

An hour and a half later, having thoroughly reviewed every aspect of her command with Admiral T'nae, Tw'eak returned to the main floor concourse, armed with a plan of attack towards the entire Iconian matter which would hopefully keep her and her task force well away from starbases for a good long time. She never felt truly secure in such a massive structure - after all, it lacked the most important part of defense: mobility. Stations like this one, which neither orbited a planet nor stood apart from the massive gravitational field of nearby planetary bodies, were most suspect - they could predictably be struck by asteroids or other huge masses of certain materials accelerated to a high percentage of the speed of light, since they always remained in place. Tw'eak thought of the starship Yonada, which was an asteroid to outward appearances despite being habitable on the inside, or the Nexus Ribbon, as two such potential threats to such a station as this.

 _An idle thought,_ she told herself. _This is what happens to your brain when you're on a starbase for too long._

As the turbolift doors opened onto the main concourse, they revealed the senior staff of the Warspite - Octavia, Aurora and Bianca duBois, and Aewon - mingling about in the corridor. "Admiral," Aewon said, standing to attention.

Aurora and Octavia had been turned slightly away from the doorway, and both came around and faced Tw'eak. "I am very glad to see you again," Tw'eak said to her Borg friend.

"You were concerned," Octavia deduced.

"Not recently, but yeah, a little. Okay, a lot. Good job over there."

"Thankfully, the problem was a simple matter."

"What you did aboard the Peleliu?" Aurora interrupted. "Sounded more like a day's work in an hour to me!"

Bianca smiled appreciatively at the admiral. "How'd it go up there?"

"Fine, actually. We had a good talk. Not just about details, either. We're cleared for duty."

Aurora let out a slight squee. "Finally! I wish we could come!"

"Indeed," Octavia continued. "Aewon will be returning the four of us to Utopia Planitia to oversee the remainder of Warspite's repairs."

"And the... y'know." Aurora avoided Tw'eak's eyes.

"There are many notifications and letters to next of kin which will also require completion, yes."

Aurora nodded. Bianca put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "It's all right," Bianca said softly. She looked up to Tw'eak. "Sorry."

Tw'eak nodded solemnly. This was the first time that Aurora duBois had dealt with the loss of such a large number of crew members under her command; it was the kind of experience for which no training manual or Starfleet policy could possibly be sufficient. "I understand completely." She turned to Octavia, in the knowledge that the story would get Aurora's attention. "So what was this small miracle you performed aboard Peleliu?"

"Oh, that."

"Yes, that. What happened?"

"The impact of the escort against the Peleliu's starboard warp nacelle created a state of energy flux at the point of the warp field generator. In essence, it was as though the cascading feedback of energy was functioning as a partial warp bubble within the nacelle. Such a partial state was not sustainable, yet we were able to utilize it in order to prevent the nacelle's complete detonation."

"I don't understand," Tw'eak said.

"It's actually kind of simple, Admiral." Aurora cleared her throat. "Since the warp coils absorbed the kinetic energy of impact, they were overcharged - Octavia just put that charge to work."

"Precisely. And with the amount of energy already being channelled through at the point of impact being present within the nacelles, we merely re-aligned the warp coils in order to produce a static warp bubble that served to exhaust that supply of energy. Structural integrity fields were also enhanced throughout the nacelle, and across the vessel's outer hull. This proved fortuitous in its usage."

"But what about the warp engine itself?"

Octavia looked confused by Tw'eak's question. "The warp core, you mean?"

"That."

"Isolated through a series of emergency bulkheads."

"But it was about to detonate. We saw that on our sensors."

"Oh, that."

Tw'eak smiled, slightly annoyed at her friend's flippancy. "Yes, that."

"There was an initial series of fluctuations - and a sequence of minor errors in the emergency response which have since been amended-"

"Octavia..."

Aurora jumped in. "She flushed the power, Admiral."

"Oh?"

"Nearly burned out half the EPS runs doing it, but it worked."

"It was a controlled version of what occurred on Warspite when our nacelle was recently damaged," Octavia concluded. "I merely applied recent experience to a practical solution. A simple matter, all told."

Tw'eak smiled and nodded. "Told in a complex fashion." She gave Octavia a wry smile. She came to a sudden stop as the sight of an Odyssey class starship floated by outside. Tw'eak could not clearly make out the registry on its side or nacelle, but the fact that the second-last digit was actually a flat hyphen followed by an F was all she needed to see. "The Enterprise is here."

"Yes, ma'am," Bianca confirmed. "We saw Spera beam in, I think she's over in the replimat."

"Good, thank you. Well, I had better not be keeping you. Aewon will want to get all the shuttles together."

"I'm going to miss having the Hypatia around, though," he said.

"You will, won't you? Wait, there are two, aren't there."

"Yes, ma'am. They've both been taken to the Silhouette."

Tw'eak shook her head. "It's only fair you get to have one of them. Why don't you beam over and use our Hypatia to get you home?"

"I'd appreciate that, ma'am."

"We can keep in touch if we need to by using the ...whatever it's called, the advanced-state communication system it has on board."

"So we shall," Octavia replied.

"You're... not going to correct me as to what the system's called?"

Octavia shook her head slightly. "Of course not."

"Do you want me to?" Aurora asked. "It's a quantum interplexing-"

Tw'eak smiled, cutting off Aurora. "No, no, I just... wanted to see for myself." She gave Aurora a quick hug, followed by Bianca. "Good luck with the repairs."

"Thanks."

Tw'eak then looked meaningfully at Aurora. "And with everything else, too. If you need to talk, you just get on the quantum intercepting whatever there and-"

"Interplexing," Aurora corrected, then laughed. "Thanks."

"Same for you," Tw'eak said as she turned to Octavia. "Let me know if you need anything."

"So I shall. Farewell, Admiral."

"Good luck." She then looked to Aewon, whom she knew better than to touch - Deltan pheromone blockers only worked at a distance, which Aewon respectfully kept between himself and Tw'eak. "And a safe flight."

"Thanks, Admiral. See you again soon."

Tw'eak watched as the four of them went around the corner, into the transporter room. She then went into the replimat and immediately heard herself being summoned from a table in the back. "Shreya!" She turned to see Spera walking quickly towards her.

"There you are," Tw'eak said. "I'd only just found out that you were here."

"Yeah - and what an adventure we had. We fought the Undine! And there were Voth - they're so huge, nothing like what I expected. We almost died, but Admiral Tuvok and I - look, there's the Dyson!"

A truly unusually designed starship - ugly to Tw'eak's eye, used to the familiar contours and mid-grey alloys of traditional starship construction - floated by, its hull white with reflective gunmetal features and a series of glows in purple light, some in the expected places, others bizarrely placed. "That's the Dyson?"

"Yeah, isn't it great? It's actually another class of destroyer but they took some of the information from the Solanae sphere in order to retrofit and upgrade it. It's a science ship and a destroyer. Together. There's a way to move back and forth from one mode to the other - I've never seen a ship like it."

"Something new every day in Starfleet." Tw'eak put an arm around Spera. "Glad you made it back."

"Me too. Admiral Tuvok's going to be all right - he was attacked by one of them."

"The Undine."

"Yeah. When I beamed over, he had a specialist with him, a Doctor Cooper?"

"I've met Cooper."

"Maybe you haven't. He was the Undine."

Tw'eak furrowed her brows. "Him?"

"Yeah - last person we expected. We brought him through us on the mission, he was with us on the station when we fought the Voth... not that he did much fighting. But then once we returned to the Dyson, I left Tuvok for a moment, and all of a sudden - there he was in Tuvok's mind. When I came back in, Tuvok was down, and this Undine, the one that we thought was Cooper, was just standing over him. He looked at me and I looked at him, and I could hear him in my mind. I think he thought I was one of them!"

"He thought you were Undine?"

"Yeah. I mean, like I sort of am, a little, but he looked right at me - with his Undine face, not his human one. It was like he wasn't sure what to do with me. We both just stood there like that, and it felt like an hour passed, but then he just went past me down the corridor and I don't know where he went from there. So I called for medical assistance, and security - but security couldn't find him. He just vanished. I think he beamed out. Don't know how."

"What about the admiral?"

"He was fine. Just stunned. But Cooper keeps talking to him - taunting him, he said. With his mental control, he could handle it, but anyone else would've been overwhelmed."

"No doubt. I'm glad you're all right."

"Me too. I'm pretty tired. But Admiral Tuvok asked me to come back in a couple weeks. He's planning a big conference on the Solanae sphere to talk about them - the Dyson spheres, I mean. He's bringing together representatives from Starfleet, the Republic, the Empire, even the smaller powers like the Cardassians and the Ferengi. And he specifically requested the... Xindi? I'd never heard of them - apparently they've got experience dealing with whoever built those spheres, or something?"

Tw'eak shrugged. "No idea - but it's great to hear the Admiral asked you back. He must really trust you."

"Well, I don't know... I think he just needs someone to work the projector and stuff, but we'll see. It'll be a while yet." Spera took a deep breath. "Still not used to having a long-term to think about. Usually everything is either short-term or preventative, in my time. But I'm starting to really like it - you know, the pre-apocalypse. It's so... casual."

Tw'eak chuckled. "Don't get too used to it."

"I won't, don't worry. I know I'm bad luck."

"Nonsense. Come on." Tw'eak took a few steps, her arm around Spera again. "Let's get some supper. I could use a good night's rest."

"Me too. Hey, I saw some people from the Warspite."

"Yeah, me too. They told me where to find you. It was good to see them - they're going to be busy with repairs."

"I know. That's - sorry, I'm going to keep doing that. I'm not used to this idea of a spacedock - I'm used to the idea that stopping to make repairs, if we were running, meant we couldn't be sure we'd ever see you again. Lots of times we lost whatever ship we were waiting for. Someone would get them - Heralds, Solanae, local raiders, maybe Tholians even. It's so different now. I'm going to see them again. They're going to a ship that's safe."

"At a starbase, yeah," Tw'eak noted.

"Yeah. This place is really interesting - it's like a smaller version of Earth Spacedock. It felt like the Enterprise might actually be bigger inside, though."

"Not really - that's just the way Captain Shon wants you to think of his ship."

"Yeah. It felt a lot different from the last time I was there. More comfortable. I guess that's a good thing."

"I'd say so, yes."

"He says hello, by the way. Captain Shon. He couldn't come over - he's helping arrange the conference with Federation diplomats, I guess?"

"Oh, I see." At least that explained why Va'kel Shon hadn't come to the station - he was too busy with ambassadors talking his ear off. Tw'eak briefly entertained the idea of having herself beamed aboard, claiming a 'surprise inspection' as an excuse to see him again. But she contented herself with a long look over the hull of the Odyssey-class flagship as it floated in space before them in the window.

Spera took in the sight of Enterprise along with her mother for a moment before asking, "Is Silhouette in-system?"

"The whole task force is, under cloak."

"Yeah, of course. That's... that's good."

"None of our ships are that pretty."

"No... no, not many ships are, are they."

Tw'eak made a slight noise, then said, "Not really. But I let Octavia take one of our special shuttles - the Hypatia from this time."

"That's fine with me. I've seen enough of the inside of that shuttle for a lifetime. Took me days to get to the Idran system... even at the speeds that little shuttle can go!"

"I can imagine it got a little cramped."

"Yeah - it'll be nice to get to my quarters. I can stretch out and not worry about putting a boot through the nearest bulkhead."

"We'll hope you don't. Silhouette isn't that big. C'mon - I can tell you all about the war games - and I have good news, we're fully operational."

Spera still dawdled a bit, lagging behind Tw'eak. "Do we have that same admiral to deal with?" she asked.

"No, we report straight to Admiral Quinn now."

"Oh. That's... good?"

"He's the director of Starfleet operations. We're fully black-ops now."

"Is it bad that I don't know what that means?"

"I'll explain. First, let's get some supper." Tw'eak walked towards the replicators, but Spera put a halt to her motion with a hand on her arm.

"I'm sorry, Shreya. I just... I like doing this. Being casual, I mean. It's fun."

Tw'eak smiled, remembering her earlier musings on near-warp kinetic impacts being used against stations of this size. Whatever hypothetical dangers she could envision, Spera could come up with worse. And yet here she was, enjoying her time aboard a stationary object in space. She had come a long way. "I understand. But I should point out... there's real katheka waiting for us on the ship."

"You know just what to say," Spera said with a smile. "Don't you."

"Not always." Tw'eak smiled. "C'mon."

Tw'eak and Spera walked towards the transporter, which was just around the bend of the station, mother and daughter both happy to be in each other's company again.

* * *

 _Personal log, stardate 99471.2 - The starship_ Dyson _has just been by to take Spera back to the Jenolan Dyson sphere on Admiral Tuvok's orders. After two weeks with my task force, she's been called upon again to assist with the summit which the admiral has convened. Coupled with Dashii's recent maternity leave, I can't help but feel a bit lonely for company, especially since all of the leads we've pursued on the Iconians have seemingly come to naught. Still, if nothing else, it's been a good introduction to the task force for_ Silhouette _'s new operations officer._

Tw'eak sat in her admiral's office with a cup of katheka in hand, mulling over what else to add to her log entry. The recent transfer of Lieutenant Edvard Nikau, formerly of the starship Meitner, had been a sensible choice - not only did she know what he was capable in combat, but he had proven himself in the worst possible circumstances to be a cool-headed customer. Unfortunately for Tw'eak, however, he was not rated for ground operations. This meant she had need of another combat engineer for her landing party. But that would be a concern for another day.

Tw'eak took a deep breath. They had cleared spacedock two weeks ago, the task force separating into two-ship groups, each designated a particular task. Skarbek and Polaris had found another gateway on the surface of Maival IV, albeit one that was half-destroyed; the landing party from Scorpion had narrowly avoided detection in their scans of the remnants of the large gateway embedded in one of the moons of Brea III, leaving that ship and Partisan narrowly avoiding Reman Resistance patrols in the process of getting the scans; as for the intelligence cruiser Turing, it had gone to Iconia itself, accompanied by Swiftsure, to conduct planetary scans and look for further leads. Those ships had reported little new, and Tw'eak's own efforts had been just as fruitless.

USS Silhouette, with the newly-refurbished Scorpion alongside, had been unable to find any evidence whatsoever of Iconian artifacts or records within the Corzil system, despite leads indicating the possibility of something big. The source of the intelligence, a tip from a Ferengi trader, had been questionable from the start, leading Tw'eak to take it as her ship's assignment - if it was an ambush, she wanted to be prepared to handle it herself. Nothing had come of it, however, and Silhouette remained in the Corzil system, using the freighter traffic as practice for evasive patterns while under cloak, essentially pretending each new freighter had been a dreadnought bent on their destruction, and then practicing maneuvers to avoid detection.

Tw'eak reviewed the remaining leads they had available to them - making contact with the Deferi, in order to review Preserver databases; a number of potential Iconian or Dewan colony sites in Klingon space; the two Dyson Spheres themselves, along with whatever evidence Starfleet's science ships were accruing from their continued exploration of those gargantuan space structures; the potential capture for analysis of a Voth starship, its databanks potentially holding information that could percolate into further leads; a whole host of other best-guesses and conjectures as to potential sites and information. Even then, most of the latter group were archaeology trips, better in telling about the past than the future. Very little linked with the picture they had been able to create of how the Iconians had arrived, as so much of the data Spera had provided dated from after the fall, not during it. Yet circumventing or appreciably augmenting a defense to that Iconian arrival was Task Force Silhouette's primary mission.

Tw'eak drank off the rest of her katheka and, frustrated with a lack of perceptible progress, went up to the bridge. She mulled over her options in the silent turbolift ride that followed - talking to Admiral Quinn about the situation would only make her look like she was failing, and the admiral wasn't likely to provide any real insight into the situation; her intelligence chief, Commander Varek, was just as much at a loss for any real direction of progress as she was, and his team of specialists and analysts, as good as they were, still couldn't do much more than speculate and make educated guesses; simply going around asking other governments very nicely for clues, leads, and hints would probably yield little; doing nothing and waiting for the end to be upon them was an intolerable way to spend the intervening time, however long it was.

It was in this mood of frustration that Tw'eak quietly made her way onto the bridge, unnoticed by the officers present. Realizing they were in the midst of a conversation, she stepped back to lean against the edge of the alcove and listen in.

"Alright," O'Leary said from the 'driver's seat' forward, "let's go with... Admiral Quinn, Admiral Tuvok, and Admiral Kells."

"Ew," Lini replied. "Couldn't you pick anyone younger?"

"Nope," O'Leary said with a laugh. "That's the game!"

Tw'eak permitted herself a smile. She recognized a game of 'lock' when she heard one. It was an old Earth custom that had been modified over time to suit the spacefaring traditions of Starfleet, but was rarely indulged in while a senior officer was present to hear - for good reason.

"Really? C'mon."

Nikau, at the operations station, looked up towards the captain. "Sensors indicating a freighter bearing one-three-seven mark-"

"Lini," Kit McQueen ordered from the captain's chair, "watch your console."

"Sorry, Captain."

"It's alright, just don't let Mr. O'Leary's little game get you off-task, or they'll spot us for sure."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Come on, Lini," O'Leary said mockingly. "I answered yours."

"Fine," Lini snarked. "I guess - Uzaveh's name, they're all old enough to be my grandparents."

"I wouldn't say that, Lieutenant," Kit noted helpfully. "Admiral Tuvok's probably far older than that."

"Ugh. Fine. So, Admiral Tuvok, wedlock. Admiral Quinn, liplock."

O'Leary looked embarrassed. "Seriously?"

"It'd help her career, probably," Nikau noted dryly.

"Either way on those two - but definitely airlock for Admiral Kells."

"I wouldn't be so harsh," Tw'eak said, revealing herself at last.

Lini gasped. "Admiral!"

"Don't worry, Lieutenant. They've been playing that one since I was an ensign. I distinctly remember once choosing the airlock for Commander Data - since he was the only one of the three that would be able to make their way back in again."

There was a general relief in the laughter of the bridge crew. After a moment, O'Leary half-spun at the conn to face Tw'eak. "Who else?"

"Who else what?"

"Who were the other two? In the game, I mean."

An awkward silence followed as Tw'eak said nothing. "Mind your station, Lieutenant," Kit broke in sharply, forcing O'Leary to face the viewscreen yet again. Tw'eak made her way to sit in her chair at Kit's side. After a few moments, Kit whispered to her, "Riker? I bet it was Riker."

Tw'eak looked over to Kit, grinning. "Rank hath its privileges."

"C'mon," Kit implored, in a manner much like O'Leary's.

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," Tw'eak said, her tone mockingly hurt.

There was a sudden burst of notifications from both Nikau's and Lini's consoles. Once again, Lini gasped - this time more audibly than when Tw'eak had surprised her earlier. "Oh, no - ADMIRAL!"

Lini stood there frozen for a moment, and Tw'eak's face turned to Nikau as he reported. "We've received a general distress signal - priority one - from Earth Spacedock."

The humour vanished from the room. O'Leary's chair spun to face Nikau. "Explain," Tw'eak demanded.

"They're under attack by an Undine battle group. No further information as to size or composition of-"

"How did they get that close?" Kit asked.

Tw'eak turned and responded. "Fluidic rifts - they can show up anywhere. But right over Earth? I don't think anyone expected that." She looked to Nikau. "Send a priority one message to all ships of the task force - get there any way you can. Let's do likewise, Mister O'Leary - maximum warp."

"Course already set - engaging now." The ship's warp engines grew in crescendo as the ship accelerated rapidly to warp nine-point-eight, en route to Earth. "We'll be in the Sol system in... um, some time soon. Just a second." There was a flash on the main viewscreen as the ship finally leapt to warp, free of the gravitational interference of the Corzil system's star.

"But Admiral," Lini protested, "our orders are to maintain cloak under all circumstances."

"I think we can make an exception in this case," Kit replied.

"No, no, she's right." Tw'eak considered the matter for a moment. "Our rules of engagement were very clear - we're not to reveal ourselves under any circumstances. We'll have to do what we can with the cloaking devices active, for the time being."

"But I mean - that's ridiculous. This is clearly not just a 'circumstance', ma'am."

"I agree, ma'am," O'Leary added. "There could be one of those planet-killers Commander Spera's information told us about - and it could be over Earth right now. We can't afford not to be there."

"We will be there," Tw'eak replied. "Under cloak."

"We're just one ship," Lini interjected. "Even the whole task force is just eight ships - none of them meant to take on a whole battle group. What difference can we make?"

"We won't make any out here," O'Leary retorted, turning back to his conn.

"Precisely," Tw'eak said quietly.

"We'll arrive in twenty-three minutes, forty-seven seconds, by the way."

"That's a long time," Kit groaned disapprovingly.

Tw'eak looked up to Nikau. "Edvard, signal the task force to rendez-vous at Station Phoenix for now. If Mars or the shipyards come under any threat from the Undine, they're to defend as required."

"Breaking cloak to do so?" Nikau clarified.

"Absolutely." Tw'eak turned to Lini. "Take us to red alert."

"Under cloak?"

"Yes. Such a thing is possible. Just maintain the cloak instead of shields."

"I know, just clarifying-" The red alert klaxon began to sound. Silhouette's speed was now warp nine-point-nine, and leveling off.

* * *

Twenty minutes had elapsed. Twenty long minutes, in which the tension on the Silhouette's bridge seemed to be continually rising. Tw'eak watched Nikau wipe a bead of sweat from his brow. Undeterred by the potential threat before them, Tw'eak maintained a placid expression, holding her antennae in a casual fashion. She glanced over to see Lini staring intently at those antennae, her own so far forward it looked to Tw'eak as though they were reaching out for a hug. "Problem, Lieutenant?"

"It's just... no, ma'am, I just wondered if everything was okay." Lini closed her eyes, wincing in embarrassment. "I mean, if I'm okay." She shook her head. "Damn it."

"Is this your first time in combat, Lieutenant?" Kit asked.

"No, ma'am. I've had lots of practice - I mean, I also, this one time, I had to ...it sort of is, yeah."

Tw'eak offered a gentle smile. "Do you want a hand at tactical?"

"No, I- I think I can handle it."

"It's just that both the captain and I" - here Tw'eak nodded meaningfully at Kit - "we both started out doing exactly the job you are right now."

"I know, ma'am. I can do it. I'm just... anxious. Don't want to let anyone down."

"Just follow your training," Kit suggested, "and you'll do great."

"But let us know if we can help," Tw'eak added.

"Thank you, Admiral." Lini looked at her console, seemingly reviewing the presence of every button, every tactical layout. "Do you - do you know the myth of the Final Darkness, ma'am?"

Kit avoided Lini's glance, looking to Tw'eak. "Of course I do," the admiral replied.

"I just... don't want to turn out to be the Stormbringer, that's all." Lini gave a shrug, reminding Tw'eak so much of her daughter, and that horrid night on the Enterprise-F when Spera had become convinced she was none other.

"None of us do, Lieutenant." Tw'eak looked towards the viewscreen. "None of us will be."

"We're coming out of warp now," O'Leary noted. "On approach to Earth Spacedock, full impulse."

"Time?"

"About ninety seconds."

Lini looked to her tactical display. "Sensors showing a series of fluidic rifts between Earth and Mars. Undine ships... they're all over the place."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes at the viewscreen. "Let's see it."

The blue marble of Earth presented itself upon the screen, a series of small light bursts playing over its upper left corner.

"Maximum magnification, please," Tw'eak requested.

The curvature of the planet now took up a lower corner of the image, the space above rife with Undine ships running rampant over the burning pillar of Earth Spacedock. Scattered all around were numerous hulks of burning space stations and starships, shipyards twisted upon themselves, warp cores detonating in orbit, and over the scene, Undine vessels hurtling off in all directions, attack beams piercing the valiant hearts of starships and spacedocks alike. If it were possible for a bio-engineered starship to swagger, the Undine vessels were doing just that.

Tw'eak considered her options. To go on the counter-offensive with one ship would mean that ship's certain end. As things stood, she counted at least twelve Undine vessels of varying types in a quick visual sweep of the area. The fluidic invaders had reinforcements at hand which Starfleet's defenders did not. Yet each moment they spent not engaging the enemy created a greater chance of the peril of losing the whole of Earth Spacedock, as the station had been extensively damaged by the Undine, who showed no signs of ceasing their attack.

"This is bad," Kit whispered to Tw'eak. "What do we do?"

"Good question," Tw'eak replied. She leaned back for a moment. "Mister O'Leary, continue approach course to Earth Spacedock."

"We won't be able to get clearance to dock," O'Leary replied.

"That's fine - that's not what I was asking. Bring us in close. Can you get us underneath the dome of the station?"

"Underneath - yeah, I can do that."

"Good. Tight as you can, and keep us there. You have the bridge."

O'Leary turned around, astonished. "Admiral?"

"Kit, Lini - to the transporter room." Tw'eak looked to Nikau. "Have Commander Varek join us there, along with Doc Elllington and... a combat engineer. Whoever we've got will do."

Nikau looked back at Tw'eak. "What's your plan?"

"The station's being boarded. They outnumber us but they haven't just destroyed the station. That tells me they're after something. We're going to go make sure they don't get it."

"But what if the whole station goes up?" O'Leary asked, anxious.

"Then... get the Silhouette to a safe distance." Tw'eak frowned. "If you can. Avoid detection, whatever you do." She turned towards the turbolift door.

O'Leary stammered for a moment. "Admiral, this is nuts."

Tw'eak turned sharply to O'Leary. "No, this is war, Lieutenant." She pointed to the growing shape of Earth Spacedock, afire. "There are people over there who need help. We've got to do what we can. But let's face it - that facility is more important than any of us, or this ship."

"I'll say," Nikau noted. "It's the hub for all Starfleet operations."

"Everywhere," Kit added grimly.

"That makes it worth the effort. We'll let you know if we need anything."

"I... okay." O'Leary shifted about uncomfortably.

So did Kit McQueen, at her side. "You're sure I should come?" she asked.

Tw'eak nodded. "Under the circumstances I need combat-qualified officers. Right now, that's you and Doc."

"Right, I just... this IS my ship, after all."

For a moment, Tw'eak wanted to override her concerns. But she relented. "Alright. Stay here. You'll probably do more good that way anyway."

"What do you mean?"

Tw'eak leaned in to Kit. "Probably a one-way trip."

Kit stepped back, wide-eyed at Tw'eak's candid admission. "Understood, ma'am. We'll do our best."

Tw'eak stepped into the turbolift with Lini. "Us too," she said as the doors closed.


	73. Part V, Chapter 6

The corridors of Earth Spacedock had never looked like this before. Even in the past, while there had been threats to the massive structure - the Klingons, the Breen, the Borg - none had ever been able to so comprehensively violate its defenses as this. Emergency forcefields and bulkheads in place, fires raged along the fringes of carpets or damaged walls, unabated by automated fire-suppressant systems. Everywhere the signs of an enemy on a rampage were deeply scarred upon the once-immaculate space station. Bodies in horrid poses lay strewn against bulkheads, at corners, in desperate defensive positions hastily arranged. Physical damage to the architecture, breached doorways leading to interior compartments, smoke in the air...

As Tw'eak and her team beamed in, her first thought was one of an almost visceral revulsion. It reminded her of the first time she had encountered a creature - a frost vole, as it had happened - in a state of bodily distress due to a sizeable laceration along its midsection, part of its innards bleeding on the snow. She had been far younger then, and she retched upon the ice at the sight of it. Yet that frost vole had not had an hour of life in it then, and her initial shock faded into pity, and then a frantic effort to save it. She had only made things worse, though, as the frost vole fled from her, leaving a streak across the ice in bright red as it ran back to a nearby crevasse, presumably to die. It had been Tw'eak's first experience of a helplessness borne of defeat, of desolate and total failure. She had walked back slowly, sobbing most of the way, before her charan had found her. Somehow, he had made it better then. Now, as she checked her pulsewave and prepared to sweep the area, she knew that no such reprieve awaited her or her team.

They stood at a cross-junction. To the left, the exit to the turbolift was blocked - to the right, the interior had collapsed. With an emergency forcefield in place at the far end, Tw'eak looked forwards towards the only obvious exit. "Check weapons," she said to her team. To her left, Commander Varek prepared his phaser rifle - behind her, Lini powered up her own pulsewave.

"Good to go," Lini replied. She wore an additional rifle from the MACO gear Tw'eak had brought aboard across her shoulder blades, and slung it forward to check it as well.

"Indeed." Varek raised his wrist, conjuring a shield generator from his fabrication kit. "I will prepare a defensive position here. Recommend we place transporter pattern enhancers."

"Go for it. This is our fallback position, everyone. If you get separated or wounded, you get back here. I don't care if you have to climb a mountain of dead Undine to do it." Tw'eak looked a little further behind her to see Doctor Shirley Ellington, medical tricorder in one hand, phaser compression pistol in the other. "Doc?"

"All dead, I'm afraid," Doc said, slinging her medical kit into place behind her shoulder. "Sorry, Tw'eak."

"No, I meant-" Tw'eak nodded her head towards the phaser.

"Oh," Doc replied, nonchalantly, as if she was carrying a cake. "Just a little something I thought might come in handy."

"It is within Starfleet protocols for medical personnel to be armed in certain situations," Varek observed. "This would certainly qualify."

"Glad you agree," Doc quipped.

"Alright, fine. The two of you stay put for a minute." Tw'eak looked to Lini. "Let's scout ahead."

"Hold on a minute," Doc objected. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this place isn't usually on fire."

"That would be correct, Doctor," Varek replied, not detecting that Doc was joking.

"So splitting up is the last thing we should do."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I want to make sure the way is clear before we all stumble out there, okay?"

Lini looked ahead keenly. "Something's out there. Where are we on the station, anyway?"

"We are on Deck 47, immediately beneath the admiralty offices," Varek replied. He produced his fabrication kit, and replicated several transport pattern enhancers, then handed them to Lini, who placed and activated each in a hexagonal pattern.

Doc scanned the area with her tricorder, pistol still at the ready. "Tw'eak - there are other life signs. All over the place. It's hard to tell if they're Undine or not."

"Be prepared for that," Tw'eak instructed. "Even the survivors we meet could be Undine." She gritted her teeth, looking around, covering the construction of the pattern enhancer. "Be ready for anything."

"What's our plan?" Lini asked, activating the last of the pattern enhancers. A blue line stemmed from it, connecting to the pattern enhancer immediately to its left, continuing until the circle was complete.

"We've got to get up to the next level, if we can. I would rather not trust the turbolift."

"I would agree," Varek noted. "They are doubtlessly inoperative regardless."

"Is there a junction that leads to a Jeffries tube?"

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow. "I would caution against it. In such close quarters, combat with Undine warriors would be... most unpleasant."

"We don't have much of a choice."

"I agree." Varek produced a tricorder of his own, scanning the area. "This way. I will endeavour to produce transponders at regular intervals, wherever we change direction. In this way we will hopefully be more able to trace our path back to the beam-out point."

"Good precautions." Tw'eak followed Varek. "Come on, Doc." Doc stepped up beside Tw'eak, and the two of them moved behind Varek, matching his slow advance, with Lini bringing up the rear.

They stepped over a badly-mauled Andorian female, dead of a laceration that extended from her shoulder across her throat. Doc looked up at Tw'eak. "Poor girl. So young."

Tw'eak glanced over at Doc before continuing to check ahead. "Worried she isn't ready?"

Doc's eyes widened as she realized Tw'eak was speaking of Lieutenant Lini, rather than the dead woman. "Something like that," she muttered.

Tw'eak's commbadge sounded. "McQueen to Sh'abbas."

The surprise of hearing Kit's voice caused all present to jump. Tw'eak looked to Varek, who stopped, then tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas here."

"Admiral, just wanted to let you know, reinforcements are arriving. The starship Dyson has arrived, as have several Klingon vessels, led by the Bortasqu'. They've already sent a general hail to indicate that they're here to help."

Tw'eak gritted her teeth, knowing Spera would be aboard the Dyson. "Good to know."

"The warbird Lleiset has just decloaked as well - they seem to be heading for the lunar colonies."

Tw'eak nodded. Captain Koren of the Bortasqu' was a formidable warrior, as was Commander Jarok of the Lleiset. She had met them both on mol'Rihan, the day that the gateway had been discovered. But she knew also that the both of them had been attending Admiral Tuvok's Undine conference on the Dyson sphere. Perhaps, it seemed, their talk there was culminating in defensive action. Her primary concern, however, was the captain's mention of the starship Dyson. Spera was in-system.

"There's another ship coming in," Kit noted, the suspense rising in her voice. "It's the Enterprise!"

Tw'eak felt the corners of her mouth tug upwards into a slight smile. She also heard Lini give a slight sigh of relief. The initial flush of hope in Tw'eak's heart gave way to grievous concern. She hoped that Va'kel Shon would know enough to keep the Federation's flagship from going down in Earth orbit today. This was enough of a blow to morale, to have Earth Spacedock burning in space. To have the Enterprise destroyed defending it would only make the Undine nightmare complete.

"Thank you for the update." Tw'eak took pains to sound calm in her tone. "Don't take this the wrong way, but we should probably maintain radio silence from this point on."

"Oh - yeah, of course. Just felt that was important to point out - if you see Klingons, they might be friendly."

Tw'eak saw Varek's eyebrow rise. "Good to know. We'll call you if we need you, Sh'abbas out." She tapped her commbadge. "What do you know. Friendly neighbourhood Klingon defenders."

"I bet there are more than a few of them who always wanted to fight over Earth," Lini said.

"I doubt this is the ticket to Sto-vo-Kor they had in mind," Doc joked.

"Come on," Tw'eak said. "Let's get up to the next floor."

* * *

Having made their way to the deck above without any sign of Undine activity, although several disconcerting explosions audible down the line had left her worried she would die in a Jeffries tube, Tw'eak came out into the open with her pulsewave back in hand again. She gripped the handle, felt for the trigger, and instinctively began scanning about the damaged alcove, then outwards. She came through into the entryway and looked from left to right, then up and around. There wasn't much room - a large door, still closed, shielded them from the view into the main corridor. "Clear," she said quietly, stepping aside so that Lini came through next.

"I still think you should've let me clear the access point," Lini protested.

"I appreciate that." Tw'eak patted Lini on the shoulder. "But I want to take point on this one."

As Varek began to emerge from the tube, Lini looked at Tw'eak. "Why?"

"This... I don't know how to explain. Having them strike this hard right at Earth like this, having them... having them hurt us this much, having them try to hurt us this much, on purpose... I kind of take it personally." Tw'eak shrugged, looking at Doc. "This is the part where you tell me that I shouldn't be leading this mission if I'm taking it personally."

"You're exactly the person to be doing this," Doc said as she straightened up. "I'd even be willing to wager that our green-blooded friend here is a bit angry, too."

"I assume that was not intended as an insult, Doctor," Varek said.

"Well, good news, Tw'eak, he's not an Undine after all," Doc joked.

Varek continued. "If you mean, however, that the sight of Earth Spacedock in a state of peril is sufficient motivation for me to give my utmost, then yes, these events have had an effect upon me as well."

For once, Doc was taken aback by the utter sincerity in Varek's words. "Forgive me, Varek, I... it's a reflex of mine, to make light of everything."

"A common, if puzzling, reaction, one I have learned to accept in my human - and Andorian - crew mates over the years. Nevertheless, your apology is appreciated."

Doc nodded at Tw'eak, who looked to Lini. "Did you want to take point?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. As a Vulcan once said to me" - here Tw'eak looked at Varek - "that which we would learn, we learn by doing."

Varek gave a half-nod. "I shall attempt to circumvent the lock upon that door." He moved to the console.

Lini stepped to the far side of the door. "Ready."

At the back, Tw'eak sidled up to Doc. "All that time," she joked, "and it's a Vulcan who finally puts me in my place. I must be getting old."

Tw'eak looked up at Doc's graying hair. "Well, there is that." When Doc gave Tw'eak a stung expression, she continued. "I didn't want to be the one to tell you."

The door opened, and Lini sprang through, a little too keenly. Tw'eak bolted after her, nearly knocking into Varek as she did. The Vulcan moved into step behind her, phaser rifle at the ready, and the three of them scanned the open space. This was the central console of Earth Spacedock's main deck. The damage to the console itself which had once been the duty station of Commander E'genn, among others, had culminated in the total destruction of that structure, its rubble blasted across the floor. That floor's surface offered grim testimony in the form of bodies - both Undine and Starfleet - to the carnage which had taken place. While there was no visible threat, that didn't mean anything. Tw'eak knew better than to trust her senses when fighting against the Undine. Her experience with their psionic abilities had been too hard-won for her to ignore her instincts now.

"Admiral," Lini said, her face poised upwards. "Someone was here. Look." She pointed to a further trail of Undine bodies in the hallway, then down at one close by. "This is fairly recent."

"Come on." The foursome sped down the hallway, through the centre spire, advancing as quickly as they dared. On a normal day this would have been a walking pace, Tw'eak thought to herself. Normal. She considered the word for a moment. As though any part of this was normal. Even in the most depraved minds of her most notorious of tactical professors, the idea of staging a simulation on Earth Spacedock was unthinkable. It was supposed to be off limits, supposed to be embedded behind a solid century's worth of light-years to cross, each kilometre contested along the way. The Undine had simply skirted those defenses aside - first by leaping behind them, then by scything down those defenders with laughable ease.

She looked over at Lini, well aware that the poor girl would be getting more of a training than she would ever have received at the Academy. She remembered the young, nervous fangirl that Lini had been, and watched how she confidently held her rifle in place, aiming as she looked, looking as she moved, ever vigilant. The girl had come a long way since their introduction, and Tw'eak was proud to see her faith in the young officer rewarded by her combat stance, her overall bearing, and her intense focus.

The sound of rifle fire became audible. "Admiral!" Lini said in an urgent hush. She pointed forward, indicating with hand gestures the rifle fire and its direction. Tw'eak merely nodded, then looked to Varek, who moved to the far side of the corridor.

"Stay behind me, Doc, about three paces. Same distance I am from Lini."

"Right," Doc whispered. In this formation, the quartet moved forwards into an open area just beyond. Something had crashed against the emergency bulkheads which had come into place over the colossal window frames, leaving a section exposed to space if not for the structural integrity field. Tw'eak scampered over debris, up a ruined staircase, then back down to where several of the monstrous forms of the Undine, one far larger than the others, were standing over a small group of Starfleet officers in a defensive posture. Several were wounded, but among them Tw'eak recognized a wounded Admiral Quinn, Admiral Tuvok... and Spera.

"Shreya!" she shouted as she saw Tw'eak come into view. Spera's voice had an urgent surprise to it - as though she wished her mother to be anywhere else at the moment. This cry of her daughter's motivated Tw'eak like nothing else, and she moved into position behind the largest of the Undine, setting her arcwave pulse loose upon the psionic warriors. Two of fluidic space's fiendish creatures crumpled when struck with the energy, but the largest of the bunch merely shrugged it off, turning to face Tw'eak with his antiproton wrist blaster at the ready.

It was at this moment that a photon grenade landed between its three legs, flung from on high by Lini, or rather launched from the underslung device attached to the MACO pulsewave she bore in hand. She now brought the rifle up to aim, and fired a blast squarely at its face. Enraged, the creature leapt towards her, ripping the structure that she knelt upon loose from the wall, forcing her to spring into the air and over the Undine - and right into a crate on the way down. Knocked out, Lini faltered and fell to the far side of the crate. Tw'eak raced to her side, met there by Spera and Tuvok.

For what little it mattered to her now, Lini's action had distracted the large Undine, making it possible for Doc and Varek to work their way quickly around to where Admiral Quinn and the few remaining survivors remained. While Varek set to work on a shield generator, Doc treated Admiral Quinn's injuries. "Just hold still, sir," Doc said.

"You're-" Quinn's speech pattern faltered. "You're not-"

"I'm a doctor, not an Undine," Doc said with a smile. "Now hold still."

"Go!" Tw'eak said to Spera. "I'll cover you."

"Right!" Spera grabbed Lini's shoulders and hauled her back. Tw'eak took to her knee and planted another shot into the Undine as she did. Seeing Spera's maneuver, Varek came forward from where he had erected the generator and tapped Spera on the shoulder. He picked Lini up, then placed her down in cover before taking a knee himself.

Tw'eak fired another blast, knocking the Undine off-balance, then called back, "Get her gun!"

"What?"

"The gun!" Tw'eak pointed at the MACO pulsewave. "Use it!"

Admiral Tuvok had also taken to firing on the Undine, his phaser rifle's shots seemingly bouncing off of it. After a moment, he triggered a high-density blast which got the beast's attention. It moved past Tw'eak, seemingly ignoring her on its path towards the Vulcan admiral. This gave Tw'eak the moment she needed. She sprinted far from Admiral Quinn, Doc, Lini and Varek, and found cover in a corner on the far side of the room. Almost immediately, two other Undine psi warriors materialized, one on either side of the massive Undine which bore down on Tuvok. Tw'eak opened fire on the left-hand one, while Spera - now armed with the MACO pulsewave - and Varek targeted the second. Another arcwave blast left Tw'eak's target hurtling across the room, while Spera's target crumpled and fell. Tw'eak pointed at the big guy, then continued firing into his flanks, as did Spera.

In the process of firing, Spera took a few steps forward, into a clearer firing arc. This gave the Undine Tw'eak had knocked back across the room the perfect vantage to lunge at her. As it did, it found Varek's rifle butt waiting for it, catching it clean across the face. Deterred, the psionic beast bore down on Varek, its telepathic attack coupled with a physical assault. For his part, Varek stood his ground, striking the Undine once, then twice more against its face. The Undine, badly wounded, staggered forward, striking against Varek with both arms as it did. Its claws pierced into the Vulcan's chest cavity, causing a splatter of green blood to burst from the wound. Stricken, Varek crumpled over, falling into a fetal position against the deck before collapsing.

From her position tending Admiral Quinn, Doc Ellington stood up, drawing her pistol. "You son of a bitch!" The Undine attempted to reach into her mind with its psionic voice, but as Doc winced, she drew a bead on the centre of the bleeding Undine's face, and put four shots into it before it, too, fell to the deck, partly obscuring Varek's body beneath.

On the far side of the room, the biggest and last remaining of the Undine closed upon Tuvok, who held his ground, kneeling in a firing position in good cover, ready to duck aside if a melee attack should fall. Tw'eak and Spera continued to fire, knocking the Undine from side to side with each impact. As it did, it finally reared on Tw'eak, who gave a little ground, stepping backwards, allowing Tuvok and Spera to flank-shot the beast until it fell. Its massive limb came forward, fluidic musculature pierced with lethal talons at their end, one of which came within a hair's breadth of striking Tw'eak across the face as it fell. She managed to scoot backwards, her arms out wide, falling into what once had been a seating area as she did. The plush seats felt as comfortable as ever as Tw'eak surveyed her handiwork, then looked over to see Doc frantically working to extricate Varek.

"Come on!" she said, a smear of deep green liquid already forming along the deck. "I can save him!"

Tw'eak and Tuvok raced across the room to help her, followed shortly by Spera. Tuvok was able to grab the Undine by its neck and lift its corpse from Varek, folding it over on itself as he did. Doc pulled Varek forward, producing her medical tricorder. Tw'eak turned him over, revealing a pair of deep serrations along the front of his uniform.

Doc continued scanning, then closed her eyes and shook her head. "Damn," she said, shutting her tricorder. "The bio-molecular effect of those things has already done its work." She looked up at Tuvok as though he were next of kin. "I'm sorry."

"I appreciate your efforts, Doctor. Have you looked to the Admiral?"

"I have," she said. "I gave him something to help."

"Tuvok?" Quinn asked. The four of them - Tuvok, Spera, Tw'eak and Doc - went to form a semi-circle around Quinn. "Sh'abbas?"

"Not so fast," Doc admonished. She opened her tricorder again. "He'll be all right in a moment."

"Did everyone get out alright, Admiral?" Tw'eak asked. She looked around for the distinctive face of the station's chief science officer. "Where's Commander E'genn."

"That..." Quinn looked over at the massive form of the dead Undine. "That's Egg over there. That's what he was... all this time, Egg? An Undine?"

"There will be time to explain everything later," Tuvok said. "Right now I- UUGH..."

Tuvok collapsed. Tw'eak stood up. "Doc!"

"I'm scanning - damn it! Those things are attacking him in his mind! There's nothing I can do."

Tw'eak looked back at Spera. "Take Lini and get her back to the Silhouette." She then knelt and helped Admiral Quinn to his feet, with Doc's help. "You too. Come on."

"Oh, no," Quinn insisted. "I've got to remain right here."

Doc gave a huff. "Not until I've dealt with those injuries."

"You can give the evacuation order from the Silhouette," Tw'eak added. "Come on."

"Shreya!" Spera pointed to Tuvok, who stood up.

"I..." Doc moved from Quinn to Tuvok's side. "I am unaffected, Doctor. I... appreciate your concern."

"What happened, Admiral?" Tw'eak asked.

"I... the Undine which I once knew as Eric Cooper was in my mind... luckily, I was able to see past his deceptions and uncover their plan." He looked to Quinn sharply. "We must divert all available ships to Qo'noS. Immediately."

"Qo'noS?" Quinn asked. "What for?"

"As extensive as this attack has appeared, it has served its purpose - as a diversion. Qo'noS is the true target for the Undine... and their planet-killer is on the way."

"Planet-killer?" Quinn repeated.

"My God," Doc added.

Tw'eak, however, wasted no time. "You'll return to the Dyson, then?" she asked Tuvok.

"I shall indeed, with all due haste. I will rally the surviving starships and we will get underway at emergency transwarp. And you?"

"We have a ship standing by, close by. I'll take the Admiral and we'll meet you in Klingon space."

"Very well." Tuvok looked from Tw'eak to Quinn. "Good luck." He then stepped past Tw'eak and moved towards an open area to arrange for his own beam-out.

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Silhouette."

"Silhouette. McQueen."

"Five for beam-out, directly to sickbay."

"Yes, ma'am. Stand by."

Tw'eak smiled over at the stricken Admiral Quinn, who was standing with a hand across his abdomen. "Not the most ideal of circumstances for you to come aboard for the first time."

"I'm glad you were here," Quinn replied. "Thank you."

Tw'eak looked over at Varek's body. "Thank you," she said quietly to the dead Vulcan. She looked back at Spera, who was bearing up Lini's unconscious form all by herself while Doc scanned her.

"Head trauma..." Doc shook her head. "Not good."

"Let's get her home," Tw'eak said quietly, looking over at Spera with utmost concern. Spera, for her part, merely looked down at the ground. Tw'eak continued watching her daughter's face as the transporter beam came into effect, and saw tears begin to fall from Spera's eyes.


	74. Part V, Chapter 7

_Admiral's log, supplemental. I've ordered the entire task force to Qo'noS at maximum warp - every available ship from the Federation, Empire and Republic are inbound on the same heading, and we may already be too late to intervene in time to save the planet. To say this is our worst-case scenario come to life is quite literally true. This is just what Spera warned us would happen. It's now up to us to change the ending - and save the Klingon homeworld.  
_

The distance across the Silhouette's bridge was not a particularly long distance, maybe ten to twelve metres at most before the overhanging bulkheads and assorted console-related chairs became an issue. In the twenty minutes since the ship had gone into warp, Tw'eak had crisscrossed this space at least a hundred times, pacing rapidly between bulkheads, occasionally stopping to ask O'Leary the time to arrival at Qo'noS, or inquire as to some point of detail. Enterprise and the other ships had gone ahead. Tw'eak found herself wishing that Va'kel Shon were available on comms, so that she could give him some word of warning - _but then,_ she thought to herself, _perhaps doing that was precisely what causes his death - making him overly cautious. Then again, perhaps not calling him leads him to take a fatal risk. Uzaveh's name - it probably doesn't change anything. Stop it._ She found herself distrusting her every instinct, suddenly worried both about failing in her intentions, and the possibility that she had been pre-destined to fail regardless of those intentions. She knew that with every passing moment, the critical nature of her every action would only increase. There was no question that this was one of the defining moments in Spera's timeline - and that it would, in turn, become a turning point in her own as well. _I can't put that kind of pressure on myself,_ she thought. _Or the crew. Just have to treat this like any other crisis. Like any other crisis._ Yet the anxiety continued to rise in her heart.

She came to a stop. "Time?"

"Nine minutes, Admiral," O'Leary replied, a weariness with the question present in his voice.

"Long-range sensors are picking up a lot of action in-system," Lieutenant Edvard Nikau added from the operations console.

Tw'eak resumed her pace for a few steps. _Like any other crisis,_ she thought to herself once again. Her mantra had the opposite reaction - and her resentment came to a crescendo. _It's always a crisis lately - or the avoidance of crisis - that does this. Just once I'd like to be out exploring some new sector, casually, in a leisurely fashion, without worrying about whose homeworld is threatened today._ She shook her head with a pronounced huff. _It's always the end of days, these days._

The turbolift door opened, admitting Admiral Quinn to the bridge, accompanied by Captain McQueen. She turned to face her commanding officer. "Admiral on deck!"

"Don't - please." Quinn smiled and laughed. "Let's just remain at our stations. We all have work to do."

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better now. I was just reminiscing with your flag captain here. Her mother once served under my command. Very capable officer - much like her daughter, I'd imagine."

Tw'eak nodded, a bit surprised to see Kit blushing. It was unlike the redoubtable Captain McQueen to be embarrassed about anything. "She certainly is. Would you like a situation report, sir?"

"No, no... we went over that before we left sickbay. It's why I'm here. But let me guess... We're still at warp, we're almost there, and we're wishing we were faster. How did I do?"

Tw'eak chuckled. "Nailed it."

"Good... all those years commanding a desk, glad I've still got it."

Tw'eak shifted the topic. "I wanted to apologize for our lack of readiness."

"Readiness? There's nothing that could have prepared us for what just happened. The Undine knew exactly where to hit us - and I suspect that Egg wasn't their only person on the 'inside', either. A deliberate act of sabotage like that would've undermined our efforts no matter how thorough we had been." Quinn sat in a chair at an unused console, the intelligence console, as it happened - what would have been the late Commander Vanek's position. "We'll rebuild. It's funny, you know, I had to turn down a plan from the Corps of Engineers to modify the layout of one of the upper rings facing towards the docking bay. They wanted to expand my office and give Operations more room. It'll give me a better view, too, which would be nice. It'd also connect all the services to each other along one single concourse. As tempting as it was, I had to decline. It would've constituted too great a disruption to spacedock services." He shrugged. "Now? They might as well go ahead."

"How long do you think it'll be before the station is operational again?"

"The way the Corps of Engineers works? Days, maybe weeks. They're very good - and given the importance of the project I suspect they'll make it happen very quickly. We'll also have to incorporate some method of detecting fluidic rifts into our defensive sensory perimeter. We can't let this happen again."

"Agreed. We lost good people."

"We did. It's never easy to deal with, but we'll endure it. With any luck, our efforts today will mean their deaths were not in vain."

Tw'eak recognized the same sorts of platitudes that she would've used in the admiral's position, even if the tone of his voice hinted that the day's events had produced a greater effect than he was showing outwardly. She felt an admiration for Quinn's ability to remain composed after having the fight with the Undine brought to his doorstep in such a violent fashion. The shock of it would've caused many other people to shut down completely.

"We're now approaching Qo'noS," O'Leary announced. "We'll be over the planet in four minutes."

"Sensors are getting a clearer picture now," Nikau added. "Looks like an even draw in terms of numbers - quite a few dead ships, too. Both sides are being reinforced - there are at least seventy warp trails pointing right at the planet from all directions. Fluidic rifts, too."

Tw'eak considered this information for a moment, then looked back to Kit with a thin smile. "How's Lini?"

"Still out. She took a nasty fall, Doc said."

"Yeah, she did. The Undine tore out the platform she was standing on, and she tumbled aside at the last moment."

"She should've drop-kicked it in the face," Kit deadpanned.

"I doubt it would've mattered. She's alive, though."

"Yeah. Bad contusion to her head. And her ...left? right antenna? One of them, anyway, it needs a bit of work. Doc's giving her a thorough check-up. Spera's down there, too."

Tw'eak looked over to the tactical station, sitting empty. "We'll need someone over there. Do you want the job, or should I?"

"Oh, I'd be more than happy to," Kit said, enthused. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, same with me. That's not why you're volunteering, though, right? Worried I won't remember how to fire phasers?"

"I didn't say that." She went to the tactical station, then looked up at Tw'eak. "Are we going to be decloaking, then?"

Tw'eak turned to Admiral Quinn. It was a bit unusual, to have her immediate superior so close at hand. "What do you say, Admiral? Will we have permission to reveal ourselves? I've ordered the whole task force to the system."

Quinn considered for a moment, then raised a hand. "Only as a last resort."

Tw'eak knitted her brows. "I think it's safe to say that this is as 'last resort' as it gets, sir."

"Let's see what the conventional forces can accomplish together first. We are still in a state of war with these people - and these new escorts are a tactical advantage we can't afford to pass up."

"I'm surprised that we worked together with the Klingons as effectively as we did in the Sol system."

Quinn nodded. "So was I. But J'mpok has warned us for years of the dangers of the Undine. Maybe he was right."

"Admiral?" From the operations console, Nikau looked up to Quinn, then to Tw'eak. "Incoming hail from the Warspite."

"Warspite?" Tw'eak moved to the centre of the bridge. "Put it through."

The bridge of the Warspite came into view, at red alert. Over Octavia's shoulders, Tw'eak could see Aurora and Oulius at their stations. "Admiral," Octavia opened.

"Captain. You'll forgive my surprise at seeing you're underway."

"So we are. We will be arriving several minutes after the rest of the task force, but Warspite is cleared for action and reporting as ordered."

"Hopefully without cutting any corners?"

Octavia looked as though she had been stung by one of her own bees. "We have set aside incidental repair work in order to deploy early, with only a six percent efficiency loss overall. This is well within operational parameters. I had expected that you would have no objection."

Tw'eak smiled. "Would you turn back if I did?"

Octavia tilted her head slightly. "Of course not."

"Very well then. You're authorized to act in defense of the Klingon homeworld as you see fit - weapons free. If it looks like it came from fluidic space, kill it."

"Will the rest of the task force be so authorized?"

Tw'eak looked over at Admiral Quinn, who neither moved nor looked back. "Not yet. We're under orders to remain as a reserve. Just in case."

"Perhaps the admiral would wish to transfer her flag to this vessel, in order to direct our operations."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but you're still not completely repaired from the last time I tried that. Besides, my place is with the task force."

Octavia merely nodded. "I understand. May I extend my compliments to Admiral Quinn."

Quinn looked up from the intelligence console, which he was using to monitor the battle's progress. "Hello, Captain. Good luck to you and your crew."

"Thank you, sir. Good luck to you both as well."

"To us all. I'll see you on Qo'noS afterwards, Octavia. Silhouette out." Tw'eak stared hard at her friend as the viewer faded to black, worried that she had set her eyes on the scarred, confident visage of the incredible officer known as Eight of Twelve for the last time.

Tw'eak sat down in her usual chair. She adjusted herself, uneasy. "Undine... I'm tired of the Undine."

"I think we all are," Kit McQueen responded. "Especially after a day like today."

"I just... I wish they'd listen, that's all." Tw'eak pointed a finger off into an imaginary, fluidic space. "You stay out there in your realm, we'll stay in ours. Simple as that."

Kit gave a short laugh. "Sorry about those Borg, though. They don't speak for us."

"Not for lack of trying," Tw'eak said, continuing the joke. "They want us all to become like them. Even the Undine. We should be working together against them, not... this."

"Imagine us working together with them," Kit pondered, "against the Borg."

"Or the Iconians," Tw'eak added. "They'd be welcome allies."

"You think that's something they're afraid of?" Kit asked. "The Iconians, I mean. Think the Undine are scared of them?"

"I'll ask one, next time I see them."

The turbolift door opened, and Spera stepped onto the bridge.

"Could be one here, for all we know," Kit continued, thinking of the Undine.

Tw'eak turned and faced Spera. "How is Lini?"

"Um, she has a pretty bad concussion and a bit of damage to her right antenna. Doc fixed her shoulder already, and her back."

"Those are easy, compared to what's in here." Tw'eak tapped her skull.

Spera laughed. "Did Doc tell you to say that?"

"No, why?"

"You just - like, she said the exact same thing. Did that, too. The head-tap and everything. So weird."

Tw'eak moved over into the captain's chair and made room for Spera to sit to her left. "Come here a second." She looked up towards O'Leary. "How are we doing, O'Leary?"

"So close now," came the reply from the helm. "Less than a minute."

"This is it," Tw'eak said as Spera sat down. "You know where we are - and when we are."

Spera nodded towards the growing sphere of Qo'noS in the viewer. "Yeah."

"Whatever happens now, after this moment... you made a difference."

Spera looked at Tw'eak, surprised. "I did? How?"

Tw'eak took Spera's hand in hers. "Right here." She gave Spera a meaningful look. "You're the one I'm fighting for today."

Spera squeezed Tw'eak's hand, her expression a cross between appreciation and worry. Tw'eak understood that face well. Whoever she had become after this battle, the Tw'eak whom Spera had grown up calling shreya was a very different woman - a tormented, no doubt difficult woman, eternally in command of an ever-changing flotilla of survivors, even when not in command of herself. They had both found a sort of redemption in each other - one as the mother she never thought she'd be, the other as the daughter who made that mother proud in a way she'd never felt she had in her own time. Nothing that happened here today, nothing the Undine could do to them, would change that... not even death.

After a moment, Tw'eak looked up at Kit. "Status report?"

"We've lost a lot of starships. The Klingons are hurt pretty bad - the Undine outnumber us three to two." Nikau looked up. "It's a real mess down there."

"Order our ships to fan out and begin retrieving survivors - and not just Starfleet personnel, either. Remain under cloak."

"Aye." Kit sent the appropriate signal.

Tw'eak looked up at the viewscreen, spotting an Odyssey class heavily beset engaging an Undine heavy cruiser. "Is that the Enterprise there?"

"No, ma'am. Enterprise is further off, at our two o'clock. That's the starship Nelson."

Tw'eak's eyes went wide. "Kells?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Her instincts surging, desperate to engage, Tw'eak held her tongue. The opportunity to strike the Undine ship hard and keep Kells from destruction was overwhelming, the poetic justice of it screaming in her brain. Yet she kept her reserve, leading Spera to comment, "they're holding them off really well."

"I see that," Tw'eak mumbled.

"Nelson is initiating chevron separation," Kit noted.

On the screen, Tw'eak could see the Nelson shifting from one singular entity into a two-pronged attack. "They can do that?" Spera asked.

"It used to be an emergency feature on the Galaxy class," Tw'eak replied, "but it was found to have certain... tactical advantages."

"Our course hasn't changed," O'Leary quipped. "For, say, evasive purposes or whatever."

"Take us through to the far side," Tw'eak said, "closer to Praxis. Advise the task force to proceed there as well, conduct search and rescue."

"Won't that be a problem?" Kit asked. "They're going to be beaming survivors aboard - with all that intelligence gear around."

"Hmm. Good point. Tell them to post security and use cargo bays and shuttlebay only. Once they're full, they're to break off and get clear."

"Got it."

"Can the Undine see them?" Spera asked.

"Under cloak? I doubt it."

"I can confirm that," Kit interrupted. "Last update we had from Starfleet Tactical suggested that Undine ships can't see through a cloak, even with their psionic abilities."

"There you have it," Tw'eak said quickly. On the viewscreen, though, she saw a fluidic rift open, followed by another, and then another. After a moment, as though watching sticks being lowered into water from below the surface, she saw massive tendrils, each with a distinctively Undine exoskeletar appearance, come into view, each piercing into space from its own fluidic rift, moving as if in unison - as if connected together at a point Tw'eak could not see. "All stop," she ordered.

"All stop, aye," O'Leary replied. "Don't know what the hell that is."

"I think I do," Spera said, her eyes never wavering from the massive, slender forms unfolding in their view. The tendrils extended in a spiralling fashion back through the rifts until the corkscrew was completed by the rifts all extending back to a central connecting point, like a seed pod, poised to strike at Qo'noS. Within a few moments, it had opened fire upon the main shipyard orbiting the planet, obliterating it in a single shot. "Oh no!" Spera exclaimed.

The entire process of unveiling itself, then its destructive potential, took ten seconds to complete, during which time Tw'eak had made her way to the intelligence station. Ignoring Admiral Quinn, who had remained a silent observer to the proceedings, she keyed in a launch code.

"What are you doing?" Quinn asked.

Tw'eak pointed to a display of the ship from its dorsal perspective, indicating the aft end. "Starfleet Intelligence mounted a bay for unmanned probes back here. We've modified these probes in order to serve both a tactical and a scientific purpose - they can scan an enemy for weakness as easily as they can scan a planet for Iconians."

"Really. That could prove useful."

"That's what we said," Tw'eak replied as she launched the probes, issuing them orders to scan the planet killer for vulnerabilities. "We just haven't had an occasion to use them yet." After a moment, they each came to life, and Tw'eak moved to Nikau's station to monitor their deployment . "What do we have?"

"Looks like it's strongly shielded everywhere but in the path of this," Nikau said, pointing to the centre of the seed pod. "My guess is it's a weapon of some kind."

"Of course it is," Spera exclaimed, standing up. "It's their planet killer."

Tw'eak looked up, eyes wide. "Right," she muttered. After a moment, she turned to Nikau. "Transmit this to whoever's commanding the fleet. Tell them we've got to hit them before they fire upon the planet. Everything depends upon it."

"Got it," Nikau replied.

Tw'eak turned to Quinn. "Please tell me you'll let us open fire."

Quinn nodded. He turned to his console. "This is Admiral Jorel Quinn of Starfleet Command. I'm taking command of the fleet. All vessels hostile to the Undine are directed to open fire upon the central pod of the large Undine vessel which has just arrived. It's a planet-killer, and it needs to be neutralized immediately before it can fire upon the planet."

There was a moment as Silhouette, still under cloak, dashed between isolated firefights, but as Tw'eak watched on the sensor screen, the paths of non-Undine vessels - warbirds, starships, birds of prey, battlecruisers and dreadnoughts, destroyers and escorts - began to converge on the centre of the planet-killer's colossal bulk.

"The Undine are regrouping," Nikau noted. "They're putting themselves between our forces and the planet killer."

"Of course they are," Tw'eak said. "Get us in weapons range. Kit, prepare to decloak."

"Ma'am?" Nikau caught Tw'eak's eye. "The starship Voyager is making an attack run with a nanite torpedo." He looked at his console. "It seems to have worked. The planet-killer's damaged, but it can still fire."

Kit's eye was caught by a notification on the tactical console. "Admiral, I'm reading damage to the Enterprise. Looks like their weapons are down."

"Are they in any danger?"

"Shields are still holding. Looks like they're launching fighters."

Tw'eak slowly turned her head towards Kit. "The Enterprise doesn't carry fighters."

"I was wrong. It's the mounted escort ship they carry, the Aquarius? Looks like it's making an attack run."

"On the planet killer?" Tw'eak asked. "They'll be killed."

"Not they," Nikau said, causing Tw'eak to turn. "Captain Shon is the only one onboard."

Spera came to Tw'eak's side. "It's all happening again," she whispered.

"Hail him," Tw'eak instructed Nikau.

"Hailing frequencies open, Captain."

On the screen, the frazzled look on Va'kel Shon's face was eloquent testimony to the sort of day he'd had so far. "I hope you're not planning to talk me out of this."

"What's your plan?"

"There's a hole in their shields right over the planet-killer. If I can get in close, I may be able to damage them, or even just distract them."

Tw'eak shook her head. "For how long?"

"Hopefully long enough. If not, then... well, you remember the story of how Captain Kirk dealt with a planet-killer."

Tw'eak nodded, her face grim. "Va'kel. You'll be killed."

"I don't care. We've got to stop them. This could be our only shot." He tapped his controls. "I have to go. Aquarius out."

"Damn it, Shon." Realizing that he hadn't been kidding when he said he wouldn't be talked out of it, Tw'eak turned to Kit. "Order all our escorts to form up on the Aquarius, then drop cloak and guide him in, weapons free."

"Ma'am?"

Irritated, mostly due to his not having offered her a more affectionate parting word, Tw'eak watched as Shon, in the Aquarius, commenced his attack run. "You heard me."

Tw'eak looked back to Admiral Quinn, who seemed to be busy at his console, directing traffic and issuing orders. He looked up briefly and nodded.

Tw'eak turned to the conn. "O'Leary, get right behind - and above - the Aquarius. Match course and speed, and stay close."

"About time," O'Leary said fiercely.

"Remain under cloak," Tw'eak said to Kit.

Kit's expression sat somewhere between dismay and surprise. Spera's was far less ambiguous - she looked like she was about to faint. "I beg your pardon, Admiral, but... you just-"

"We stay cloaked. Only us. Tell the transporter room I want a constant lock on Captain Shon."

Kit's eyebrows rose. "Okay..."

"What are you doing?" Spera asked.

"We have six escorts - we only need five to sweep the road clear for the Aquarius."

"Are you sure about that?" The tone in Spera's voice was incredulous.

O'Leary looked back over his shoulder. "This is nuts."

"Your objections are noted," Tw'eak commented. "But we're not going to let Captain Shon sacrifice himself like this."

"Seems like that's exactly what he has in mind," O'Leary reckoned.

Spera shook her head. "If you're doing this because of what I told you-"

"It has nothing to do with that, or with anyone else." Tw'eak indicated Admiral Quinn. "We can't let them have a clear shot at a command flagship. And there's no other ship that's as fast as the Aquarius - if we raise our shields we might not be able to get Captain Shon safely clear." She turned and walked slowly back to the captain's chair. "Trust me on this, please."

There was a pause of a few moments, which felt like a lifetime, as Silhouette got up to throttle and moved to close position with the Aquarius, the smaller escort's weapons firing, its phaser beams and the ion trails of its impulse engines glowing as if it were moving in slow-motion. "We're within weapons range of the Undine," Kit noted flippantly, well aware that weapons range meant nothing under cloak.

"All escorts engaging," Nikau noted.

Still under cloak, the Silhouette maneuvered to a position right behind the Aquarius. As it did, five escorts - Swiftsure and Scorpion on the left, Spirit and Salamander down the right, Skarbek immediately below Aquarius - fanned out into an echelon formation, their cannons, torpedoes and energy beams striking out at various targets, striking home with deadly effect. The Undine returned fire, various bio-ships of their legion now offering a savage reprisal of their own.

"Direct hits on forward Undine vessels - Captain Shon is getting through!"

"Stay with him," Tw'eak urged. "Stay in formation."

The six escorts of Task Force Silhouette and their smaller Aquarius-class cousin remained in echelon, pushing their thrusters to the very limits. From before and behind, Undine ships fired, the angry lightning of their fluidic antiproton beams lashing out across the narrowing space leading to their target, the planet killer. As they continued on their attack run, the outermost ship on the left, Swiftsure, took a shot from an Undine dreadnought which knocked it yawing wildly out of formation.

"Swiftsure's hit!" Kit advised.

Tw'eak checked the display for the outermost ship on the right. "Have... uh... Salamander break formation and stay with them."

"From the opposite wing?"

"Yes," Tw'eak insisted. "Bring us below the Aquarius, Mister O'Leary. Same course."

"Changing vector," O'Leary advised.

Salamander executed a rather deft barrel roll to its right, momentarily confusing three pursuing bio-ships, two of which scraped into each other as a result of their intended target moving suddenly. The loss of forward momentum was enough to also tighten Salamander's turning radius, and it formed up on the wounded Swiftsure, both of which made a further evasive maneuver on their way out of the fight. All but one of the Undine vessels ignored them as they went, focusing their ire on the attack formation headed the other way.

Tw'eak looked up at Kit, her teeth gritted. It was time to get into the fight. "Lower the cloak," she ordered.

"Really?" Kit McQueen looked pleasantly surprised."

"Yes. Fire at will. Cover the Aquarius."

"With pleasure."

"But-" Tw'eak raised a finger. "Keep our shields down."

Kit shook her head. Both Spera and Nikau shot looks of disbelief at Tw'eak.

"Holy crap, we'll be sitting ducks!" O'Leary said.

"Move us forward of Aquarius," Tw'eak continued.

Kit gave a huff. "May I remind the admiral of the 'command flagship' status she referred to not five minutes ago?"

Admiral Quinn turned around at the intelligence station. "I'll tolerate the risks if you will, Captain! This is incredible!"

The admiral's enthusiasm took the wind out of Kit's sails, and she turned to her console. Within moments, Silhouette joined with her sisters in firing upon targets of opportunity on approach to the planet-killer. The approach was fierce, but nothing was slowing these ships down. One of the Undine ships - a Nicor-type cruiser - attempted to get right in the path of Aquarius. Anticipating the move, the USS Skarbek broke formation and put itself in harm's way, essentially throwing a block for the Aquarius, which altered course only slightly and avoided collision. The frontal impact did little damage to either the Nicor or to Skarbek, but the momentum of Skarbek's impact sent both ships spinning off towards a tendril of the planet-killer. The Nicor crashed against it laterally, the impact breaking its back and causing it to explode, showering the out-of-control Skarbek with debris. After a moment, inertial dampeners screaming, Skarbek's course righted again, now fully once again under control. Its set a course to disengage from the fight, with moderate damage to its frontal hull armour along with a bit of singeing along its ventral surface, but its systems intact - having engaged in one of few kinetic attacks that resulted in a 'kill' in Starfleet history.

"Skarbek's out of the fight," Kit said.

Tw'eak's voice sounded ashen. "Get us in front."

"We're clear to the target!" Nikau said.

"Fifteen seconds to impact!" Kit exclaimed.

The viewscreen of the Silhouette was filled with the business end of the planet killer, now pulsating with a dim energy that Tw'eak took to be a build-up to its detonation. The underside of Aquarius danced along the viewscreen's upper edge, its demise - and hopefully, the demise of its target - moments away. "All stop!" Tw'eak ordered. No point getting in front now. "Break off!"

"Scorpion and Spirit breaking off," Nikau noted.

"Ten seconds to impact," Kit said.

"Admiral," Nikau observed, "other ships are following our lead - they're moving into the same pattern, following Aquarius."

"That's what I meant when I said 'incredible'," Admiral Quinn added. "Look at that." The intelligence screen showed the ships of the Alpha Quadrant - Klingon, Starfleet, and Romulan alike - striking together against every target of opportunity that came from fluidic space. Some even fired upon the planet-killer's outer extremities, with minimal effect. Tw'eak took a moment to appreciate the harmony which the Undine had brought to those three powers, at least for the moment. The sudden attack run on the planet-killer had thrown the Undine into disarray, and caused the surviving defenders of Qo'noS to rally together, striking as one at both the Undine ships individually, and the gargantuan planet-killer as well.

"Five seconds," Kit noted.

"Aquarius is taking damage," Nikau added.

Tw'eak banged the comms button on the armrest. "Transporter room - tell me you have him."

The disembodied voice of Chief Esteban Sandoval came through the air. "Locked on to Captain Shon's signature, ma'am."

"Get him out of there!"

"Aye!"

On the screen, Tw'eak watched as Aquarius closed the distance to its target, flames coming from its nacelles in the final moment before impact. The escort seemed to accelerate somehow, charging across those last few desperate kilometres in a heartbeat, crashing home into the energizing planet killer with a blinding crash. Everyone on the Silhouette's bridge averted their eyes for a moment. When Tw'eak looked up again, the detonation wreaked havoc across the planet-killer's surface, bursting forth with a series of explosions that spread across its tendrils and out into space. At its core, the seed pod of ultimate destruction burst open, not with devastation for Qo'noS, but to be consumed in fire. The remainder of the planet-killer shook with secondary explosions cascading outwards from this centre pod, snapping the tentacle-like extrusions and erupting in flames all over.

Tw'eak sat back in her chair, watching the fireworks with a satisfied nod of the head.

"Oh my God," Spera said from the chair next to her. "We... we did it, Shreya."

"We did."

"Good work, everyone," Admiral Quinn said.

But for Tw'eak, the anxious moments weren't over yet. She hit her commbadge. "Transporter room - do you have him?"

"Shon here. Permission to come aboard?" Tw'eak closed her eyes with joy at the sound of Va'kel Shon's voice. Relieved beyond expression, she leaned back in her chair, watching the flames consume the planet-killer, and the fluidic rifts which opened - this time in retreat, not in assault.

Over the comms, Lieutenant Nikau patched in Admiral Tuvok's voice, from onboard the USS Voyager. "Tuvok to allied fleets. Stand down. The Undine are retreating."

Still in shock, Spera patted Tw'eak on the shoulder. "I... I can't believe-"

Tw'eak reached up and put her hand on Spera's. "You did it, kid."

Spera went to get up, to embrace Tw'eak, and Tw'eak met her halfway, catching Spera in her arms as the younger woman's legs gave out. "Oh my God," she repeated, "oh my God." The elation, the shock, the emotion of it all overwhelmed her, and her skin began to glow a light blue colour as Tw'eak helped her to sit down.

Suddenly, Admiral Quinn was standing within reach, his hand extended to Tw'eak. "That... that was a hell of a show, Admiral."

Tw'eak steadied Spera's shoulder with one arm and shook Admiral Quinn's hand with the other. "Sir."

"Hell of a show," the admiral said again. He then extended his hand to Spera. "And we have you to thank for it."

"I..." Spera didn't quite know what to say.

"She can't believe it," Tw'eak said, filling in.

"I can't believe it!" Spera exclaimed.

Tw'eak turned to Kit. "Good work, Captain."

"Thank you. If I seemed a little... um... testy there-"

"All's forgiven. It's your ship, after all." Tw'eak smiled at her friend, then looked to Nikau and O'Leary. "Gentlemen... excellent job."

"How would you rate my performance, Admiral?" O'Leary said, not to Tw'eak, but to Admiral Quinn. "Ten out of ten? Eleven? I'd say eleven."

Quinn laughed. "I should introduce you to Captain Paris. I'd imagine the two of you would have a few things in common."

Tw'eak was slightly confused. "You mean Admiral Paris, surely."

Quinn gave Tw'eak a serious look. "No, not anymore, I'm afraid. Long story - not suitable for an occasion such as this." He looked over at Lieutenant Nikau. "Would you be so kind as to hail the High Council for me? I should probably get in touch with Chancellor J'mpok, since we're in the neighbourhood."

"It'll take a moment, sir." Nikau went to his console and began making inputs.

Tw'eak turned to Kit. "You have the bridge?"

"Sure - where are you going?"

Tw'eak took Spera by the hand. "There's a couple people we should probably go check on." She pulled Spera's arm, the younger woman following as if in a tractor beam. "Come on."

* * *

The turbolift ride down a deck had been brief. It had been enough time, however, for Spera to pull herself together. As they walked through the halls, junior officers on every level of rank congratulated Tw'eak on a job well done, whether by making an approving remark, merely nodding, or simply applauding her approach. She tried to smile, to nod, to show appreciation for each, but it seemed like the whole ship had turned out to see her. All, that is, except the people she was looking for. "Do you want to go check on Lini?" she said to Spera as they reached the transporter room door.

"Yeah, sure." Spera took a step, then looked back. "She's gonna be so mad she missed this!"

Tw'eak smiled and went into the transporter room. Chief Sandoval was still at his station, while on the edge of the pad, head down, exhausted, Captain Va'kel Shon sat alone.

"That was a close one," he began.

"You're telling me." She looked over at Sandoval and nodded towards the door. Sandoval took the hint and left. As the door closed, Tw'eak felt her conflicted emotions begin to battle for control of the situation.

Shon looked up to see Sandoval leave. "I'm fortunate your chief transported me off the ship at the last second." He shrugged. "I would've liked to thank him."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'll make sure he gets the chance to hear that - but what should I do with you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. I don't know if I should kiss you for what you just did, or slap you for considering it."

Shon looked up at Tw'eak, intent. "It would have been a worthy sacrifice."

"No doubt. But it's not one I would've wanted you to make."

Shon smiled at Tw'eak, getting up slowly. "This is why I didn't give you the chance to talk me out of it."

After a moment, Shon took a step down from the last stair of the pad, where he had been seated. As he did, Tw'eak closed the distance between them and put her arms around him. Shon did the same, holding Tw'eak in his arms, closing his eyes as he did. She leaned back as she said, "Besides, I told you before - when the storm comes, no matter what it brings, I... I will be out there, watching for you. And once it passes... I expect to see you..." Tw'eak felt herself starting to choke up, and she cleared her throat to regain her usual speaking tone. "...on the other side."

Shon gave Tw'eak a puzzled look. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Me?" Tw'eak looked over at the bulkhead. "Um... nothing."

"Tw'eak. Come on."

"Do you think that's the pattern buffer there? Or - I mean, where do they put you when they beam you out of certain death before they put you back together."

"Ask an engineer." He reached up and tilted Tw'eak's chin so that his eyes met hers. "I'd rather you answered my question. What aren't you telling me?"

"Oh... it's... nothing, just... temporal paradox."

Shon nodded. "Spera."

Tw'eak relented, her shoulders drooping. "You were - we won today. We beat them. We stopped them, I should say. But we didn't, in Spera's time. Everything's different now."

"Including me. I didn't live to see that time, did I," Shon inferred.

"No." Tw'eak's head fell. "I don't know how I let you down in that timeline, but I did." She looked up at Shon. "And it's been haunting me, for weeks, the thought that I wouldn't be here when you..." Tw'eak cleared her throat, "But here we are. You're alive, and I'm still here, and we can be together - I mean - we can have a moment together."

"That's still what you want?" Shon said quietly.

Tw'eak looked away for a moment, then gazed up at Shon's eyes lovingly. "Always has been."

"I have to admit, with all this Dyson sphere business, and the Delta Quadrant being open to us, I haven't had much time to think about myself."

Tw'eak felt herself want to sigh with disappointment, but kept it together. "No, I understand. I've been busy too." She shrugged, chuckling. "Iconians, right?"

"I don't think you understand." Shon smiled. "I haven't had much time to think about myself. That doesn't mean I haven't thought about you."

"You have?" She fought the urge to let her hopes rise.

"I have. Often. It's nice to... have a friend in the service, you know."

Tw'eak swallowed hard, interpreting a particular meaning from Shon's words - a friend.

"But you're right, we've found our way together again," he continued. "And this time... I think I'm a little more certain that I'd like that to happen again."

Tw'eak's disappointment reversed itself into a radiant hope, and she found herself ready to leap into Shon's arms. "You're certain? For sure?"

"Certain. I think I need it. And I think you need this." Shon pulled her close, and somewhere in that embrace, Tw'eak placed her lips upon his, and they held each other close in the glowing light of the transporter.

"Quinn to Sh'abbas."

Shon nearly fell over. "Uzaveh's name - he's here!"

"Sorry, he's on the bridge." Tw'eak said, collecting herself.

"He's what!?"

She tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas here."

"I've been in touch with J'mpok, but the High Council sent a message saying they wish to speak with you. They've requested that you and I transport directly to the High Council chambers, as their guests."

"I'm... on my way to the transporter room now, sir. Will you meet me there?"

"That's right. If you see Captain Shon, please ask him to come along as well. His presence has been requested as well."

"I was... just looking for him, sir." Tw'eak smiled up at Shon. "I'll tell him, though, once I see him. Sh'abbas out."

Shon laughed as Tw'eak deactivated the comms. "Could've been worse."

"Oh, really? The commanding admiral of all of Starfleet interrupts us and you say it could've been worse?"

"Well, yeah. Think about it - he could've just come walking in."

As if on cue, Admiral Quinn stepped through the door of the transporter room, followed closely behind by a chastened-looking Lieutenant Sandoval.

Tw'eak pushed back from her proximity to Shon. "Oh-"

"Well." Admiral Quinn looked suspiciously from Tw'eak to Shon, and back to Tw'eak. "That was certainly fast."

"Yes, sir. I, um... spotted him in the corridor, and we came through the other door." Tw'eak pointed to the other side of the transporter room, where there was a weapons locker, but no exit to the corridor.

Quinn looked over at Sandoval, who nodded a bit too exuberantly. "Is there... no, I'm not going to ask - just beam us down directly to the High Council chamber floor once Commander de Salaberry has joined us." Quinn looked to Tw'eak. "Unless you object to her coming along."

Tw'eak took a position on the transporter pad beside Shon, but behind a visibly irked Quinn. "Not at all, sir - it's something I've always wanted for her to see for herself," she said. "She never thought she'd have another chance at this," she added, shooting Shon a quick, covert smile as she did.

Quinn looked back over his shoulder. "She's not the only one," he said, a little too knowingly for Tw'eak's liking.

After a long, silent, awkward eternity of waiting, Spera came through the door quickly, as if she had run. Smiling, her breath louder than usual, she stepped up and stood beside Admiral Quinn.

"Energize," Admiral Quinn grumbled.

"Yes, sir," Sandoval said automatically, his apologetic eyes meeting Tw'eak's as he activated his console. Tw'eak gave him a nod, then looked back to Shon. Her eyes remained upon him as the transporter energized. Within moments, the room lit up and the four officers beamed to the planet Qo'noS, still very much intact, and awaiting their arrival on its surface below.


	75. Part V, Chapter 8

There were hundreds of places in the universe to which Tw'eak had never been. She had never set foot on Romulus, for instance - the opportunity had never presented itself - nor had she ever visited Ferenginar, or Trillius Prime, or even Tellar Prime for that matter. She hadn't been to Betazed - wait, yes she had, if 'in orbit' counted - and even though there were plenty of planets she wanted to see more of, such as Bajor, the list of prominent places she had actually been herself was rather embarrassingly small for a Starfleet officer almost thirty years into her career. But here, on Qo'noS, in the Great Hall of the Klingon High Council, was a place she had certainly neither believed she would ever be, nor had she expected to visit in this capacity.

The huge, multi-storey statues of figures from Klingon history and mythology (as history so often became) presented themselves on all sides, carved in stone to watch over the Empire from Sto-vo-Kor. The Great Hall itself contained numerous individuals and dignitaries whom Tw'eak recognized from previous contact, or even just from the Federation News Service. She spotted Ambassador Worf alongside Captain Koren of the Bortasqu', Admiral Tuvok, the Gorn Ambassador S'stass standing with Chancellor J'mpok, Proconsul D'Tan with Ambassador Sugihara and Commander Jarok of the RRW Lleiset, but also an officer of the Xindi-primate species, Rugan Skyl of the Cardassian Union, and a host of other officers of various rank and stature within Empire, Republic and Federation alike.

From just in front of her, Admiral Quinn turned towards her, Captain Shon, and Spera. "I hope you like blood wine," he said with a laugh as he went down the first few steps into the Great Hall.

"I don't think I've ever had blood wine," Spera observed.

"Interesting flavour," Shon noted. "Not what you'd expect." He took a step past Spera. "Excuse me."

"Wait," Tw'eak said. "Va'kel."

Shon came to a stop and turned to Tw'eak. "What is it?"

"Admiral Quinn - he didn't say anything."

"He's being professional." Shon looked a bit concerned. "And preoccupied. Maybe he didn't notice. We can ask him about it later."

"But what do we tell him?"

"About what?" Spera asked innocently.

"Nothing," Tw'eak responsed sharply. She looked back up at Shon.

Shon shook his head slightly, a half-shrug. "I'll think of something. For now we just... try to look normal."

"And keep apart," Tw'eak added.

"Good idea."

"Wait," Spera insisted. "Why?"

"Come with me. I'll explain." She looked up at Shon, who turned away. "Can I explain?" she asked him as he did.

Once again, Shon stopped moving forward and looked back. This time, though, he was smiling. "That sounds kind of... official."

"Oh my God!" Spera put the pieces together. "You two?!"

Tw'eak smiled at Shon, who smiled at Spera. "Maybe," Shon said, his eyes shifting to Tw'eak. "Okay, yes."

Spera nearly bounced in place, looking to Tw'eak. "Really?"

Tw'eak put her arm around Spera. "Try not to be so obvious," she whispered.

"Oh, right." Spera stood perfectly still. "The architecture in here is quite lovely."

"No, it isn't," Shon quipped. "Klingons don't really do 'lovely'."

"Right. Quite pointy," Spera added. "Spear points, bat'leth points, even points on their boots!"

Tw'eak nodded to Shon. "I'll let you do the talking when the time comes."

"Sounds good. Here we go." Shon finally made his way down the steps into the assemblage of people.

Meanwhile, Tw'eak kept her arm around Spera. "I meant what I said before, you know."

"I know - I can't believe I'm standing here. This whole planet was destroyed before I was born!"

"You've changed all that. Look where you're standing. It's still right where it should be. The future's ours again, and it's all still to play for." Tw'eak smiled at her daughter. "You know, that night on the Enterprise, when I almost lost you, I saw you convinced - utterly convinced - that this day would never come."

"You're right," Spera said after a moment. "I thought I was the Stormbringer."

"You're the opposite of that. We're standing here because of you. And now look." Tw'eak gestured to where, slowly, Admiral Quinn made his way over to be introduced to Chancellor J'mpok. Proconsul D'Tan sensed his presence to be required and drifted over from across the room, and after a moment, the leaders of the three most powerful militaries in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants were chatting amicably together over drinks. "We're coming together, in a way we never would've if the Undine had succeeded. If we can make this work, peacefully, over the long term... I don't think even the Iconians can stop us."

"Yeah," Spera said softly, "but I wish Dad were here to see this." She caught herself. "Sorry if... maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

Tw'eak stopped short of continuing her thought, and looked into her daughter's face, well aware of the parts of her features which Spera took from her, and those parts which she had shared with Leo. She nodded. "It's alright. This is his moment, too." She looked away, her eyes catching sight of Va'kel Shon after a moment. "Whatever happens now, we won't forget him."

"Yeah. I wish... I wish I'd had more time with him."

Tw'eak sincerely doubted if that would have been a good thing. The man she had loved had been quite a different experience from the Leo she had come to know. Spera's illusions of her father were worth preserving, but Tw'eak didn't feel she was the one to do that. "I know," was all she said.

A well-dressed Klingon warrior came forward a few stairs below a raised stage at the far end of the Great Hall, where a dais was mounted. Standing just before it, the warrior raised a d'k tahg, the distinctive blade of Klingon combat, and bellowed something in Klingon. After a few moments, everyone began to filter - directed by the Klingons and the Empire's allies among them - into two formations on either side of the hall, four or five people across. Tw'eak took Spera by the hand. "They're calling us to order, it seems. Come on."

The two Andorians moved briskly through the assembled company, Tw'eak nodding hello to the faces she recognized as she did, and found a place near the front rank. To her complete surprise, Tw'eak found herself standing next to Va'kel Shon. In the impromptu aisle which had been established between the two sets of rows, Admiral Quinn walked at Chancellor J'mpok's side to the raised section just in front of the dais. The two of them separated, then bowed to each other, to applause from the audience.

Then they proceeded around, each in a separate direction, to ascend to the dais, where J'mpok spoke first. "Many fine warriors have earned their place in Sto-vo-Kor today. They died with honour, fighting one of our most formidable enemies. The Undine brought the battle to our very threshold. The fine warriors standing before me today pushed them back." The assembly cheered - their victory celebrated, their efforts appreciated. "Let us honour our sacrifices and our accomplishments by ending..."

J'mpok trailed off as a large cerulean portal broke open, obstructing the view of the dais. In the exact spot where Quinn and J'mpok had bowed to each other, a figure unlike any Tw'eak had seen before appeared on the lower platform. Its figures were seemingly humanoid, but with a swirling energy across its body. It wore no clothing, but certain details around its wrists and body were of a golden metal. From where she was standing, Tw'eak could discern no clear facial expression - no real facial features at all - only a great golden headpiece with jeweled inlays above that inscrutable, terrifying face.

The being extended its arms. "So, you are the heroes of the Milky Way..."

Tw'eak looked to her right, instinctively. Spera was wide-eyed in terror. Tw'eak took a half-step forward, prepared to shield her daughter if necessary.

"You have come further than we expected," the being continued, lowering its arms to its sides, "but still you chase our shadows..."

The Klingon warriors and representatives of the High Council came forward, indignant - first singly, then in groups. One among them pointed to the being. "We are not here to impress you, demon!" The others with him came together in a line, defiant. "We stand united, and there is no one who can-"

The being raised its arm, then both arms, towards those who advanced upon it. The Klingons were elevated, enveloped in purple energy, agony rushing over them - then they vanished. Those assembled in the audience roared their grief, screamed in shock, but were otherwise cowed into submission. The display had had its intended effect. The being stood for a moment longer, then raised its head to the audience once more. "We give you a single warning. Do NOT attract our attention again." It then strode calmly back through the portal, and was gone.

From where she stood, Tw'eak waited no longer. She, along with Worf, Shon and many others, rushed up the stairs to the dais. Both the admiral and the chancellor were on the floor, woozily trying to get back to their feet. Tw'eak went to Admiral Quinn's side and tried to help him up.

"What was that?" she heard Va'kel Shon ask.

From the floor, recovering from having been stunned, Admiral Quinn responded not to Shon, but looking at J'mpok. "That was... that was the reason we need to work together." He stood on his feet. "It's time for our feud to end."

Now on his feet, with Ambassador Worf's help, J'mpok nodded, facing his former adversaries from Starfleet. "Agreed. From this day forward, all hostilities between the Empire and the Federation will cease."

Both Admiral Quinn and Chancellor J'mpok once again made a formal Klingon bow to each other before each turned back towards their own people and made their way back down into the main area of the Great Hall.

The circle of people around Admiral Quinn grew to include the Xindi officer as well as Admiral Tuvok. Admiral Quinn nodded at Ambassador Sugihara, who walked over to talk to Ambassador Worf, presumably in order to formalize the peace they had agreed to moments before.

"Well," Admiral Quinn began. "This day just keeps getting longer."

"Indeed," Admiral Tuvok replied. "I have made a preliminary study of the Iconians and their tactics. My hypothesis is that the creature we saw here was in fact not merely an envoy, but an actual Iconian."

"But why would they would reveal themselves now?" Shon asked.

"Unknown," the Vulcan replied.

"I think it's obvious," Quinn continued. "It said, this is our one warning."

"But a warning of what - not to work together?" Shon asked. "How do they intend to prevent that now?"

This led Tuvok to explain. "The Iconians use servitor races and other species to do their fighting for them. Species 8472 has been an unknowing catspaw of the Iconians for some time. This time, however, the Undine were defeated, and it was our combined strength that allowed us to prevail."

"But how does that explain this 'warning'?" Quinn asked.

This led Tuvok to explain. "Thousands of years ago, the Iconians were defeated by an alliance of races." He raised an eyebrow. "I predict their ultimate aim has been to prevent such an alliance from happening again."

"I'd say they're a little late," Tw'eak said. "At least, we all hope so."

Tuvok nodded. "There have been periods in our combined history when the Federation and the Empire have not been at war, but they have not been allies, either. This may be the beginning of such a time. It will be up to us to determine what happens next."

"That much is certain," Quinn replied.

"It's our next step," Tw'eak said, "but I'd like to point out one thing. I realize that warning was intimidating, and I hope those Klingons survived. But what Tuvok says is true, based on what we know - the Iconians were brought down by an alliance of races, possibly even great powers. The fact that they showed up like this gives us an insight into just what they're scared of."

"Explain," Quinn demanded.

"Think about it - that, right there, was the first time anyone's seen a real, live Iconian in our history. And it happened here, before us all, to warn us to keep our place. That's not a show of strength, it's a sign that they're afraid of us. You don't make that kind of warning unless the person you're warning has already gone too far for your liking. Yet they needed to provoke the Undine in order to try to hurt us."

Tuvok nodded. "As we learned during a reconaissance mission I led in fluidic space, which the vice admiral was a part of - the Iconians have manipulated the Undine with falsified 'invasions' of their space by an alliance from the Alpha Quadrant."

"They made the Undine think it's us," Tw'eak continued. "So the Undine come after us, and we nearly lost Qo'noS as a result. But the Iconians don't suffer at all for it. They use their servitor races to do the dirty work, as we know, and whether that's the Undine, the Elachi, the Solanae - or the Tal Shiar, for that matter - they put themselves at a safe distance. If they were truly powerful, they would've destroyed this world themselves - and Earth, too - with a wave of their hands."

Shon nodded, his eyes on the proconsul. "The Romulans too recently learned the pain of losing a world. We can't let that happen again."

"But we know now that the Tal Shiar were responsible for that," Tw'eak said. "We have indisputable evidence, in fact. Their manipulation by the Iconians led to the destruction of their homeworld, whether intentionally or otherwise. But from the Iconians' point of view, it's two down and one to go. Had the Undine succeeded here, the Federation would've stood alone against both the Undine and the Iconians' servitor races, but not the Iconians themselves. Not in combat, directly. But we would've faced a force that outnumbered, outgunned and outmaneuvered us, without any allies left for us to call upon. We wouldn't have stood a chance. It's just what the Iconians want."

Tuvok spoke up. "It is worth noting that the Republic which has emerged from the ashes of the Star Empire may be weaker than its forebear. This is not likely a scenario which the Iconians envisioned. Given time, and a continued absence of secrecy in their government's methods, the Republic may yet become a stronger force for good than the old Romulan way could have hoped to accomplish."

"If that's true," Shon considered, "and we can all work together - at least co-operate - then our odds of victory just got a lot better."

Tw'eak chuckled. "No wonder the Iconians are afraid of us."

Tuvok continued. "With time, we may restore the alliance that came out of the Khitomer Accords. Now we must have the courage to compromise for the greater good. In its way, it can be more difficult than waging war."

"I'd like nothing better - than peace, I mean. We've had too much of war lately." Quinn glanced over at Ambassador Sugihara. "I'm sure Jiro is in the process of making arrangements for an immediate, honourable ceasefire - and I see D'Tan has joined their conversation as well. Good."

The Xindi-primate officer began to speak. "The five races of the Xindi once tried to exterminate humanity. Through the efforts of a few people who were willing to change, we put aside our weapons and worked through our differences. Now, we are members of the Federation. Peace came with great difficulty, but that is the way of most things worth having. Now, more than ever, we need to set aside our animosities and work together for the greater good."

Tuvok considered the Xindi-primate officer's words, then gave a slight bow. "Voyager will return to the Delta Quadrant. There is much to do there, and the Jenolan sphere will need to be protected from further Undine assaults. I am sure I will see you all again. I must take the time to speak to others who were instrumental in this mission." He raised his hand in the familiar Vulcan greeting. "Live long and prosper." Then he turned to go, accompanied by the Xindi officer.

This left Tw'eak standing with Admiral Quinn and Captain Shon. "There's nothing I like better than the thought of a long peace," Quinn mused, watching the diplomacy at work in the huddle of officers and ambassadors. "There was a time, you know, when starships weren't designed primarly for defense, but for discovery - when we explored new worlds, instead of worrying about how many worlds we'd lose. If only the Iconians would sit down and talk with us like this. They might want us as allies instead of enemies." Quinn paused as the huddle around Ambassador Sugihara broke into laughter, and smiled. He looked to Shon. "What about you? What are your plans for the Enterprise?"

"I'm not sure at the moment. I'll talk over our plans with my first officer, Commander Winters, and let you know once I get back. There is one thing I'd like to do first, though."

"What's that?" Quinn asked. Tw'eak felt herself thrill with anticipation.

"Back when we went through the gateway for the first time, on New Romulus, before it all started, I had a chance to begin a conversation with Worf. It was... illuminating. I'd like the chance to finish what I started, now that it's possible."

"I suppose the Enterprise can wait," Quinn said in response, "at least for a little while."

Tw'eak raised her eyebrows, looking to catch Shon's attention. "It looks like the ambassador's a bit busy for that at the moment," she said, finally succeeding in turning Shon's head. "Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Shon looked confused. "You know, with Admiral Quinn?"

Shon still looked as though he had no idea what Tw'eak was talking about.

"You've forgotten already." She closed her eyes and shook her head.

Clarity struck Shon as abruptly as if it were set to heavy stun. "Right." He took a step towards Tw'eak. "Admiral, there's something you should know. Vice Admiral Sh'abbas - Tw'eak - and I have known each other a long time. During that time, we've grown to appreciate each other."

Quinn nodded knowingly. "You're in love."

"Well-" Shon looked from Tw'eak to Quinn, back to Tw'eak.

"We're not sure yet," Tw'eak corrected. "We know we care about each other, but we'd like to be clear with you about our... involvement before it starts."

This surprised Quinn. "You mean it hasn't started yet?"

"Not formally, no."

"So that scene I walked into on your ship, in the transporter room, was...?"

Shon laughed nervously. "Exactly what it looked like, sir. Two people trying to figure out their feelings."

Quinn offered a benevolent smile. "I can imagine it must be hard for you both - after all, life aboard a starship follows protocol, order, routine... the sort of things that have to be negotiated, sometimes day by day. Still, you're two of the best officers in Starfleet, both capable, resilient... I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Thank you, sir," Tw'eak replied quietly.

"It's never been my policy to intervene in the personal affairs of my officers, so long as it didn't have a direct effect upon operations, chain of command, that sort of thing."

"Which was why we wanted to talk to you," Tw'eak explained. "We felt that being... straight with you would prove the best course."

"Indeed. But if I were to say 'no', what would you do?"

Tw'eak considered for a moment, looking up at Shon. "I couldn't tell you."

"I've said 'no' to you on matters of the heart before, Tw'eak." Quinn gave a half-smile. "That didn't exactly keep you from saving your sister on Nimbus, did it."

"No," Tw'eak said with a smile. "I don't suppose it did."

"That was for a sibling. This... this works in a different way." Quinn patted Shon on the shoulder. "It's important, as things continue to develop, and the Iconian threat remains, that we each have people we can rely upon, for support, for respect, for comfort. Who we choose as our companions, the ones truly closest to us... speaks volumes about our character. I truly am very happy for you both - unofficially, of course, you understand. As for my official capacity, as long as we keep the Enterprise out of Task Force Silhouette, everything will be just fine."

"We wouldn't want that kind of attention anyway," Tw'eak joked.

Quinn continued. "In the event that you're involved in the same action, or the same operation, I trust that you'll both exercise appropriate discretion - whatever that should mean at the time. Whatever your feelings, your duty should come first."

"Always, sir," Shon replied. Tw'eak merely nodded, not willing to be so unequivocally duty-minded.

"So, that being said. I wish you happiness together." Quinn smiled. "I feel as though I just presided over a wedding."

"Nothing of the sort, sir," Shon responded.

"We'd probably book a nicer venue anyway," Tw'eak quipped.

Quinn nodded to both of them. "I best go see what those diplomats are on about this time." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Jiro's good at anticipating what I expect, but I often wish we had a Betazoid as the head of the Diplomatic Corps so I knew they really could read my mind. It'd save us a lot of... talking. If you know what I mean."

Both Shon and Tw'eak laughed, well aware of Ambassador Sugihara's love of the sound of his own voice, before Tw'eak added, "Thank you, Admiral - for everything."

Quinn looked back to Tw'eak. "No, thank you. You and your daughter saved my life today. I won't forget it. Good luck to you both." He turned and went down the stairs, joining the ambassadors' discussion.

Shon turned to Tw'eak. "Not sure what we should do now." He indicated Worf, still in the huddle. "I probably have a while to wait."

"Right." Tw'eak waited a moment, then leaned towards Shon. "So, since we're both waiting... your place or mine?"

This led Shon to laugh suddenly, with relief, far more loudly than he intended, so that his laughter echoed across the Great Hall.

* * *

Tw'eak had taken no great pains to rush through the next little while, mostly revelling in the brief respite that being on their one-time enemy's homeworld in peacetime provided her. She had made a point of simply being as tranquil and as sincere as possible during her short walk around the First City's main streets. Even in the presence of leering Orions, vicious Ferasans, towering Gorn and so many Klingons, she practiced the maintenance of inner calm. Every now and then she would catch sight of one warrior or another watching her walk by - whether in recognition or in suspicion, Tw'eak couldn't tell. Probably a bit of both - regardless of whether they knew who she was, she didn't belong here. There was her discomfort at being in the uniform of a recent enemy - perhaps some ignorant bekk might charge at the sight of her, blade in hand. There was also the ongoing matter of her being a public enemy of the Orion Syndicate. Each shadowy corner could conceal a waiting assassin. Perhaps most significantly, she was unarmed, unaccompanied, and aware that her presence was probably an unwelcome one. She cut her wandering route short, and returned to the Great Hall.

She was just coming back inside when she spotted Spera talking to Admiral Tuvok.

"Shreya!" she called to her, approaching as she did. "Here she is."

Tuvok turned. "Admiral."

"Hello, Admiral, Spera."

"I - we wanted to talk to you."

"He's too old for you, Spera." Tw'eak laughed, then looked to Tuvok. "I'm sorry, that was awful of me."

"It would be in error regardless. My interest in Commander Spera is strictly professional."

"No, I know that. As I said, it was a terrible joke, but - what?"

Spera looked ready to start bouncing. "The Admiral wants me to go to the Delta Quadrant with him, aboard Voyager."

"Really."

"Indeed." Tuvok looked at Spera. "The commander's previous experience in the Delta Quadrant occurred in a sector of space which Voyager did not traverse during its return home. As a result, her experiences and knowledge of the systems and empires we may encounter will be invaluable."

"Plus Tuvok thinks it's important for me to get a wider experience." Spera had the look of a child who was lobbying for the adoption of a puppy.

"As the vast majority of her time in space has been spent under your command, whether in present or future form, it would undoubtedly be beneficial for the commander's development if she were to be given an opportunity to serve under a different officer."

Tw'eak nodded. It all made perfect sense - eminently logical, as she would expect from Tuvok. Nevertheless, she was reluctant to admit the truth of what they were arguing. She hated to admit it, but she wasn't ready to let go of Spera - not just yet. "I... if the Iconians should happen to drop by-"

"Don't worry. I'll let you know."

"And Doctor Hewson's going to have her baby at some point."

"I'll replicate something nice for the baby shower." Spera smiled at her mother. "It's not like I'm going to the Delta Quadrant with Voyager the way they went the first time. It takes maybe fifteen minutes to get there from the Jouret system."

"The traffic control between Dyson spheres has typically offered faster times than that during my transits," Tuvok noted.

"And I'll stay in touch."

"So this is what you want."

"Yeah. What you said before - that my being here made the right kind of difference... I believe it now, Shreya. I really do. And maybe out there, helping the admiral and his task force to re-introduce the Delta Quadrant to the Federation, I can do that again."

Tw'eak looked to Tuvok. "When would you be leaving?"

"Voyager is scheduled to depart in forty-seven minutes," the Vulcan replied. "The repairs to the warp drive are completed, and there is much to do in the Delta Quadrant."

Tw'eak raised her eyebrows. "So soon."

"I apologize. I understand that partings of this nature can be most difficult."

"She's got an unfair advantage," Tw'eak noted after a moment. "She's said goodbye to me once already. I... I've never had to before."

"I'm not saying goodbye, Shreya." Spera smiled. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

Tw'eak tried to offer a smile of her own, but her concerns and her dread - the fear that this incredible young officer, this daughter of hers, whom she had never met just three months before but who now had become an indispensable part of her operational plan, her everyday life, her every waking thought - would be on her way to the literal other side of the galaxy in the exact moment of the Federation's greatest peril. "I don't know," she said after a moment.

"If I may," Tuvok interrupted. "I have the relative advantage of experience on this subject, albeit from a Vulcan perspective. Having been absent from my own adult children's lives for the period of time Voyager spent returning home from the Delta Quadrant, I can appreciate your difficulty. I was absent for the birth of my first grandchild, and for the first few years of her life. I say this as proof to you that I would not request your daughter's presence aboard Voyager for our return to the Delta Quadrant unless I was certain of her safe return."

"It's not her I'm worried about, Tuvok. It's me."

Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "I see. Are you not well?"

"It's not that. My task force is going to be following the Iconians' trail, wherever it leads. I know you'll take care of her, as you will Voyager and all the souls aboard her. But I've been lucky." Tw'eak smiled at Spera. "I have you in my life, I... I've stood here, on Qo'noS, in the company of friends. I've had the chance to look an Iconian in the eye without blinking. And now I have my task force to return to, and our mission to complete. Sooner or later, my luck's going to run out. That's all I'm thinking."

"It is a logical assumption. However, it is an assumption which rests upon the most illogical concept of 'luck'."

"You don't believe in luck."

"As a Vulcan, I am well aware of the role which random chance plays in the outcomes of events both of great significance and of relatively little. Nevertheless, it is, in my experience, precisely that - random chance in operation. The modifiers upon chance come not from the influence of higher powers or concepts, but from each of us. It is my belief that having Spera aboard Voyager will greatly increase the chance of success for my own mission to the Delta Quadrant."

Tw'eak smiled. "I'd believed the same thing about having her aboard for my mission." It was true - she had come to see her daughter as a sort of good-luck charm, someone with whom she could discuss any detail or event in-depth without having to worry about sounding less than perfect. She had realized that this was exactly the kind of relationship her future self had presumably not been able to reach with Spera - part of the exact reason the two of them had become, to Tw'eak's mind, inseparable.

"I'm no Iconian expert, Shreya," Spera admitted. "I think I've made that point to just about half of Starfleet by now. But I do remember the systems we went to and the things we encountered out there. And that's something that can directly help Voyager in the meantime."

"I think that's what it is. Whatever my people uncover here - or in the Delta Quadrant, wherever the leads go - I'd just sort of expected that you'd be along for the ride. It's certainly what I wanted. Perhaps that was unfair of me. Selfish."

"Not in the slightest," Spera replied. "I was glad to be along. Wanted to be, too."

"The cause is one of affection, not of selfishness," Tuvok continued. "It is a typical bias in child-parent relationships for you to be more risk-averse with your daughter than with yourself. I myself have experienced it on occasion."

"Really?" Tw'eak was genuinely surprised.

"Indeed. I would be remiss in not acknowledging the primal instinct, which holds true for Vulcans as well as Andorians, that leads us to sacrifice ourselves to safeguard our children and their futures."

Tw'eak nodded. "Every species does that, I suppose."

"Not all. There are numerous examples of species which do not function upon that principle-"

Spera interrupted Tuvok. "You can't stop trying."

"What?"

"Whatever it takes, Shreya. If you can stop them, and I know you'll try... but if you can, at whatever cost, do it. You take those risks, if they seem worth it. Don't hold back on my account."

Tw'eak gave a thin smile to Spera. "If Doc were here, she'd remind you that I can't help myself."

"I mean it. Like Tuvok said before, it's not luck, it's instinct. You know what you're doing - with or without me beside you. You believed in me - so much more than I did - and because of that, what I came back for? We did it. We did it together - all together. I never expected this to actually work. But it did, and now I'm sure that it'll work for all of us. All that work you're going to do, with the task force? I believe you'll be an amazing success. I'm pretty sure you're the only person in Starfleet who can. You're going to stop them, Shreya. I know it. Besides, you're Andorian."

Tw'eak had been listening in a sort of spell, but this caught her attention and brought her eyes to meet Spera's. "What's that got to do with it?"

"If you succeed, you'll be the greatest Andorian of all time. They'll tell sagas about you that will take days to finish. Even if you don't, there'll be a place for you in the Wall of Heroes just for trying."

Tw'eak's eyes widened. She looked from Tuvok to Spera. "I... hadn't thought of it that way."

"The commander is essentially correct, based upon my understanding of Andorian cultural norms regarding the Wall of Heroes. This creates a situation for yourself where, in either eventuality, success or death, your example is likely to inspire further resistance to the Iconians."

"You've got nothing left to prove," Spera said, grinning. "To anyone."

Tw'eak smiled - a real smile, at last, a smile of reassurance, of hope. "Thank you." She squinted at Spera, her happiness persuading her eyes to tear up. "You have no idea how much this has all meant to me."

"It's the same for me, Shreya. I'm so glad I came back to find you."

The two embraced for a long moment, Tw'eak squeezing her daughter tightly, Spera embracing her mother every bit as closely. Tw'eak found herself wishing she could remember a time before, what it must have been like to have this wonderful, supportive presence in her life at an age where she could have been lifted up, carried around, cuddled. While Spera could recall those moments for her, there was no room in her memories for Tw'eak's recollections of the same events. Still, while she had never known a time before this, Tw'eak found herself willing to trade all of those yesterdays without Spera for one more day with her. In doing so, she gave herself the motivation to not only succeed in her mission, but also to prevail against the Iconians in the hope of a lasting peace for the two of them to enjoy together.

After a length of time which still felt too short for both of their likings, Tw'eak and Spera released from each other's embrace. "Do you need to transfer your things over from the Silhouette?" she asked Spera.

"I didn't have much to begin with. Hope you don't mind - I'd like to ask Captain McQueen for the Hypatia - the older one, the one I came in - if that's all right."

"Take the other one," Tw'eak said. "It's newer. Might be useful for certain missions."

"They're both just as good as the other. All of the files from my shuttle are in the task force database anyway."

Tw'eak smiled at Tuvok. "Don't let her live out of that shuttlecraft, okay?"

"Oh, I'm never doing that again," Spera said with a laugh.

"I will be assigning the commander quarters aboard ship," Tuvok replied without humour.

Tw'eak smiled at Spera. "Good luck."

"You too." She paused a moment. "I love you, Shreya."

"Love you too, kid." Tw'eak knew the danger in embracing Spera yet again, namely how unlikely it was that she'd let the poor girl go, so she patted her on the shoulder. "Go on. Voyager's going to leave without you."

"We would be best advised to see to your shuttlecraft's transfer prior to departure," Tuvok noted.

"I'll have Aewon fly it over," Tw'eak noted. "I guess we'll both be going, then." She nodded to Tuvok. "You must be excited, going back."

"I find the prospect of returning to Voyager most agreeable, especially given that, this time, our departures and arrivals will be at a time of our choosing. It will certainly make routine maintenance a less onerous task."

"I can imagine. You get to go back and see how far you've come. You both do. And I'm happy for you both have that chance." She looked over to Spera. "Of course, if she gives you any trouble... she comes with her own shuttlecraft, so just order her home and I'll deal with her."

"I doubt that will be necessary. I look forward to discovering how much of an asset she will undoubtedly prove."

"As do I." She smiled at her daughter. "I expect regular briefings. Anything that looks like Iconian influence, you just let me know." She gave Spera a wink. "That's an order."

"You got it, Shreya. Good luck."

Tw'eak took two steps back. "Sh'abbas to Silhouette. One to beam up."

In the dim light of the Great Hall, Tw'eak and Spera never took their eyes from each other. Spera smiled, a bittersweet moment where the opportunity she had dreamed of would come at the expense of not being able to spend the days at home. As for Tw'eak, she figured that eventually she would come to terms with her daughter's absence, but it wouldn't be anytime soon. She felt a sort of lightness at knowing that, whatever happened with her task force, at least Spera's chances of surviving were increased by her not being aboard the Silhouette when, as Tw'eak had put it, her luck ran out. Still, as the sight of Spera faded and became the image of Chief Sandoval at the transporter controls, she wondered how much longer it'd be before she saw her beloved Spera again.


	76. Part V, Chapter 9

The formalities on Qo'noS concluded, the starship Silhouette had returned to Station Phoenix, orbiting Mars. There, alongside its fellow ships in the task force, it remained for a few days until the whole task force was repaired and ready to deploy. It took Tw'eak a number of those days to fully accept the reality of her situation. All of her friends, her family, were someplace else. This, she reasoned, was actually a good thing. While she hadn't seen anyone from Warspite or the task force generally during her time on Qo'noS, she knew all of the ships under her command either remained in orbit or returned directly to Station Phoenix for repairs. While she had half-expected to encounter her sister Sassil on the Klingon homeworld, if her sister's ship had been among Qo'noS' defenders, Sassil hadn't made herself available - even if she had, Tw'eak reasoned, it wasn't like she would've known what to say. As for Dashii, she was probably either on Andoria at the moment or had already shipped out aboard the freighter Tw'eak had instructed her to crew and prepare. Their plan - a generational "seed" for the Andorian people, culture and society should the planet fall - was one she hoped to see replicated by all the Federation's member worlds, and soon. It was one of numerous ideas she had forwarded to Admiral Quinn for his consideration, and one in particular which he had commended her for devising.

There had also been a few other ideas - she had gained a great deal of respect and attention from Starfleet's head admiral, her new commanding officer, as a consequence of her involvement in his rescue on Earth Spacedock. Perhaps the most important idea which she had offered involved any intelligence the Klingons or Romulan Republic possessed on the Iconians, their servitors, or the Undine be requested through diplomatic channels, in the spirit of mutual understanding. Anything new would then be brought to the attention of the analysts and intelligence officers under her direct command or those serving in the Undine Counter-Command. The Klingons and the Republic would then be given an opportunity to access the collected data, and offer input on the task force's direction. This avoided Task Force Silhouette having to spend too much time nosing around in Klingon space, so soon after the end of the war. It also meant avoiding duplication of efforts - what the Republic or Empire knew, the Federation would learn, and vice-versa.

Co-operation, rather than competition, between intelligence services would prove to be key. And the more comprehensive and consistent an understanding of the nature of both the Undine and Iconian threats, the better their response to that threat would prove. Comprehensive understandings and co-operation... That sentiment brought Tw'eak to where she had come to now - a comprehensive briefing offered by Commander Iphigenia Wren in the 'war room' of the Silhouette, for all of the task force's vessels' intelligence officers, along with Captain T'uni of Starfleet Intelligence, who sat opposite. The purpose of this meeting would be to determine the task force's next steps.

Tw'eak took a quick glance around the conference room table, the chair at its head empty in memory of Commander Varek. Wren, now in the final days of her pregnancy, sat in the chair to its left, while Tw'eak sat upon the opposite side, nearly at the opposite end of the table. The assembly around the table - mostly unknown to Tw'eak - led her to realize how incredibly alone she felt inside. It wasn't just that she was in the company of intelligence officers despite a tactical background, nor was it that some of the analysts present were not officers at all, but specialists. Even the presence of one of her oldest friends was insufficient to mask the fact that she dearly missed the presence of her younger self, her only daughter, her Esperanza. Her admiral's rank had been sufficient clout to keep her sister at close hand, to bring other serving sibling pairs together, to even arrange for her loyal companion Pal to be brought over to Warspite as a sort of personal bodyguard. In fact, Tw'eak was certain that her unfailing sentinel would be easy enough to find if one merely fired a phaser in wide beam directly behind where she sat - presuming one lived long enough after having drawn said phaser to do it.

 _Spera would know right where he's standing,_ Tw'eak thought to herself. _If she were here._

She shook her head suddenly, snapping out of another funk and nearly dropping the padd in her hand as she did so.

"Admiral?" Iffy Wren, startled by Tw'eak's sharp movement, interrupted her briefing to ask.

"Sorry, I was - um, just thinking that perhaps we should review Spera's information on this subject."

"The orbit of the neutron star in the Corvani cluster?"

Embarrassed, Tw'eak nodded. "See if her astrogation charts show any sign of its having changed."

"I'm sorry, how does that show us whether it's a possible Solanae contact point?"

Tw'eak felt herself blush. She looked over at T'uni, who was - by Vulcan standards - practically grinning. "I believe the admiral may have a point," she offered. "The transit of the Solanae, presuming that they have vessels of significant size, might require the widening of the aperture of their contact point. This would gravimetrically be accountable utilizing standard astrometrics."

"I..." Wren nodded. "We'll look into that."

Tw'eak blew out her cheeks, grateful that her Vulcan friend still knew how to cover for her. T'uni, for her part, merely raised an eyebrow and made a notation on her padd.

"We're also waiting for further information from Admiral Tuvok regarding astrometric readings from star systems and star clusters adjacent to the Jenolan sphere's location in the Delta Quadrant. I'm sure if they've encountered anything that would be of interest to either our task force or the Undine Counter-Command, they'll be in touch."

Tw'eak nodded. Several of the intelligence officers present made notations on their padds. "There are at least seventy-four Starfleet vessels presently working in the Delta Quadrant," Captain T'uni noted. "Intelligence estimates at least that number of ships from the Klingon Empire, as well as some fifty warbirds of the Republic, operating in those sectors as well. We have made arrangements for any information regarding Iconian or Undine influence to be channelled through to our intelligence service, in exchange for our information being exchanged in equal measure."

"Does that include civilian vessels, or Ferengi ships?"

T'uni shook her head at Wren's question. "Not uniformly at present. Certain civilian freighters are co-operative, but not all."

Wren noted the matter on her padd, then looked down her list. "Let's move onto section seventeen-"

"Commander, if I may?" Tw'eak interrupted yet again. "Perhaps we could take a short break. We've been at this for a little while, and it might be best to pause for a few moments."

"We are very nearly done, though."

"We are." Tw'eak scrolled through the document to find it only had nineteen sections. "I see. My mistake, then." She sat back and waited.

* * *

"It would behoove the Admiral," T'uni made a point of correcting later, once the briefing was completed, "to remain fully aware of all details during briefings."

They walked down the corridor together towards Tw'eak's office. "Made a zabathu of myself in there, didn't I."

"Only moderately. Given the trivial significance of the last ninety-three details which Commander Wren provided, one can hardly fault your-"

"Ninety-three details?"

"Indeed. Were you otherwise unaware?" She handed a padd to Tw'eak. "I cross-checked and verified that each of the details provided had no basis in fact based upon either our data or your daughter's. Commander Wren is... the human expression for it is, 'grasping at straws'. Those details produce limited strategic or tactical advantages. It would appear that the Iconians' return will be sudden, and severe."

"So that's it, then." Tw'eak stepped into her office, avoiding taking the padd from T'uni, who followed behind. Both of them waited for the door to close. "You admit it. Our mission is a complete waste of time."

T'uni sat down. "You are doing that intentionally."

"What?"

"You are applying a context which is independent of my meaning."

"You just said that those details were all insignificant."

T'uni looked once again at her padd. "Ninety-three of them were insignificant. The other twenty-one varied in their significance, some of them proving to be of great import."

Tw'eak felt her frustration growing. "I liked it better when you were just the ship's counselor."

"I myself often wonder if perhaps I was not better served in such a role. While it is... refreshing to not face the bombardment of illogical conduct from my fellow officers as a professional choice, I am not certain that I find my role at Intelligence to be perfectly satisfactory, either."

"Says the girl with the pointed ears who got me this command. How do you think I've felt for the past three months?"

"So I understand." T'uni crossed her legs and placed her padd on Tw'eak's desk. "Nevertheless, Starfleet has placed us in our respective roles on their authority."

"I seem to recall being placed in this role on YOUR authority."

"Indeed." T'uni gave a slight nod. "So it happened. My superiors required a capable admiral of lower rank to fill the position. Logically, your service record commended itself to their attention."

"Logically."

"Quite."

"Right." Tw'eak smiled at her friend.

"If you are implying that nepotism was somehow to blame-"

"I'm not. I'm implying that, in a few minutes, Commander Wren is going to walk through that door and try and sort out our next move with me, based on that huge briefing she just gave me. And I don't know if it's even worth making a next move."

"I do not understand."

"You say you've already analyzed the evidence, and you've already determined that they'll be back, quickly and in numbers."

"So it would appear."

"So we're not going to be able to stop them."

T'uni paused for a moment. "I did not say that."

"What would you say, then? They're coming. They're going to show up all at once. Then what?"

"We have a roughly nine-point-eight percent chance of forestalling an invasion by the Iconians and their allies."

Tw'eak's eyes went wide. "You're joking." T'uni merely stared back at Tw'eak. "Never mind. Of course you're not."

"I refer to forestalling the invasion, not to eventual victory should it commence. I should also mention that concluding the war with the Klingon Empire provided a significant increase in the likelihood of our success in this regard, as was preventing the destruction of their homeworld."

"By how much?"

T'uni didn't respond.

"Three percent? Four?"

"Four point seven percent," T'uni murmured.

"Four point - wow. Almost doubled those odds."

"Indeed," came the reply.

Tw'eak considered this for a moment. She looked over at a plasmonic sculpture of hers on an adjacent shelf, the forms a pristine energized crystalline form roughly in the shape of an adjoined ribbon of purplish blue. "Uzaveh's name," she whispered to herself. Her eyes moved to T'uni as she reasoned. "So we're not going to stop them. We're not going to be able to - T'uni, billions, maybe trillions of lives hang in the balance of what the Iconians do next."

"Precisely."

"And we're just - we're doing what, exactly?"

"Gathering material and resources which may yield a solution."

"A solution."

T'uni nodded. "Yes."

"What kind of solution?"

"To the problem of how best to coexist with the Iconians."

Tw'eak's eyes nearly came out of her head. " 'Coexist', you said."

"Indeed. The indications are clear - we cannot stop them from taking up residence in this galaxy once again. We do not know from whence they will come - presumably another galaxy or perhaps a point in between galaxies. We also do not presently know either the place or time of their arrival."

"Or the method," Tw'eak added.

"Or the method," T'uni replied. "I have hypothesized that they will use a Dyson sphere, perhaps more than one Dyson sphere, essentially as an intergalactic landing craft."

Tw'eak thought about this for the moment. "Well, we know they can move. The Jenolan sphere certainly moved - all on its own."

"Precisely."

"But wouldn't they be more likely to flood into the area through the gateways?"

"That is another hypothesis, one which Admiral Tuvok is known to favour. It is an important part of his mission to the Delta Quadrant - essentially to secure a beachhead of goodwill and alliances within the Delta Quadrant, drawing upon Voyager's past experiences."

The thought of Spera being in the vanguard of the Federation Alliance's defense of the Alpha Quadrant gave Tw'eak a shudder. "And my daughter is among them."

"She is a most valuable asset. Admiral Tuvok holds her in the highest regard."

"So I gathered. But in the event that the Iconians make a push through the Delta Quadrant on their way here... she, and Voyager, will both be considered expendable."

If T'uni could shift uncomfortably in her chair, then her switching of her legs to cross the other way certainly looked the part.

"Won't she," Tw'eak said, pressing for the point.

T'uni looked away. "You misunderstand the situation."

"Oh, do I."

T'uni's eyes came back towards Tw'eak's, filled with a level of grief that shocked her to her Andorian core. "Starfleet Intelligence has determined a series of scenarios in the event of a sudden, implacable Iconian advance. In the vast majority of these scenarios, given our knowledge of their ability to utilize gateways to arrive as 'demons of air and darkness', multiple star systems" - T'uni's voice took on a husky tone - "starbases and fleets may need to be considered expendable in the final analysis."

The growing realization of the scale of the darkness on the Federation's doorstep dawned on Tw'eak with crushing force. Her antennae drooped as her eyes widened. "I understand now."

T'uni cleared her throat. "Whatever efforts your task force can contribute to restricting the duration of the Iconian war effort through forethought and investigation, if not forestalling their arrival altogether, will be of vital import to the Federation's continued existence." She swallowed hard and stood up. "That... is the purpose of your mission."

"But what are we supposed to find?" Tw'eak asked as T'uni turned to go. "A weapon? An explanation? What?"

The door opened, and T'uni stopped, facing Tw'eak. "When I am in possession of facts which would support a particular interpretation, I will be in touch. Until then, I would urge you to continue as you have begun, for you have begun extremely well." She raised her hand in the Vulcan salute, her tone almost hostile. "Live long and prosper, Admiral."

Tw'eak stood up to follow, but as T'uni moved out of view, Commander Wren came into the threshold of the doorway. "Admiral?"

Tw'eak cleared her throat and urged her antennae back into place. "Commander. Please come in."

Wren looked after T'uni. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"Not at all. The captain and I were discussing... the future."

"Is she all right?"

Tw'eak shrugged. "None of us are. What do you have?"

"I thought we should review where best to start in looking for further Iconian artifacts and clues."

"Good idea. T'uni offered a few suggestions to me, and I'd like to share them with you." Tw'eak indicated the padd on the edge of the desk. "That's probably the best place for us to start."

Wren took the padd and looked over T'uni's notations. While she did, Tw'eak watched the doorway, somehow feeling lonelier than ever in the absence of her friend, wishing her to come back. Tw'eak thought to herself that she had committed the cardinal sin of being a Vulcan's friend - assuming that T'uni's logical nature meant she had no feelings to hurt. Seeing a Vulcan get scared - a logical, certain kind of scared, to be certain - had a profound effect on Tw'eak's state of mind, and she struggled to focus in the meeting that followed.

* * *

An hour later, Tw'eak had reviewed and narrowed the available options with Commander Wren.

"So that leaves us with... we have the Turing liaising with the Cardassian Science Council to discuss the information they have in their database, with Scorpion and Salamander as escorts, and the Skarbek escorting the Partisan to take more intensive scans of... thirteen separate star clusters in Klingon space, and two in Romulan space which might prove to be contact points for the Solanae. That'll keep them busy for weeks."

"Right." Tw'eak had the sense that Wren was well aware her attention level had been fairly limited, and appreciated the summary.

"Spirit will have... you said you wanted them each to make contact with-"

"The Dominion. Specifically because Captain Pim knows how to talk to a Vorta in order to gain their participation. His previous assignment was aboard a patrol escort, the Sherman, which was assigned to the Gamma Quadrant sectors."

"Right." Wren checked her list. "That leaves ourselves, Warspite, and Swiftsure. Oh, and we don't have a specific assignment for Polaris."

Tw'eak stared at a padd listing these options, and said, "We'll probably use the remainder of the task force to look after the rest of these options."

"Yes," Wren noted. "Any of them are just as likely to yield some kind of result."

"I'm not sure I understand what the point is to going to Freylar IV."

"It's an archaeological dig site. I discussed it in the briefing."

"No, I know what it is," Tw'eak said with a smile. "I don't see the point."

"Freylar IV yields potential as a possible Iconian stop-over point on their way to... wherever they went." Wren's hand made a sort of scattering motion to her right.

"Right. But what would we expect to find there, other than an archaeological dig?"

"The head archaeologist is a Doctor Field. He's renowned around the galaxy as a leading researcher into Iconian architecture and ruins."

Tw'eak recognized the name. "Yes, I've read his stuff. Seems to use the phrase, 'we can't know for certain' a little too often."

Wren nodded. "Technically, he's correct. We can't know for certain. Short of asking the Iconians directly - I mean, we don't even understand their physiology."

"I saw one of them, on Qo'noS. If it was even one of them. It's so hard to tell."

"I understand there's a bit of a debate about that at Intelligence - whether they would've developed at all in the past 200,000 years. It's a long time for any evolution, but without a baseline physiological profile, it's hard to say for certain."

"I don't see why they wouldn't have. All of the races of the Federation have seen some significant development in that regard during the same time, and that's without access to the Iconians' level of technological advancement continuously during that time. They may have a completely different form than they used to - either through evolution or through technological augmentation."

"But it's speculation. Short of going back in time to prove what they looked like then, we'll never really know."

Tw'eak considered for a moment, then looked at the padd. "And we've ruled out time travel - at least for now - until we know better what we're going after. Even an Iconian sightseeing expedition isn't worth violating the Temporal Prime Directive."

"That's correct."

"But there could be Iconian artifacts, or some sort of database, perhaps?"

"They've reported they've found something and requested scientific support." Wren tilted her head. "We could send Polaris?"

"Once they're fully repaired, sure, let's give them that task - and then let's consider Lorink III."

"The site of a half-demolished gateway, at the centre of a major planetary archaeological site. The excavation is more advanced than what Doctor Field has uncovered on Freylar, but that same process is no longer active."

"It's half a gateway," Tw'eak said plainly. "We've had better results scanning complete, working gateways."

"But it's a lead - and it's one we could follow quickly without drawing any attention. The site has been abandoned for years because of its location in the war zone. We might be able to get closer now, find more clues, maybe even open up the potential for further research at the site."

Tw'eak wrinkled her nose. "Maybe I'm just prejudiced against dig sites."

"In that case, we'll be heading to Bolarus, then."

"Why Bolarus?"

"A lot of freighters make their homes at Bolarus and at other Bolian trade facilities because they're more reputable than the Ferengi."

Tw'eak chortled. "That's damning with faint praise."

"Yes, I know." Wren let a wry grin cross her lips. "But there's a Bolian information exchange we might consider utilizing. They'll broker all sorts of secrets for the right price."

"Is that right."

Wren nodded. "We use them all the time."

"But not for this?"

"No, for something like this, brokers aren't going to be willing to trade that information to Starfleet. They know we don't pay for our information."

"So how do we go about getting that information, if not with latinum?"

Wren shrugged. "We could try to decrypt their files, get it through infiltration, but the security systems are going to be problematic, even for Starfleet's best efforts."

Tw'eak sensed that Wren had a plan. "Or..."

"I have another idea. Drozana Station."

"Really."

"Yes, it's a small station located about sixty-seven-"

Tw'eak raised a hand. "I know all about Drozana Station, Commander. I helped out with a crisis there a while back. Devidians." Tw'eak shuddered at the memory of the ethereal Devidians taking control of her, suspending her in mid-air while feeding upon her life essence. That had only happened to her once, but the Devidians had nearly killed Aurora duBois, then a mere lieutenant aboard the Bonaventure under Tw'eak's command. It had taken a month of Counselor T'uni's help before Aurora had fully recovered from that experience and returned to ground combat duty. Still, the thought of going back to Drozana - with or without Aurora - was not one she relished. The broken-down space station was lawless, dangerous, under the control of the Ferengi. It was perfect for what Iffy Wren was suggesting. The problem was their likelihood of success was limited if they showed up on official Starfleet business. The sight of anyone in an official capacity was typically bad for business on Drozana.

"If we go there and state a price for information on the Iconians, posing as, I don't know, arms dealers or survivalists, maybe even a religious cult, then we'll be able to ascertain what they know."

"If they're willing to tell us," Tw'eak stated.

"Yes, exactly."

Tw'eak mulled it over for a moment. "Let's start with Lorink. We'll take Warspite along - I'm sure they can handle half a gateway - and we'll check it out. Thorough ground recon, scientific surveys, structural scans across the planet - everything. All under cloak."

Wren nodded. "We should be able to do that easily even without Polaris."

"Once that's complete, I should know better whether it's worth venturing to Drozana - or at least, have time to plan our move."

"Probably a good idea. I have dossiers on some of the major players on Drozana. Surprise, surprise - they're all Ferengi, Orions or Nausicaans."

A thought came to Tw'eak's mind. "Swiftsure's captain... she's Bolian. Is she not?"

"Drot, actually."

Tw'eak was confused. "Sorry?"

"Captain Nomi Drot."

Tw'eak chuckled at what Wren had thought was confusion as to the Bolian captain's name. "Right - and these ships can fit holo-emitters onboard, correct?"

"Easily. What do you have in mind?"

"Have the Swiftsure pose as a freighter and head to Bolarus, then to Drozana. I'm sure Captain Drot can get a few of her crew to act the part along with her."

"They can interact with the information exchange that way?"

"Precisely. Acting undercover means they'll be less likely to be mistaken for Starfleet." Tw'eak thought of her old friend Birmal Dazz, also Bolian, who had spent the first fifteen years of her life as many Bolians did, serving aboard freighters plying the warp lanes of galactic trade and intrigue. No doubt Captain Drot had similar life experience. Pretending to be a freighter captain would be child's play for her.

"I'll task them for the assignment. It might take a day or two to arrange for the holo-emitter to be fitted."

"Tell them they have twelve hours." Tw'eak smiled and tapped her commbadge. "Bridge."

"Bridge, McQueen here."

"Captain, prepare to leave spacedock on a course for the Lorink system - and ask the Warspite to join us there."

"Will do. We'll need a little time to clear moorings, say thirty minutes."

"It's not a priority departure, Kit. Take your time."

"Sure thing. Bridge out."

Tw'eak smiled at the thought of Warspite having a chance to join them. It would mean a chance to spend time with those people - other than Spera - who meant the most to her.

"There's just one more thing, Admiral. It should really be dealt with before we go anywhere." Iffy Wren took Tw'eak's attention away from the upcoming reunion, then hesitated to speak further. "Varek's replacement."

"Yes. Were you able to contact his wife?"

"I was. She had quarters aboard Turing - she's returning to Vulcan. We'd met before, but it was a social occasion, a month or so before you came onto the project. It was obviously a lot different this time, or should've been. She was... well, what do you expect from a Vulcan widow, really. Graceful, dignified, proud that he died fighting, all the usual phrases."

Tw'eak noted Wren's hands, clenched together, and her furrowed brow. "That upset you?"

"I suppose it did. It bothers me that it did. It's sort of unfair of me to have this reaction - kind of embarrassing to talk about, really."

"It's alright."

"I suppose I was just... I wish she'd seemed sad about it. I know that she said she would mourn his loss, but she was just methodically laying things into a box, like he'd been transferred. I felt like I was more upset about it than she was."

"Of course you were," Tw'eak said, chuckling. "She's a Vulcan."

"It was more than that. Maybe I was just reversing the roles, in my head. If anything like that happened to my husband, I'd... well, I don't know what I'd do. But I'd never be the same."

"He's in intelligence, right?"

"Yes, he's aboard the Turing. He was assigned there by Starfleet, but he would've been aboard either way for security purposes - just like everyone else. I mean, I realize Turing is going to be away from anything threatening, but I still worry."

Tw'eak shrugged. "I can't promise that nothing will happen. We lose people in the line of duty. It's not something we can completely rule out, though we'll certainly work to keep it as unlikely as possible."

Wren patted her expanded, pregnant waistline. "And I know this is part of the problem I have with it. My emotions are all over the place - the thought of losing Steve, or Diana, or this baby.. it's more than I think I can bear."

"I can understand that. I've been worried about Spera ever since she transferred to Voyager. She's a quadrant away."

"I wish I could transfer them a quadrant away." Wren shook her head in admonition. "I mean, I wish I could keep them safer. I'll have to transfer off-ship myself before long. An escort-type starship is no place for a newborn."

Tw'eak thought of Kim Hewson and her pregnancy, now some months along, and nodded. "I was anticipating discussing that with you, but didn't want to interrupt your work. You've been so thorough, I didn't think it'd be right to change the subject."

"That's alright. I like it, honestly. Keeps me busy. But I have looked into several options in terms of where to relocate during our parental leave. I know that I need to choose carefully because of the threat of the Iconians. I want to stay onboard the Turing, so we can help, but... well, honestly, Admiral, I'd want something safer. If such a thing even exists anymore."

Tw'eak leaned forward. "My sister's in the same situation. Her bond group are onboard a freighter with other families, most of them expecting babies. They're the future of my people, with a database full of Andoria's history, culture... along with capable medical care and an experienced crew - all Andorian. I'd pitched the idea to Admiral Quinn a while ago; I'd imagine there's a human freighter being crewed right now with the same idea in mind."

"Could we all transfer there? My family, I mean. I wouldn't want to be separated from them." Wren looked momentarily confused. "Would this be a Starfleet freighter, or civilian?"

"Registered Starfleet freighter, but run autonomously - on the presumption that Starfleet won't be much help once the Iconians arrive. I can check into the question of family - in fact, I could put through the transfer and have you on your way today - but I would want it to be a decision you're all comfortable with making."

"Well, Diana would be happy just to be someplace with other kids. And bigger quarters. I hate to admit it but we aren't doing well with being here - as big as Turing is, the civilian sections are pretty small and there's no place other than the holodeck for her to go once the school day's done. The Turing isn't great, but on Silhouette it's even worse. I feel pretty selfish, having them here at all."

Tw'eak smiled appreciatively. She thought of Spera, and the future from which she had come, where life aboard ship was the only one she had ever known. She found herself worried that the Wren children would experience an upbringing of much the same sort. "Think it over," she repeated. "Let me know if it's what you want - what you all decide together that you want. I don't want to push you out the airlock or anything, but I'd recommend you put in for your leave while we're still in spacedock."

"I appreciate that. You're right, I've done all I can with what we have. It's the life of an intelligence officer - you can only plan for what you know. That's why I think I've been putting this off - the Iconians are such a big unknown, and here I am, the nerve of me trying to raise a family on the cusp of their grand return."

"Yes, how dare you..." Tw'eak laughed.

"I'll talk to them now, see if we might..." Wren sighed. "I'm sorry, Admiral, I'm out of line. My personal issues are hardly pertinent to the situation we have to deal with-"

"I disagree. It's very pertinent. You don't put aside the person you are, your needs, your hurts, because your duty compels you. I've never wanted it that way. I need my officers at their best. Sometimes, that means I have to listen. I've been fortunate that you've been able to work through and give me your best, every day. But as you said, you've given your all - and we're going to continue what you've - what you and Varek started here. You've done incredibly well."

"That's mostly because I had such good support from everyone, especially Varek. I'm going to miss him."

"We all are. It's been a privilege to serve with both of you. Varek won't be forgotten, and you have your family to think about... all four of you."

Wren patted her belly. "Yeah, soon enough."

"And we'll be heading out to space again soon enough. Those Iconians have a schedule to keep."

"I understand. And of course I will put family first - but I wouldn't want to leave you in a position where you didn't have a first-rate intelligence officer aboard ship."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'm guessing you have someone in mind as a successor."

Wren smiled. "I was going to say, 'replacement', but I like that. I'll have to remember to put it that way. I certainly don't want to go, but... I'm just repeating myself now. And yes, I do have a particular successor in mind. I know you're accustomed to me presenting multiple options, but I specifically wanted to avoid naming anyone who had an important role in either this task force or the Counter-Command. Which was why I was surprised at my luck. Here, I'll let you see, let me get his dossier. He's an experienced officer - a bit of a mystery, actually, but he has a near-perfect service record, and he's very capable."

Sitting back in her chair, Tw'eak turned to her desktop and accessed the personnel file for the task force. "Anyone I know?"

Tapping on her padd, Wren leaned forward. "I'm not sure if you do, ma'am." She held out the padd to Tw'eak, displaying the service record.

Tw'eak briefly smiled, then looked at Wren with as nondescript a look as she could manage. "No, actually, I've never heard of anyone with that name," she lied, barely keeping a straight face. "Arrange his transfer, as well as your leave, and keep in touch. If there's anything further I can do, don't hesitate to ask - now or ever."

"Thank you, Admiral. Just - thank you for everything. It's been an honour."

"Likewise. Take care, and good luck." She stood and shook Wren's hand. The short, pregnant officer across the table beamed effusively and, with just a slight sense of discomfort, left her padd on the table and headed off into what Tw'eak thought of as a very different kind of adventure, but one no less important: raising her family in peace and safety. She thought back to the conversation she'd had with T'uni and wondered whether the Iconians would, as Commander Wren had jokingly put it, let her dare to have a family. Tw'eak worried whether Wren's freighter cohort might be the only thing left of Earth and humanity by the time the war was over.


	77. Part V, Chapter 10

Bluish-green rocks extended in every direction, and upwards, towards the surface. For about a few hundred metres around, there was only rock - no soil, no vegetation, a peculiar rut which led downwards in a gentle, conical incline. At the lowest point was an area which had been blasted free of rock, very carefully, revealing the presence of a gleaming black material unlike the surrounding stone. It had taken a few months of surveying for the team to realize that those stones had actually once been pillars, hundreds of thousands of years earlier, built in a hexagonal shape in its original form. At the centre of that pillared formation, heart of an ancient civilization long since eradicated, had stood a series of devices which, unlike the stone, had remained completely unchanged.

This was the sight Tw'eak beheld on Lorink III. Some of the rock and dirt around the 'temple' - the term 'temple' was borrowed from the original dig reports, not necessarily an accurate assessment of the structure's purpose - still needed clearing . This would have been completed in Phase III of the dig, again according to the reports, had the war not intruded. Tw'eak stood at the highest point in what once had been the entryway into the 'temple', and looked off to her left. Once there had stood a city extending in that direction, with a massive defensive wall multiple metres thick around its perimeter. All that remained of that wall now were stretches of short hills in a vaguely concentric fashion, the wall serving as an accumulator for dust and debris over thousands of years. Of the city it once protected, there remained even less. But that had been for Phase V of the dig to uncover.

Tw'eak had beamed down in the company of Lini and Pal. Neither had felt comfortable allowing her to join the survey party on the surface at all, but having read the reports of this place felt somehow inadequate to Tw'eak. The urge to get off the ship, while the chance presented itself, was irresistible. She had reluctantly accepted a personal shield and a sidearm, along with not one but two separate bodyguards, one of whom concealed himself as per usual behind a Jem'Hadar shroud. Tw'eak turned to Lini. "What do you think?"

"Just stay near you, unless something comes up - then, overwatch and co-ordinate rescue."

Tw'eak smiled. "I meant about the ruins."

Lini looked them up and down, then offered a tactical appraisal. "It'd be ridiculously easy to kill you in there."

"Right." Tw'eak appreciated her young officer's eagerness, but felt her caution excessive. It hardly felt prudent to point out her observations, as anything she said would be perceived by Lini as unwelcome criticism. Instead, Tw'eak merely turned and moved down into the complex.

As she made her way down the ramp, she saw the familiar figure of Bianca duBois coming up from below to meet her. "Hello, Admiral," she said in greeting.

"Quite the place you've got here," Tw'eak offered in response. "I think the term 'fixer-upper' applies."

Bianca laughed. "That's an understatement. If we're lucky, the previous tenants won't move back in."

"What do we have?"

"Definitely Iconian technology. This whole site is fascinating - I'd read about it before, years ago, when the excavations were still going on. Where we're standing, and below, was covered over with layers of dirt and silt. Even though we're below the level ground, the drainage is very good. If we'd gotten here sooner, this site would have looked completely different."

"How much sooner?" Tw'eak asked.

"Ninety-three thousand years or so? Hard to tell for sure."

Tw'eak and Bianca made their way back the way the chief science officer of the Warspite had come. "So how've you been?"

"Pretty good. Busy since we got back - I've been analyzing the sensor scans we got of the Iconian who appeared on Qo'noS."

"Anything interesting?"

"Only that I wish we had higher-resolution scans than what we have."

Tw'eak gave a nod and a smile. "How've you been, though?"

"Me? Well, I'm alright. I got to see Cam. He's aboard the _Perseus_ , they were part of the battle over Qo'noS. I saw his ship was in-system so I gave him a quick 'hello' once the battle was over. We got to spend a couple hours together before Warspite returned to Earth."

"I hope it went well."

"Yeah. Just not long enough." Bianca looked down at her feet. "I miss him a lot."

"Do you talk often?"

"As often as we can. Still, it was different. It..." Bianca came to a stop. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be bothering you with this."

Tw'eak stood still and put her hands at her side. It wasn't the first time her sincere interest had been seen by those she cared about as their burdening her with their personal issues. "No need to worry. I always want to know what my best officers are thinking."

Bianca furrowed her brow, her dark eyes flashing upwards at Tw'eak in disbelief. "Cam knows about the task force."

"You told him?"

"No. He found out from some people - I don't know who told him, but he knows we're out here doing what we're doing in order to stop the Iconians."

Tw'eak nodded. "Go on."

"And, well, he's worried." Bianca's voice was hesitant. "He thinks something's going to happen to me."

"It won't. Does - not sure how to put this, but... if he's concerned, you're okay with that?"

"Not at all. He's being... typical. He's a space combat specialist - you'd like him, I think. You'd have a lot to talk about. But he thinks he's going to have to come sweeping into the rescue."

Tw'eak raised her eyebrows. "That's tacs for you." She looked uphill at Lini. "I was just being lectured up there by my security lieutenant about line of sight and exposure to fire. We all do that. It's our job, right?"

"Oh - I, no, I'm sorry, I mean that it's just such a typical attitude - tactical officers always get this sort of patronizing 'let me save you' attitude towards the sciences. You'll be too busy with that tricorder to notice the danger. As if."

"And what do science officers think of that?"

"We rarely have time to think about anything other than our research. Which is where they think we need rescuing all the time - noses down, not situationally aware enough." She shook her head. "One of Cam's favourite phrases. Situational awareness. It's - never mind."

Tw'eak waited for a moment, then added, "this can't really be what's bothering you."

Bianca flushed slightly. "No... not really." She swallowed and looked around. "Cam's pretty pessimistic about our chances against the Iconians. He kept saying things so finally. I thought maybe at first he was breaking up with me, which would've been a different kind of awful - he's the only man I've ever had in my life."

Tw'eak chuckled. "You're lucky."

"So I've been told. But the way he was talking... I think he's already convinced himself that one, or both, of us isn't going to be coming back, once the Iconians arrive."

"I've heard it said that if someone thinks they're going to be killed in the morning, they'll find a way of making it happen."

Bianca smiled, slightly reassured. "I've heard that, too. It's usually true."

"Most prophecies are self-fulfilling. We know so little about these Iconians that it'd be hard to offer anything like a reasonable opinion of what happens next. We know their technology was advanced by our present standards all those years ago, and it's easy to guess that we can't beat them as a direct result. And you said yourself, even the scans we have of their actual selves haven't told us much. So far, almost nothing about this has been straightforward. But that's why we're out here, why we're right here on this planet, in fact. Our job is to find a way to avoid fighting them, and if not, then find a weapon we can exploit against them."

"I know - and I want to assure you that this won't be a distraction for me."

"Really?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am. I'm capable of being focused on the task before us."

Tw'eak smiled slightly. "I'd be distracted."

This caught Bianca slightly by surprise. "Ma'am?"

"If I were you, I mean. I understand. Bianca, I'm not upset by this. I think you need to realize that I don't expect you to just stow your personal life in a compartment in your quarters when you go on duty."

"You - but I-"

"Even a Vulcan would have a hard time focusing when they think they've seen the man they love for the last time."

Once again, Bianca found herself surprised by Tw'eak's comment, albeit in a far more vulnerable sense. "He - do you really think we won't?"

Tw'eak placed her hands on Bianca's shoulders. "Let me tell you something. Look at me." Bianca fought back tears and looked Tw'eak in the eye. "There will come a day, when we're past all this, when you're going to make an amazing - what do you call it... bond mate?"

Bianca smiled through her tears. "Bride."

"That's it. Sorry. You're going to make such an amazing bride. It might be with Cam - I mean, I hope it's with Cam-"

"So do I. I was half-expecting him to propose... certainly not act like this."

"Well, maybe he'll get himself sorted and do the right thing next time. Or the time after that. But there will be times after this. So many of them, altogether. And some day, the two of you will be together, in a world where situational awareness isn't as important as being with each other."

Bianca's tears continued to fall, but from happy expectation rather than worry. "You really think so?"

"I hope so. Because when that happens, I'm going to be there. And I'm bringing Andorian ale to the party. Might even bring a date." Tw'eak stopped and looked Bianca squarely in the eye, feigning hurt. "I'm assuming I'm invited."

"Of course you will be. Plus-one, even."

Tw'eak feigned a puzzled look. "Now I've done it. I'll have to find a date. But I've got time to worry about that. Just like you'll have time to worry about... wedding things."

"It's funny. Ever since we were little, 'rora and I have planned on being each others' maids of honour. I would probably ask the captain, if she's willing. I mean, we'd have to make sure she wanted to be there."

"Octavia might talk a good game - all 'efficiency' and intention - but beneath that is a heart as human as yours."

"You're right. Do you think Spera would want to come? Maybe not as a bridesmaid."

"Best to ask her, but I don't see why not." Tw'eak smiled. "It'll make quite a party."

"Yeah." Bianca wiped her eyes. "But that's all for tomorrow."

"That 'tomorrow' will come. Believe it."

Bianca laughed. "And then we party."

"Exactly." Tw'eak looked down towards the Iconian devices below. "I knew I liked you for a reason. But this is why it's important we learn all we can from the leads we have."

"Yes, I know." Bianca held up her tricorder. "I wish these devices were more co-operative. Some of them were smashed when a few of the pillars gave way - the others must have been linked to them somehow. They're all connected to a larger mechanism, which I've scanned repeatedly and still can't find out much about. A power source, maybe?"

Tw'eak heard a soft footfall behind her and turned to see a familiar face with mouth open, ready to speak. "Reporting as requested, Admiral."

Bianca looked up. "Hello." She extended a hand. "Lieutenant Commander Bianca duBois, chief science officer of the Warspite."

The tall, orange-furred Caitian who stood beside Tw'eak shook Bianca's hand. "Lieutenant Commander Khao Manee." He looked at Tw'eak. "I'm to be the new intelligence officer aboard Silhouette."

Tw'eak nodded at the Starfleet officer she had once known as Selkirk Rex. She had completed Iphigenia Wren's transfer before the Silhouette had left Station Phoenix, and she and her family were on their way to join the Earth freighter that was to be humanity's 'seed' in the event of Earth's destruction. Tw'eak smiled, both wishing Wren well and accepting the Caitian she once knew as a space pirate to her team as Wren's successor. "Welcome to Lorink III," she said.

"Nice to be here. I've read a lot about this place."

"Anything to report?"

Khao nodded. "Captain McQueen asked me to tell you that the Turing's been in contact. They've arrived at Cardassia Prime, and the Science Council is permitting them full access to any information on the Iconians. It won't be much, but... well."

"Good to hear." Tw'eak looked to Bianca. "I was thinking the two of you might work well together. Kwaz- er, Khao... Lieutenant Commander Khao has a background in sciences before he transferred to intelligence."

"That's right." Khao glanced down the way. "That's the heart of the site, down there?"

"It is," Bianca acknowledged. She had pulled herself together now, and was once again fully in control of herself. "It's an impressive site. I'd welcome your input, actually."

Tw'eak's commbadge notification sounded. "Sh'Iltryav to Sh'abbas."

"Go ahead, Lini."

"Pal and I are tracking a group of twenty-three individuals - we think they're Orions - who just beamed down near the site."

Tw'eak looked up at Bianca, then Khao. "Now?"

"Yes, ma'am. They've got pattern enhancers and heavy weapons with them."

"We can't risk letting them down here," Bianca implored. "They'll strip the site."

"How many people do we have that beamed down?"

Bianca looked into the heart of the 'temple'. "There's only seven of us in the survey party - three down at the main site, and the other four are scanning among the pillars. Then there's the two of you - and Lini, apparently."

Tw'eak was quietly pleased that Bianca had demonstrated that she had, in fact, maintained situational awareness. "And don't forget Pal."

Bianca nodded. "Of course he's here, if you are."

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Lini, contact Silhouette - no, Warspite. It has more personnel available. Contact Warspite and request a security detail beam down to the site immediately."

"Are we going to be mounting a defense?"

Tw'eak remembered Lini's earlier words about how easy it would be to kill someone at the site. She wasn't kidding - all the angles and lines of fire favoured the high ground of the approach over the main site below. "Belay that," she said. "I have a better idea. Move to the far side of the complex - there's a fallen pillar just the other side. Take Pal and get there - the line of sight into the middle is perfect."

"Okay..."

"That's all for now. Sh'abbas out." Tw'eak turned to Bianca. "The two of you get everyone else and move up to that same position. Quietly. Stay out of sight as best you can."

"Right," Bianca said, turning to go.

Khao, however, did not. "What's the plan?"

"We can't defend this site from them. If they contest it and we're down here, we're finished." Tw'eak shrugged. "So we let them come down while we get above them. Stands to reason they won't be any more capable down here than we are." She tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Silhouette."

"Silhouette, McQueen here, Admiral."

"Is there any other ship in orbit currently, Kit?"

"Not that we can see, ma'am. But if they're under cloak, they don't see us, and we don't see them."

Tw'eak pursed her lips and started moving towards the pillar she had indicated, lowering her voice. "Wish we had one of the Scryers in-system."

"Is there a problem, ma'am?" Kit asked, her voice sounding worried.

"We've just got company down here. Unexpected company."

"Any idea of their intentions?"

"They haven't engaged us yet, if they're hostile. We're assuming they are."

"Hold on - we're scanning them now. I'm reading a series of different life signs - Klingon, Nausicaan, Orion, Lethean. They're carrying a series of pattern enhancers and excavation equipment, minimal armaments."

Tw'eak shook her head. "That doesn't make sense."

"Right. But they'll be able to tell you're there if they use tricorders."

"I know. We're moving to higher ground to try to remain in cover on the far side from the entryway."

"May I offer a suggestion? I can ask Warspite to hit the site with ionizing radiation from their deflector array. We can hit the entry point with it - it'll jam their tricorders temporarily."

"Do it," Tw'eak said. "Can you do that under cloak?"

"We're emitting a small amount of ionizing radiation all the time under cloak, right? Since it's a targeted beam they'll need to change position soon after, but that's not a big deal."

Tw'eak smiled. "Glad you're on our side, Kit."

"I know. This is as close as I ever want to get to being in a Bird-of-Prey, though." The captain of the Silhouette gave a little laugh. "We'll signal Warspite to get in position, and you'll be all set. Won't take a minute."

"Thanks - good luck. Sh'abbas out."

Tw'eak continued down and around the pillars, and saw a group of officers in blue-tinged uniforms, standing around a major pillar in the company of Bianca, Lini and Khao. Lini had her rifle out, while Bianca and Khao had drawn their phasers. None of the other officers were armed with anything but tricorders and science kits. She pointed to one of them. "Can you scan for ionizing radiation?"

"I- me?" The officer, a human female like Bianca, seemed surprised. She drew her tricorder and scanned. "There's not much there, Admiral." She looked up. "Are you looking for something specif - whoa. Yeah, the whole area's swimming in it."

Tw'eak smiled. "Good." She tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Warspite."

"Hey, Admiral! It's Aurora!"

"Commander." Tw'eak looked around the group, slightly embarrassed. She noted Bianca shaking her head and smiling at her sister. "Please arrange for three security details to beam down - one on either side of the archaeological site, and one at my position, please."

"You got it! Octavia's down in deflector control setting up that burst for you. I told her I could do it, because it's kind of the chief engineer's job and all, but we've both got engineering qualifications, so-"

"Thank you, Commander. Can't really talk right now."

"Oh, right! The bad guys. Let me know if you need us."

Tw'eak waited for a moment.

"Oh, wait! You just did." Aurora could be heard laughing at herself, her perky tone completely at odds with the tension her group of ensigns and lieutenants were experiencing. "Don't worry - I'll get those security teams in position. Warspite out!"

"You see?" Tw'eak said with a shrug. "No big deal."

There was a sound of the transporter, and six security personnel materialized just beyond the edge of the ruins. Tw'eak recognized Lieutenant Corallas as the officer in charge. "Lieutenant."

The lieutenant, a tall Rigelian, approached with phaser rifle at the ready. "Admiral. Good to see you."

Beside Tw'eak, Pal unshrouded. "Take up defensive positions, up high." Pal indicated two high points on the left side of their position, and one to their right.

The security personnel acknowledged moved into their firing arcs. As they did, each of them took careful aim at the group moving into the temple complex. It was highly probably that Pal did likewise, but given that he had concealed himself once again moments earlier, Tw'eak couldn't verify it. She leaned over the top of a shorn, broken pillar, and observed this group of outsiders, appraising them to be affiliated with the KDF, certainly, but not equipped for combat. Considering this was the KDF they were dealing with, this came as something of a surprise. Clearly they had no idea Tw'eak's team was in position, nor did they seem overly concerned - rushed, but not worried, as though they had expected the site to be abandoned, as it had been for so long.

"They're moving pretty quickly," Bianca noted.

"Of course they are," Khao Manee inferred. "They know we're at peace, they know we won't shoot at them, and they're just as anxious about the Iconians as we are. So they scoop the site clean and get on their way, then blame ...whatever. Maybe they'll even destroy the site."

Bianca pointed to the site. "Nope. They're not carrying spatial charges or anything else."

"They're not as thorough in their demolition policies as we are - besides, this whole site is a priceless antiquity. It'd be easy to obliterate this place from orbit." Khao's tone was scornful. "And they'd be the type to do it."

"I don't know," Bianca replied. "Hope not.

Tw'eak turned back to the site, and watched. "They're armed, that much is for sure." She could tell that at least four of the workers were Orion - their bare green arms were visible. She couldn't tell from this distance if the two tall ones were shorter Nausicaans or simply tall Klingons. And there were at least two Gorn. Near the back of the formation was a figure in a cape and a flashy armour which gleamed in the dim blue light - presumably the leader of their group, pointing and nodding at various individuals in what seemed a well-orchestrated plan. This transport had been in the works for a while, Tw'eak reasoned. And they'd rehearsed it with precision. But who were they, and what was their plan for the artifact once it had been removed?

"Did you say something?" Khao asked Tw'eak after a moment.

"Me?" Tw'eak replied. "No."

Bianca shook her head.

Khao's ears flickered. "Could've sworn I heard you speak, ma'am."

Tw'eak frowned, looking back at the group. "I didn't say anything."

"Wish I'd brought some binoculars," Khao observed. "Wasn't expecting to have to do this."

Tw'eak considered having a set beamed down, but decided against it. She quietly tapped her commbadge. "Lini?"

"Here, Admiral."

"What do you see out there?"

From a spot higher up, tightly pressed against the rock for concealment, Lini described what she saw. "Looks like they're setting up the pattern enhancers. They're putting out eight of them. Some of them are digging around the artifact - I guess they're trying to pull it out before they beam it out."

"They'll never be able to do that," Bianca said scornfully. "That artifact would require a lot of help to get it out. It's tied into the subterranean structure."

"The ionizing radiation is starting to dissipate," one of the ensigns next to Bianca observed.

Tw'eak's eyes widened as she continued her observation. "I can't believe it."

Bianca did not look up from her tricorder. "Sorry, Admiral, ionizing radiation doesn't last long unless it's sustained."

But Tw'eak had gotten up and moved down the hill. "Where are you going?" Khao said after a moment.

Bianca looked up to see Tw'eak moving past the broken pillar, walking in plain sight towards the Klingon excavation party. "Admiral?" she whispered urgently.

Tw'eak stopped, leaned back, and raised a hand, turning it palm-down towards them. "Stay put. Everyone hold fire." For good measure, she turned and tossed her sidearm to Bianca.

"But Admiral!"

"Stay - I know what I'm doing." She walked out towards the group, passing yet another stump of a pillar, then another, before working her way down a narrow pathway towards them. Now on their level, Tw'eak walked towards the figure in the cape, observed by one, then several of the party faced her. Some drew disruptor pistols. Tw'eak raised her hands, seemingly giving herself up to them.

"General!" one of the Klingons bellowed to their leader. With back to Tw'eak, the figure in the cape turned to face her, revealing a pair of antennae all her own.

"Hello, Sassil," Tw'eak greeted her sister placidly. "Funny, me running into you here."

The look in Sassil's eye was of unbridled rage. "You!" she cried. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, although I... figured it out. Theft of antiquities would be a breach of Federation law. This site is under Federation jurisdiction, and has been ever since the armistice."

The party with Sassil had parted to form a half-circle, either standing beside or behind her, leaving Tw'eak very much alone on the low platform. "So you're here to arrest me, then?" She took a few measured steps towards Tw'eak, Orions and Klingons at her shoulders.

"All of you, more like," she said. "Hold still now, I need to take a count."

Sassil laughed, and as she did, the voices of her companions joined her in laughing. As they did, Tw'eak, too, also began to laugh. This caused some of the voices on the far side of the divide to lessen, then be quiet altogether, Sassil included.

"Twenty-four of you, then," Tw'eak noted. She then raised her hand, waving to Lini. "It's all right," she called as she waved around the circle. "Come on out, Starfleet. Let's all say hello to our friends from the Klingon Empire." She looked back to Sassil. "After all, we're all friends here, right?"

One by one, heads popped up, brandishing phaser rifles - the security personnel and even a couple of the scientists.

"Sorry," Tw'eak said with a shrug. "I just wanted to give you a chance to explain yourself before putting you in custody."

Sassil chuckled, took another step forward, and then looked vengefully at Tw'eak. "You don't know what you're doing."

"On the contrary. Regulations are quite clear. You'd know that if you'd paid any attention at the Academy."

With a snort, Sassil shook her head.

"This will be quite the situation for your diplomats to explain," Tw'eak continued. "That is, if you won't."

"An incident," Sassil noted. "Yes, I imagine it will be." With a twirling flash, she reached behind her back, producing from there a mek'leth, the short slashing blade of the Klingon warrior. Turning herself in a blind swipe at Tw'eak's bare neck, she suddenly found her motion arrested - as Pal's hand closed around it, absorbing the blow. The back of his hand came up against Tw'eak's neck as he unshrouded, shielding her from the impact, and with a twist he both disarmed Sassil and knocked her, off-balance, to the ground.

Tw'eak breathed a sigh of relief. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

Pal tucked the mek'leth into his belt. "Please remain with the group next time, Admiral." He drew his rifle and pointed it at Sassil, bringing his boot down on her chest for good measure. "May the blessing of the Prophets be upon you," he said aloud, taking careful aim at her eye socket. "In the spirit of peace and friendship."

Sassil, for her part, clutched a wrist which gave the distinct appearance of being broken. "You - I -"

Tw'eak addressed the group. "Whatever your intentions, halt immediately in the name of the United Federation of Planets."

Towards the back of the group, however, two Orions had quietly set up the last pattern enhancer. "You're too late, Admiral," one of them said. Within the group, two or three scuffles broke out - as did phaser fire, striking one of the would-be thieves. The one who had spoken, however, clambered onto the artifact and took a device from his pouch, fitting it into place. As the object began to dematerialize, he himself was struck by phaser fire from two directions, and Tw'eak saw his collapsed form meld into the same energized light as the artifact disappeared.

"NO!" Sassil cried. "They've stolen it!"

Tw'eak came to her sister's side, leaning down. "Who are they? Start talking."

"I - never!"

"We're not enemies anymore, you raging zabathu. Tell me what this is about."

"Kill her!" Sassil said, pointing with her good hand at Tw'eak. But her troops hesitated. "Honourless targs, the lot of you!"

One of the group, a Klingon, came forward, his d'k tahg in hand. Pal raised his rifle, foot still on Sassil, as the Klingon took another step towards Tw'eak, who stood up to face him. "HALT!" Pal bellowed.

But the Klingon looked down at the blade, which he placed in his own left hand and drew across it. A few pink drops fell onto the ground below as he held the d'k tahg, its points out, handle first towards Tw'eak. "Some of us know the true meaning of honour... General." He snarled at Sassil, then his eyes met Tw'eak's. "Admiral. I am Bekk Kortoth of House Pegh. Greetings from the Klingon Empire."

Sassil wrestled with trying to get Pal's foot off of her, but the First was more than capable of keeping her in place. "Another word, Kortoth, and your death will follow!"

Tw'eak warily looked down at Sassil, then took a step towards Kortoth, extending a hand - the right, to be sure, as he had just cut open his left. "Hello." Kortoth held still for a moment, then shook Tw'eak's hand. "Do I have your assurance, on behalf of these people, that no further harm will be attempted by my people?"

"You have my word, as a warrior."

"I'll take that." Tw'eak waved in her people. "Pal, take her back to the ship."

"I'll - you'll regret this! All of you!" Sassil thrashed beneath Pal's foot, and he put away his rifle, then roughly bundled her over on her stomach with the same foot before picking her up roughly and carrying her off. Sassil continued to scream, nearly incoherent, while her cape, half-pinned under Pal's arm, came flapping over her face, leaving her spitting and shaking her head in order to free her mouth to provide more verbal pyrotechnics.

"What is the meaning of your presence here?" Tw'eak asked Kortoth.

"Our mission was to retrieve this artifact prior to your forces' arrival. Many of us had reservations about this mission, as we received our orders for the last five missions we undertook as one from Command. The armistice came before we had opportunity to achieve this mission, and as such, our orders are no longer valid."

"You're aware of my task force? Our mission?"

"Indeed. We share a common goal - and in short time, I fear we will share a common enemy. I had thought the General understood that. I... regret what has occurred."

"It's not your fault. These Orions..." Tw'eak pointed to the felled form of one among several Orions who had been revealed as traitors. "They weren't loyal? They aren't following the same orders?"

"So it would appear. That was ultimately why I and others set our reservations aside - there was no honour in leaving this artifact unsecured and open to thievery. We did not expect your task force - or you, in fact - to be present when we arrived. It is a miserable irony that by coming here we permitted precisely the theft we had hoped to prevent."

Tw'eak nodded with a smile. "It's not over yet." She waved to Khao and Bianca, both of whom were standing with Lini. "You should talk to my people. One of them is from Starfleet intelligence, the other is one of my best science officers. I'd like to co-ordinate intel with you, since, as you said, we have a common enemy."

"I would not wish to speak of the work of House Pegh beyond this specific mission. Rest assured, if your mission is the destruction of the honourless demons, then our blade is yours."

Tw'eak bowed in the Klingon fashion. "I am honoured." She turned to her officers. "This is Lieutenant Commander Khao Manee of Starfleet Intelligence, and Lieutenant Commander Bianca duBois, Starfleet sciences. This is Kortoth, of House Pegh. He's your Klingon equivalent, Khao."

Khao nodded to Kortoth. "Well met."

"Indeed. I well know the ferocity of the Caitian warrior. May I contact our vessel?" Kortoth asked. "I will need to inform them that I have taken charge."

"Very well. What manner of vessel is it?"

"I am not at liberty to say."

Tw'eak eyed Kortoth suspiciously. "You're only a crewman? Unless I misunderstood what is meant by 'bekk'... you're not even a warrior?"

Kortoth smiled proudly. "You saw through my deception. I am, in fact, the executive officer of the IKS Suvwi'qa'. It is a proud battlecruiser of House Pegh."

Tw'eak saw Khao's ears flip forward, and he chuckled. He looked at Tw'eak. "Makes sense."

"What does?" she asked.

"Oh, you don't speak Klingon. Suvwi'qa' - pardon my pronunciation - means 'warrior spirit' in Klingon."

"The Spirit of the Warrior," Tw'eak said to herself.

"I do not understand," Kortoth replied.

"To my people, the Spirit of the Warrior is the name we give to the manifestation of all honour, the very soul of Andoria."

The Klingon let out a laugh. "Our Emperor, Kahless the Unforgettable, is the true spirit of all Klingon warriors."

Tw'eak looked to Khao. "We understand each other perfectly."

"We must delay no further," Kortoth said. "While I appreciate the opportunity to co-ordinate our efforts, my crew and I must track down that artifact."

"Actually?" Bianca interrupted. "You can probably skip it. Whatever they took, we've probably seen it before. It's the rest of the structure that's interesting."

"I - I would like to request your information, if I may. Co-ordinate our resources."

Tw'eak nodded to Bianca. "I don't see why not. We're going to be working together from this point onwards." She looked to Kortoth. "Hopefully to the benefit of both the Empire and the Federation."

This reference made Kortoth straighten up slightly, his eyes afire. "That would depend, Admiral, if any of your orders are given by members of the organization you know as Section 31."

This made Tw'eak raise an eyebrow. "You've heard of them."

"They are known to us - as a continued threat from within the Federation, despite the armistice."

Tw'eak softened her facial expression. "That's interesting - we usually refer to them as a threat to the Federation from within."

This made Kortoth relax again. "Very well. I am pleased to hear you speak of them as such. I am sorry to have been so direct."

"No, no, I don't blame you. I've had to deal with them in the past - in the interests of disclosure, I should tell you that much. They've courted my involvement in their various nonsense, but I've never consciously done anything to support their efforts. I can speak for my people having never done so, either."

Kortoth nodded. "Good. Then I look forward to fighting alongside you in the final days." He slowly extended his hand once again, and Tw'eak took the opportunity for a handshake.

" 'Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.' "

Tw'eak and Kortoth alike turned and looked at Bianca. "Who's 'Louis'?" Tw'eak asked.

"Sorry. My dad always loved that movie." Bianca blushed slightly, then looked over at Tw'eak. "Next time I make fun of Aurora, just remind me of this, okay?"


	78. Part V, Chapter 11

"It would appear the Cardassians know little more about the Iconians than we do."

T'uni's arched eyebrow said it all. Now once again safely in her quarters aboard Warspite, Tw'eak's conversation with T'uni via subspace had been filled with similar instances of what would be laughter from anyone else, but which, to her Vulcan friend, were merely occasion for slight twitches of a lip, or an arched eyebrow. Indeed, T'uni took a sort of perverse sense of pride - unthinkable otherwise for a Vulcan - in having a closer connection to her emotional self, not necessarily to keep it under control, but out of habit. Years of practice as a ship's counselor had taught her the advantage of showing a little feeling to arouse that emotion in others. Tw'eak was well aware of this tendency of T'uni's. This did not prevent her frustration from showing.

"Damn it," she replied. "And you're sure the Turing covered everything?"

"They were very thorough. To Captain Lee's surprise, the Science Council offered full access."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I had hoped you'd have some good news for me."

"Not at present."

"How about the spectrographic analysis on the Iconian's appearance on Qo'noS?"

T'uni shook her head. "Consistent with the patterns demonstrated in various gateway scans and other forms of known Iconian energy."

"Nothing new there either."

"It would appear that the appearance of the Iconian was linked to a gateway, its source presently unknown."

"So they can use their gateways to come and go, then."

"Indeed."

Tw'eak nodded. "Not sure if that's good to know."

"From a tactical perspective, it is valuable, if not reassuring."

"That was what I meant." Tw'eak looked around. "And this... energy source from beneath the planet Lorink III will probably prove to be little more than, what, geothermal energy? An underground fusion reactor?"

"Based on your science officer's reports, I would presume the former. I would commend her thoroughness, for the record."

"I'll let her know. Bianca's a fine officer."

"I have arranged for the starship Discovery to be routed to Lorink to investigate further. They are currently en route to its observation tour of the Zenas Expanse. Lorink is a minor diversion from their course. They should arrive in a few hours."

Tw'eak looked around, frustrated. "So there's absolutely nothing shocking or even exciting about any of this."

"I do not believe so."

"Everything we've learned in the past... two days, three days..."

"...has been inconsistent with the terms 'shocking' or 'exciting', you are correct."

Tw'eak pushed her thoughts to the furthestmost extent of her mind. "Nothing else in the news of late. The Federation President didn't turn out to be an Undine all of a sudden."

T'uni once again arched an eyebrow. "I doubt our colleagues in the Counter-Command would take such a joke lightly. Yet I can reliably inform you that President Okeg has been tested, and proven to be Saurian, as expected."

"Right." Tw'eak shrugged. "Just checking."

"In fact, at present, my counterpart in the Counter-Command reports that the Undine have settled back into a regular pattern of evasion and wilful distance - there have been no new fluidic disturbances in our space for twenty-six days."

"That's good."

"It may be that they have simply become more capable of concealing themselves."

"That's... no, I don't think that'd happen that quickly."

"I would tend to agree." T'uni narrowed her eyes at Tw'eak. "I am curious. This sudden interest in the Counter-Command, your thrill-seeking tendency... I would venture a guess that this is somehow related to your having taken custody of your sister, yet I fail to fully understand the connection."

Tw'eak smiled at her friend. "Just looking for something more surprising than finding Sassil down there, that's all."

"I doubt you will be so fortunate. It is a singularly unexpected twist of events, for her to be working with Klingon Intelligence in such a capacity."

"Tell me about it."

"I am not surprised to learn that the Klingons had a task force with a similar mission brief to your own. It is logical that they too would seek information regarding the severity of the Iconian threat."

"Not sure how much of a 'task force' it is - it sounds like they have even less ships than we have available at the moment. Sassil's executive officer spoke of their getting a whole packet of orders all at once. I guess the war took its toll on the number of ships they had available for the task."

"That would imply those orders had been given to other vessels before being compiled for a single ship to undertake all mission requirements."

"My thoughts exactly"

"This is to be expected. Klingon Intelligence has fewer resources at hand than we do, often relying upon loyal or interested captains to ferry their operatives into position. This supports the belief that Klingon Intelligence had placed greater emphasis on uncovering Undine infiltrators in their midst, as well as attempting to ascertain tactical advantages against our forces prior to the armistice. They were, of course, only successful in part of their endeavour despite their concentrated effort."

"That's good to know. I'd heard that, for a couple months there, that they had access to our signals."

"They did." T'uni shuffled in her chair. "However, those signals were only one-third correct. We were aware of their monitoring of the Xarantine relay for eight of the nine months it was in operation before their effort discontinued."

"One-third correct?"

"We offered enough intelligence, of low-priority value, to convince them the signal was being properly interpreted. However, operational and strategic information was beyond their access."

"Wait, earlier I thought you said they were only successful in part?"

"In that they were partly successful, not that their success was confined to one part or the other."

"Ah," Tw'eak said, appreciating her friend's ability to instantly re-state what she'd said to sound completely different from what Tw'eak had heard. "I don't know why you ever wasted your time as a counselor - with your expertise in doublespeak you'd fit right in at Intelligence."

"So it would appear. Yet I found my time as a counselor... immensely enjoyable, from a certain point of view."

"How so?"

"It came as a sort of... continual reminder that the average individual in Starfleet is vastly inferior to myself."

Tw'eak blinked. "And you found that enjoyable?"

"Not in and of itself." T'uni's eyebrow rose again. "But assisting them in alleviating their... emotional restrictions meant they were more capable of giving a complete effort to Starfleet in their various roles. This brought them closer to their full potential."

"So that's what you enjoyed."

"Of course. I cannot call it pity, for that would be imprecise, and unprofessional, as a term. Yet I routinely found that acute distress, in the form of anxiety and negative self-talk, could be concealed beneath social veneers and other self-imposed constructs such as over-attention to duty. It was... revealing, the extent to which other beings would go, the energy they would expend, in order to reinforce their own opinion - of themselves, of fellow officers, of their place in the rank hierarchy, or within Starfleet itself - no matter how far removed from the truth it may be."

"I see."

"Intelligence work functions along similar principles, albeit on a wider level - in essence, the preconceptions, assumptions, and misinterpretations which inform decision-making in the highest echelons of command are patterns of institutional behaviour. They function the same way, sometimes in neurotic fashion, and occasionally those disruptions to rational thought can lead to shortcomings, even disasters. Perhaps this explains your sister being placed in such a role by the Klingons - she would be relatively untouched by the prejudices and misconceptions which might colour the judgment of a Klingon commander in that role."

"See, now at least that makes sense - and it explains why she's given that position."

"The Klingons also must have felt such intelligence work on the Iconians to be... distinctly unimportant, to assign it to a non-Klingon captain."

"Ouch." Tw'eak gestured to herself. "Remember who you're talking to here."

"No offense was intended. I merely meant that the Klingons must have felt such a role to be of lesser priority, due to the more pressing Undine and Federation threats."

"No, I get it. I just... wish I didn't agree with the Klingons."

"I do not understand."

Tw'eak sat uncomfortably in her chair. "You said it yourself, last time I saw you. The odds are slim. We're probably not going to find anything that'll make that much of a difference out here."

"I believe the humans have an expression, 'you won't know unless you try'."

"I get that. I just... wish I felt that the trying was worth it."

"Indeed. I can be of assistance in discussing motivation and its role in fulfilling your mission."

Tw'eak sidestepped her friend's attempt at returning to duty as her counselor. "Instead, so far the only thing I've found out here has been my sister - and she hates me enough to try to kill me."

"I would not be so presumptuous. It may be that her action was intended to support the role she sought to play. I have reviewed your communication with her earlier, during your contact with her vessel in the Elvren system. Her behaviour was... most unlike any Andorian I have known. It was as though she was attempting to feign a continual bombastic energy, to project a sense of aggressive expectation to her crew."

Tw'eak shook her head with a smile. "You don't know Sassil. That's her... neither Dashii or I were all that surprised to see her act like that."

"I see." T'uni raised a hand to her lips for a moment. "How peculiar."

"It's not typical for Andorians to act like that anymore." Tw'eak was correct. The seething, smouldering sort of aggression which Sassil had demonstrated so clearly was nothing new for her - and for Tw'eak's people was no longer a common occurrence. The tempering effect of long-time Federation membership had, thankfully, mitigated those tendencies. "We're... more civilized now."

"I would agree. Her conduct, to me, was all the more unusual for my having known you for so long. Perhaps I am simply accustomed to your mannerisms."

"I don't know." Tw'eak raised her own eyebrows for a moment. "I'd hate to end up like she did - they backed right off. Her crew, I mean. Left her high and dry. None of them even spoke on her behalf."

"That may have had more to do with an awareness of the likelihood of a diplomatic incident if they did - or perhaps they merely disagreed with her method of interaction."

"You mean her trying to slice my head clean off?"

"Precisely." T'uni tilted her head slightly, then added, "From your report, I understood that the executive officer felt her conduct to be dishonourable."

"So he did."

"For the typical, honour-driven Klingon, that fact would be reason enough not to commit to further aggressive conduct - to say nothing of your superior tactical disposition at the site."

Tw'eak nodded. It made sense. Besides, if the Klingons really wanted to get rid of Sassil, they wouldn't have let her survive for so long. A challenge to her authority would yield the desired result just the same. Still, her choice to lash out as she had was a blatant challenge to Tw'eak. What was unclear was whether it was intended against her as a Starfleet admiral, or as the older sister, the 'golden child' who had followed in the family's footsteps and attained admiralty rank. Sassil would not have been blind to the fact that Tw'eak was the clan's first vice admiral in Starfleet service, nor that her vice-admiralty was a step above the general's rank which Sassil had earned in the Klingon Defense Force. Either way, the statement Sassil had chosen to make through her actions - one of certain disrespect, of stubborn defiance - was abundantly clear. The only question was how best to address the matter, to try to make some sort of connection with her sister, before her hands were tied and Sassil was transferred to a secure holding facility.

"I would be curious to know your next move regarding the general," T'uni asked for a moment.

Tw'eak looked off into the distance for a long moment, pensive. Eventually she leaned forward, her eyes wide in understanding. "That's exactly what I'll do," she said, thinking aloud.

"What is?"

Her attention returned to the viewer, Tw'eak stammered for a moment. "I - I'm going - I'll call you back."

"Would it be beneficial to discuss your intentions?"

"Not right now."

T'uni's eyebrow went up again. "Because I would disapprove."

"No." Tw'eak caught herself. "Yes. But - look, I can't talk. I have to do this."

"Whatever it is, I would advise against it."

"I know you would. Let me know if there are any further updates, would you?"

T'uni gave a flat expression that could be best likened to a disapproving shake of the head. "Likewise. T'uni out."

Tw'eak turned away from the viewer and walked about the room, her mind on fire. "Computer," she said aloud. "I need to know if you can replicate something for me."

"Please specify parameters."

"Right," she said, dashing back to the terminal where she had spoken to T'uni, accessing the library files. "Let's do this."

* * *

Hours after the incident, when filing his report - one which, ironically, would gain Captain Octavia's notice and be dismissed entirely - Lieutenant Meluthab, the Pakled brig attendant, would struggle to understand exactly how the situation had come to unfold. Yet at the time, seated at his desk in the Warspite's brig, Meluthab was monitoring his sole prisoner, General Sassil Sh'abbas of the Klingon Defense Force. For a Pakled like Meluthab, not terribly observant but good with routines and matters of repetitive tasks, this day had held much important duty for him. He had the admiral's own sister in cell four of four. The four cells - his duty - were each numbered, one, two, three, four, and he could see them all in the triangular arc of the brig's shape.

Sometimes Meluthab would get up from his desk and walk the length of the brig. Sometimes Meluthab would get up and walk to the door of cell four of four - he liked saying it like that - and back to one of four, then to his desk. On the rare occasion that there were actually prisoners in the cell, he liked to occasionally leave his post for a moment, or stand at the wall nearest one of four, just to see what the prisoners would do in his absence. The wedge-like shape of the brig lended itself to the idea. From his desk, Meluthab could monitor their vital signs, raise or lower the force fields that held them in place, or even introduce anesthezine gas into their cells. He had never been given permission to do that - and permission was required, ever since the time he had accidentally done so with the cells empty, only to be found unconscious some time later by a greatly annoyed Pal. Not only did anesthezine not work the same way on the First as it did on anyone who wasn't a Jem'Hadar, but Pal had also suggested that perhaps Meluthab was more suited for an immediate transfer to front-line ground operations as a result of his action.

It had been Pal's commendation - for what else could it have been but praise for ingenuity? - was the reason Meluthab was busily studying the Basic Ground Qualification exam materials at his desk. Yet he had his duty to perform, with a prisoner in four of four. To assist his study, and to keep himself from straining under the additional task, he had divided each hour into twenty-minute blocks. He had an eighteen-minute timer running at his desk, during which he would review the Basic Ground Qualification documents. It then took him two minutes to get up and around, whether he went from one of four to four of four or from four of four to one of four, addressing the prisoner to see if she had any pressing needs - hopefully she did not, as this would upset his careful timing - before returning to his place. The timer meant he used his time as precisely as he could, while completing the secondary task of completing the Basic Ground Qualification. That was called efficiency. Captain Octavia liked that sort of efficiency. And Meluthab hoped that Captain Octavia would appreciate his efficiency. Her commendation would go a long way to gaining Meluthab the front-line posting the First had suggested.

But a severe disturbance to Meluthab's orderly afternoon was about to ensue. As Meluthab puzzled over the difference between a blast-type assault weapon and a pulsewave-type assault weapon, he looked up to see Vice Admiral Sh'abbas enter, hands behind her back. Meluthab felt relieved - perhaps the admiral would have some sort of insight into how to tell the two weapons apart. At the same time, trepidation worked into his mind - he had never seen the admiral this closely. Did this mean he was being noticed? Would this speed up his intended transfer to front-line ground operations? The questions distracted Meluthab, causing him to get up so quickly that he struck the tops of his knees off the underside of the desk. He winced slightly, then straightened up, saluting. "Admiral!"

"Hello, Lieutenant," Tw'eak said to Meluthab, careful to keep her hands from view. "Please open the cell for General Sh'abbas."

Meluthab blinked. "I'm sorry, Admiral. I'll need to log a reason for the request."

Tw'eak smiled. "Of course you will. Let's call it a form of interrogation."

"I understand." Meluthab looked to his duty station, noting the reason. He liked to listen in on others' interrogations. Sometimes the line of questioning made him want to cheer for the person asking - unless he felt sorry for the prisoner, which was not often, in which case he wanted to cheer for the prisoner for not answering. There had been very few interrogations to see aboard Warspite, but he knew of an archive of tutorial material in the library computer which he often viewed for exactly that purpose.

Tw'eak looked up at Meluthab. "I'd like to ask you to remain outside."

"Uh... no." Meluthab looked at Tw'eak in horror. "This is my duty station. I am to remain here unless relieved by a superior officer."

"You know, Lieutenant, vice-admiral qualifies as such a rank."

"I -" This confused Meluthab for a moment. He smiled as he remembered the right answer. "Superior officer of the same branch of service."

"Like Pal?" Tw'eak nodded to her left. "He's on his way here."

"I will await his arrival, then stand relieved of my post." Meluthab beamed. He had remembered his duties precisely. The admiral would no doubt be impressed.

He was crestfallen to see Tw'eak's rather unimpressed facial expression. "So be it, then. Just lower the forcefield."

"Very well. I will remain here during your interrogation unless relieved -"

"Right. Just sit quietly. I won't be long." Tw'eak moved quickly to within the open cell door. She stepped through to see Sassil sitting up in the small compartment, on the edge of a built-in bed barely large enough for her. She wore the full accoutrements she had come with - metal gauntlets and breastplate, massive shinguards, a fur collar, and a lengthy red cape. "She's been cleared for weapons?" Tw'eak called to Meluthab.

"Yes, ma'am! Scans revealed two d'k tahg daggers, a mek'leth, a garrotte, and a plasma pistol. They have all been confiscated in the holding locker." Meluthab smiled broadly. "I assisted the First in confiscating those."

Sassil snickered. "I'd like those back before I leave."

Tw'eak kept her hands behind her back carefully, and stood in the frame of the doorway. "You won't be going anywhere for a while."

"Is that so."

"That's right. We've contacted the Empire. A Bird of Prey will rendez-vous with us in three days' time. Until then, you're here aboard ship as my guest."

"Your guest? You mean this" - here Sassil indicated the confines of her cell - "is your idea of hospitality?"

Tw'eak smiled. "It's probably still bigger than your quarters on a Klingon ship."

"Oh, you'd be surprised." Sassil looked at Tw'eak's hands. "What've you got there?"

"A present. And an opportunity, you could say."

Sassil's antennae tilted inwards suspiciously, and her eyes narrowed. "Really."

"I'm pretty disappointed in you."

"Oh. I'm hurt."

"Yeah, see, down on the planet, you tried to kill me."

"It's no more than you deserve. You're our enemy."

"I disagree. As does Chancellor J'mpok, actually. Spoke to him earlier - interesting fellow."

Sassil laughed, a harsh cackle. "You. You spoke to Chancellor J'mpok."

"Not for the first time, either. I was there on Qo'noS not long ago when the war ended. So was an Iconian. It was quite the scene."

The laughter vanished from Sassil's voice. "And what did the chancellor have to say?"

"Well, that repatriation of prisoners would take a long time, that few prisoners from your side of our former conflict would be expected to come home - Klingons, after all, don't take prisoners - but that the penal battalions and labour details from across the Empire would be exchanged in time for the warriors we held in our penal colonies-"

"I meant about me, Twaiheak."

Tw'eak straightened up. "I wasn't aware we were on such familiar terms again."

The admission stung Sassil, whose eyes lowered in rage. "That's quite the thing for you to say to me."

"On the contrary, General. I find it no such 'thing' at all. And I'd appreciate it if you address me as Vice-Admiral Sh'abbas. I've earned my rank."

"So then why are you here, Admiral, other than to tell me how 'disappointed' you are?"

"Not how disappointed," Tw'eak corrected, "but why. You see, your time among others has led you to become something less than truly Andorian if you think swinging a blade at my throat while I'm unarmed is any way to behave. It's uncivilized, and it's unworthy of an Andorian warrior. Clearly the Klingons have corrupted you... diminished you."

This got Sassil on her feet, eyes wide in rage. "You would address me in such a manner?"

"I think you've forgotten what it means to be Andorian." Here Tw'eak produced for the first time what she held in her right hand - an _ushaan-tor_ , the curved seashell blade used as a weapon in the duels which characterized Andorian society, history and culture.

Sassil did not flinch at the sight of it, but her eyes flashed defiantly at Tw'eak.

"I'm here to find out if I'm right," Tw'eak continued, tossing the _ushaan-tor_ at Sassil's feet before raising her left hand to reveal another, its counterpart, along with a defensive metal gauntlet of her own around her wrist.

Sassil did not pick up the _ushaan-tor_ , instead shaking her head. "I know your game. You'll name that Jem'Hadar as a substitute."

Tw'eak looked over her shoulder, then her other. "I don't see him around here anyplace, do you?"

"He's Jem'Hadar. I didn't see him the first time, either."

" 'The first time' - so that little assassin's move of yours was a challenge to me. Well, I'm happy to hear it, General. Maybe there's hope for you yet. But it's my turn - now, I challenge you, on the ancestral terms of the Andorian people, with the pride which is mine as a true daughter of Andoria, by the blood which flows blue in my veins - I challenge you to _ushaan_... to a duel of honour. If you have any honour left, that is."

Sassil reached down and retrieved the _ushaan-tor_ , her anger rising. "You said yourself we have no quarrel. The war is over."

"Oh, it will be, for you, soon enough. I challenge you, on behalf of the honour of my clan and homeworld alike. I demand vengeance for my sister."

This sent Sassil into a state of bewildered astonishment. "For Dashichal? She lives - I heard her speak, I saw her on your bridge."

"Pay attention, zabathu. I seek vengeance for the loss of Sassilinthras - for my _shi_." Tw'eak took a few steps back, carefully over the threshold of the cell, into the open area beyond. Her voice rose as she spoke. "She is lost to me. She was dear to me. And whatever you may be that has replaced her, you defile her memory in my heart. And I demand you prove yourself worthy of her ...lest I kill you here myself."

This caught Meluthab's attention, having previously been transfixed by a diagram demonstrating 'high ground' as a tactical disposition - a foreign concept to his mind. He froze at the sight of not only an armed prisoner - for now Sassil emerged, pursuing the steadily-retreating Tw'eak - but also the sight of an armed admiral, threatening death to a prisoner. Eyes wide, his eyes darted back and forth from Sassil to Tw'eak in a mad panic. He opened his mouth to speak, to issue a warning of some kind, but nothing came forth. He reached for the phaser at his hip, but it fumbled from his grasp and fell away into the recesses of his duty station. Left with no options, he fled into the corridor, where the First of the Jem'Hadar stood, rifle at the ready, against the wall opposite. "What - I -"

Pal took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring, as he stepped up to Meluthab, towering over the hapless Pakled. "Why were you still in there?" he roared.

"I - my station - I wasn't relieved."

"You are now. To your quarters - and tell no one what you have seen."

"I - but - okay." Meluthab turned to go, deflated. He realized too late that he had left his study notes on a padd on the desk, but resigned himself to depart without it, the door closing behind him. Pal then resumed his place along the wall.

Within the brig, the situation continued to develop. Sassil looked around the room. "What kind of _ushaan_ is this? Your only witness flees? We - we are unbound!"

Tw'eak pressed a release on her wrist gauntlet and the tether which bound them in the _ushaan_ came forth, wrapping itself around Sassil's free hand. "Happy now? Besides, I need no witnesses - the honoured spirits of my clan stand in a phalanx behind me."

Sassil grinned fiercely. "They are my clan too. You will see, before the end."

"I'll take your blood home then, to Andoria," Tw'eak declared confidently, her eyes set. The fixed distance between them now established, she raised her blade and stood in a combat stance.

"To - to the Wall of Heroes?" Sassil asked in a quiet voice.

"No. To your family. To your clan. As a sign that you died with honour. How they choose to dispose of it, I leave to them."

Sassil chuckled contemptuously. "You are a fool to think you're going to kill me. I find this whole drama of yours... very amusing."

"We'll see which one of us is laughing soon enough." Tw'eak gestured with her blade. "Yours is the first move. Or would you sooner yield -"

Sassil didn't let Tw'eak finish. She turned hard and let Tw'eak lose her balance, forcing Tw'eak to take a step forward. A wild slash followed, nearly catching Tw'eak on the shoulder. Tw'eak adjusted, then rolled hard to her left, taking Sassil's feet out from under her. As Sassil tumbled, she punched downwards, striking the floor with her blade, causing sparks to fly as it did. Tw'eak pounced towards Sassil's arm, intent on striking her in the shoulder with her free hand, but Sassil anticipated this, placing her shoulder into Tw'eak's chin and sending both of them clattering onto their backs. Sassil sliced backwards with her blade, its tip landing between Tw'eak's parted antennae, sparks flashing from just above her head.

Tw'eak then rolled to her left as Sassil raised her hand to strike again. Tw'eak came to her feet, remaining slightly crouched, as Sassil took a running leap at her, boots fully extended. The drop-kick caught Tw'eak in the chest, forcing her backwards, but the kick put Sassil in a worse position as she lay prone on the floor. Tw'eak took the opportunity to deliver a kick to her sister's jaw, forcing Sassil to roll away, before coming down in like manner with her free hand, striking her sister back-handed with the metal gauntlet. Sassil, however, had other plans, slashing viciously at Tw'eak's chest, catching the material on Tw'eak's uniform, fraying the upper inside of her sleeve on her blade hand. The fabric dangled loose, so Tw'eak backed off from Sassil for a moment, tearing her sleeve completely off with her blade hand before letting it fall into a rumpled remnant along the top of her gauntlet.

Sassil didn't wait for Tw'eak to be ready - she came to her feet and her blade rose overhead. Tw'eak sprang back once, then again, as Sassil took another slash - then another - at her midriff. Sassil's eyes were smouldering, full of vengeance. On her side of the tether, Tw'eak maintained her discipline, blocking patiently, giving little ground, waiting for her moment to counterattack. She had the triangular shape of the brig as an advantage, knowing her exact distance to the wall meaning she could tell how much ground she had to give. Sassil came on - a kick, then a downward slash, followed by another in short succession - but Tw'eak continued to hold to her disciplined defense, waiting for an opening.

Then it happened. Sassil let her free hand claw at Tw'eak, which left an opening to Tw'eak's right. She leapt for it, waiting as she had been, and slashed at Sassil's exposed heel. The thick Klingon boot she wore was proof enough to work against the blade, leaving a sizeable wound in the material but none in Sassil's ankle. This forced Tw'eak to adapt, and she did by bringing Sassil's free arm around her body, using the tether, then clutching her blade towards the back of Sassil's neck. As she did, Sassil brought her own blade, its arm still free, up towards Tw'eak's face. This made Tw'eak raise her _ushaan-tor_ , blade outwards, across her own eyes, the tip of it digging into Sassil's temple as she did. Tw'eak then put all her weight on her right leg and swept Sassil's feet with her left, falling on top of her, pinning her blade arm under her body. Both arms straitjacketed, Sassil howled in defeat. Tw'eak then came down to sit upon the small of Sassil's back, both hands on the _ushaan-tor_ , its blade pressed against the back of Sassil's neck.

"Do you give up?" Tw'eak asked.

"Never!" Sassil screamed.

Tw'eak took a breath. "Then prepare to die."

"Go ahead! You said it yourself - I'm already dead to you!"

"I said no such thing - Uzaveh's name!"

Sassil seemed to be porpoising intentionally, forcing Tw'eak's blade to cut into the skin along the back of her neck. "Do it! Finish me!"

Tw'eak shook her head, exasperated. "You're bad at this. You're not supposed to want to be killed!"

"It is a good day to die!"

Tw'eak brought the blade up from Sassil's neck, still reluctant to follow through. "I don't suppose you'd just settle for incapacitation."

"Why did you seek _ushaan_ if not to kill me? Finish it!"

"Not yet, I can't." It wasn't untrue - but Tw'eak felt as though she was once again on the ice, back on Andoria, ten years old, clutching the desperate form of a creature she had stalked on all fours, and seized upon with her bare hands. Now, as then, she felt her thavan's hand fall onto her shoulder, a triumphant squeeze, his pride flowing with the warmth of his grasp. Then, always, the question. _'Is this one worth bringing home, Twaiheak?'_ Now, in the brig, the question resounded in her mind. "Home..." The remembrance gave Tw'eak an idea. "You - there are rules against this sort of thing."

"Rules. Against killing? In the _ushaan_?" Sassil howled with laughter.

"No, no, it's true. There are no children left alive to continue our clan."

"There are so! Our brothers' children-"

"You know our customs don't work that way. Our lineage descends through the oldest - that's me, and then it's you. It depends on us - and neither of us have ...bond groups of our own. Our clan is depending upon us."

Sassil stopped struggling. "You are a coward to not finish an _ushaan_ once it has begun - especially like this!"

"I'm not a coward." Tw'eak bopped Sassil on the back of the head with the heel of her palm. "I'm a Starfleet officer." Tw'eak felt herself coming to her senses. "The _ushaan_ is our heritage - our Andorian heritage. But this is a Starfleet vessel, not an Andorian one - and you're officially a prisoner of war. I finish you like this and it'd be a diplomatic nightmare, a breach of regulations - probably the end of my career."

"Typical Starfleet - to hide behind regulations, at a time like this!"

Tw'eak remembered her family again. "Plus charan would never forgive me."

Sassil looked over her shoulder at Tw'eak, the defiance vanishing from her tone. "Charan lives?"

"He does. At least, as far as I know. I haven't talked to him in a while. But he thinks you're dead. For at least six years, he's thought you were dead."

"I had thought, of our parents, that only shreya remains alive."

Tw'eak nodded, her tone flat. "Oh, that she does. Same as ever."

"She never cared for me as she did for you."

"You know," Tw'eak chuckled, "I was about to say the same thing to you."

Sassil lowered her forehead to the floor in shame, the tips of her antennae hovering less than an inch from touching the floor as well. "You would be mistaken," she admitted sadly.

"I don't care about shreya. But I do care about charan - and he'd never forgive me for killing you." Tw'eak moved slightly, adjusting her weight. "Thavan would've killed you himself just at the sight of you in that uniform." Tw'eak looked down at the metal accoutrements, the heavy fabrics and furs, and the various layers of protective armour. "How do you wear that much without overheating?"

"It is a warrior's uniform!"

"Yeah, but there's so much of it..."

Sassil let out a grunt, then to her mind, too, came recollections of family. "Thavan had no patience for his enemies. He was a great warrior... a man of honour. So too, was - is charan."

"I was wondering if you remembered."

"Of course I do!"

"Good." Tw'eak leaned back, then pressed down on Sassil again. "I'm gonna get up now, but once I do, and once you have yourself all untangled, if you come at me again, I'm not going to ask questions."

She stood up, stepping back from Sassil by moving over her sister's extended legs. As she did, she unhitched the tether, letting it clatter to the floor. After a moment's careful motions, Sassil stood upright, _ushaan_ blade still in hand. She looked at it for a moment, then said, "There is no question. This was _ushaan_. Yet we both live. You should have taken my life when you had the chance."

"Are you offering me another chance?" Tw'eak said, looking at the _ushaan-tor_ in Sassil's hand.

Sassil lowered her blade hand. "Not today."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Tw'eak turned her back to Sassil, going to the duty station, where she placed her _ushaan-tor_ on the top of the desk. "So then - for today - I have avenged my sister."

Sassil's eyes became crazed with anger. "You did no such thing."

"No - no, I did. General Sh'abbas died like an honourless dog, face down upon the floor. And Sassil, my wayward _shi_... I welcome you back into the light of Uzaveh's grace."

Sassil considered this for a moment, nodding. "Madness. I accept." She stepped to the duty station and laid her _ushaan-tor_ atop Tw'eak's. "Now what?"

Tw'eak took off her gauntlet, and the sleeve she had shed in mid-combat, placing them upon the duty station as well. "First, I get myself a new uniform. Then, the observation deck."

Sassil groaned. "Always the observation deck. You intend to talk me to death, then?"

"Not exactly. That's where we keep the katheka."

This caught Sassil's attention. "Actual katheka?"

Tw'eak nodded. "The good stuff. When was the last time you had some?"

"Many years. It's hard to come by. Not many freighters carry it - certainly not into Klingon territory."

"Borders never stopped Klingon marauders before."

"This is true. But I have never been a marauder."

"So what were you doing in the Elvren system - or beaming down to Lorink?"

Sassil smiled broadly. "Following orders. You'd have to talk to General Sh'abbas about that."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow, amused at her sister's sophistry. _Same old Sassil,_ she thought to herself. "Come on, then." She stepped through the door to see Pal standing at attention. "Here's that substitute you were expecting, by the way."

Pal bristled as Sassil came through the doorway. "He follows you everywhere, then."

"Only where he thinks I'm in danger." Tw'eak smiled at Pal. "Glad you're here. We're in the clear, I take it?"

"I believe so," the Jem'Hadar replied. "The brig officer will need to be addressed. He appeared to have experienced spontaneous urination during his exit. Unpleasant."

"I'm sure he'll find himself a change his pants before long." She looked to Sassil. "This is Gen... this is my sister, Sassilinthras. Sassil, may I introduce the First of our Jem'Hadar cohort, and Warspite's chief of security, Pa'lakakhlan. Most of us just call him Pal."

Pal tentatively nodded. "It is an... honour."

"Indeed." Sassil gave a Klingon bow, hand pressed to her chest. "You are the first of your people whom I have met... mighty warriors, I am told."

"How's your hand?" Tw'eak inquired.

"Better," Pal replied, grudgingly.

"You've been to sickbay?"

"I have. Doctor Ellington was ...unimpressed."

"Sounds familiar. Look, we're going to go up to the lounge for a bit."

This seemed to catch Pal off-guard. "I will summon additional guards."

"No - no need. She's family."

It was Sassil's turn to be caught off-guard at the sincerity in Tw'eak's words. She looked to Pal. "You have my personal assurance, as a general in - as an Andorian warrior, I will conduct myself with the honour this ship and its crew deserve. I give you my word."

Pal looked somewhat unconvinced, although Tw'eak had to admit to herself that his countenance was not the easiest to read. He looked to Tw'eak. "I am relieved your ...discussion... concluded amicably."

"I'm not sure about that," Tw'eak deadpanned. "I'll still have to kill her at some point."

Pal looked to Sassil, who grumbled, "she will try."

"Do check in on that lieutenant for me, will you?" Tw'eak asked Pal. "You know, the one with the soggy pants."

"I would be more comfortable asking another officer, one who might be more... sympathetic."

"Good point. See who's available. And thanks for being out here."

Pal nodded, then turned and headed the other way.

Tw'eak and Sassil began walking towards the nearest turbolift. "I am impressed," Sassil responded. "You command his total respect."

"I don't command it," Tw'eak corrected as they continued down the corridor. "I've earned it."

"Would he have intervened if you had fallen to my mercy?"

Tw'eak thought about it as they reached the turbolift, and stepped inside. "Let's just be glad you didn't have to find out." Tw'eak looked upwards. "Bridge," she ordered.


	79. Part V, Chapter 12

The interior of the observation room aboard the Warspite was just as it had been before the recent damage caused by its defense against the interdimensional Borg cube. This section of the ship, after all, had been unaffected, one of fairly few that had remained so. Seated within at the head of the table, a cup of tea before her, was a pensive Octavia. To her right, a seat down, sat Bianca herself looking deeply into a cup of black coffee, with her mind somewhere else entirely.

"We don't get to do that often enough," Bianca said after a moment.

"To what are you referring?" Octavia inquired.

"Getting out. Off-ship, I mean, getting down onto an actual planet. The chance to lead a survey party again was..." Bianca took a deep breath. "It was wonderful. Exhilarating."

"I do not understand."

"Life aboard ship can be so... confining sometimes. The cabin air pressure is always the same - unless something's gone horribly wrong. Same with the patterns of the decks we walk, the doorways, even the faces... they all become part of the routine. There's no mystery, no unexplained truth waiting to be discovered. A corridor is pretty much always that same corridor."

"This is of great assistance when unusual phenomena occur within that corridor - a possibility that we may encounter in any number of potential circumstances."

"I know, and I know we need our routines to be able to tell when the unexpected occurs. We all need our own routines, in our own ways. It's a by-product of developing in the societies we do, on planets with a daytime and a nighttime."

"Indeed. I have noticed that my roses tend to grow with greater efficiency if given a period of darkness in their schedule. It would not seem to be the most productive use of their time, yet as you mention, continual stimulation is not best for them."

Bianca nodded. "And having that routine - for us, I mean, not for the roses - then means that when we do get a break from that routine, it's exciting."

"Such breaks in routine can also produce acute anxiety, which hampers performance."

"Oh, sure, but that's part of the fun. At least on survey parties. I'd imagine that security teams have a different view."

Octavia tilted her head in a half-nod. "Undoubtedly."

The door opened to allow Aurora to join them. "Well," she said as she came into the room, "I see you've started without me."

"And without the admiral," Bianca noted.

"Oh yeah. She's still visiting with her sister?"

Octavia raised an eyebrow, well aware of what Tw'eak's idea of a 'visit' entailed. "Quite," she said flatly.

"I'm sure she'll be up soon enough," Bianca said. "Go ahead."

"Well... okay." Aurora moved to the replicator. "I feel bad doing it, but I really need a coffee."

"Is everything as expected in engineering?" Octavia asked.

"Yeah." Aurora sighed slightly, then turned to the replicator. "How about a raktajino!"

"Please re-state your request," the computer replied.

"Oh, fine then."

Bianca's eyes widened. "Um, 'rora? Don't ask for raktajino."

"Why not? I need the boost."

"No, you don't - that much 'boost' would put you into warp. Just order a strong coffee."

Aurora looked hurt. "You just don't think I can handle it."

"I believe the commander is more concerned for her ability to handle you," Octavia deadpanned.

A pouty look crossed Aurora's expression. "Fine. I'll try it when you're not around." She looked back at the replicator. "Coffee, um, strong. Maybe with sugar. Yeah."

The replicator whirred, then produced a cup of hot coffee.

"What was the cause of your concern earlier?" Octavia inquired once Aurora had sat between her and Bianca.

"Just the intermix ratio. I'm not really sure I'm happy with it. We've received operational parameters from Starfleet but they're a bit too far on the safe side. I was thinking about asking your permission to tinker with it a bit."

"Of course. Within all expected safety parameters, of course."

"Of course!" Aurora repeated. "I won't run any risks with this new warp core until we have to. I'll take good care of him."

There was a moment of silence in the air between the three officers, which Bianca broke with a simple question. "What's his name?"

Another moment of silence. Aurora looked down at her coffee.

" 'rora?"

"Hmm?" Aurora replied, feigning ignorance.

"What's his name?"

"Oh, I'm not doing that this time. After what happened, Counselor Derret said I shouldn't get too attached to inanimate things like warp cores."

"Right."

"Of course," Octavia affirmed.

Another moment of silence followed. "So, it's Corey?" Bianca asked again.

"Oh, for God's sake, Bia - would you stop?"

"Coreman? Corewin."

"Commander..." Octavia said sternly.

"Sorry," Bianca said quickly. Yet another long moment of silence followed. "Warpster."

"Ethan," Aurora finally admitted.

"Ethan?"

Octavia opened her mouth to say something, then merely let it hang open.

Into this moment - possibly the worst possible moment in which to do so - entered Tw'eak, with her sister Sassil following closely behind. The surprised look on both Bianca's and Octavia's faces, along with the shame on Aurora's, startled her. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not at all," Bianca replied placidly. "Aurora was just-"

"Shut up, Bia," Aurora whispered sharply.

"I'd like to introduce Sassil sh'Abbas, whom you may remember also holds the rank of general in the Klingon Defense Force." Tw'eak turned to Sassil, who came a further step into the room. "This is my sister."

Octavia stood, as did Bianca. Aurora lowered her arms without account of her hands, nearly spilling coffee all over the carpet. "Wow, the two of you look so much alike," she said in awe.

"These are Warspite's senior officers - on the right is Eight of Twelve, ship's captain, whom we call Octavia. To her left, Commander Aurora duBois, chief engineer and first officer. Her sister, Lieutenant Commander Bianca duBois, is our chief science officer."

Sassil nodded to each in turn, then looked to Tw'eak. "I thought it was incredibly difficult for siblings to serve together aboard Starfleet ships?"

"It is," Tw'eak said. "But Dashichal made it possible. I wanted to have her onboard while she recovered from her experience as a captive on Nimbus. Starfleet allowed an exemption. These two are one of five pairs of siblings who are currently onboard. I'm sorry, four - one pair were recently killed in action."

"That is correct," Octavia affirmed.

Sassil looked back towards the duBois sisters. "So you know our younger sister."

"Oh, yes," Bianca replied. "She was aboard for quite a while."

"Now she's having a baby," Aurora added, before looking up at Tw'eak. "It - I mean, she knows, right?"

"She knows, yeah." Tw'eak motioned for Sassil to follow her. "Over here. I'll get you a cup."

"Please join us, General," Octavia offered, gesturing to the empty side of the table.

"My thanks," Sassil replied, taking a seat halfway down the table. "I am not accustomed to such pleasantries. Our conferences typically involve blood wine and singing."

"Do you enjoy it?" Bianca asked. "The... the singing, I mean."

Sassil shrugged. "Many of Klingon customs are similar to our own - the heart is in the right place. Still, I should be much happier with more capable tenors among my crew."

Bianca smiled. "I used to perform musical theatre, when I was in the Academy." She looked to Octavia. "Another one of those things there isn't enough room for aboard ship."

"Certainly," Octavia replied.

Bianca returned to Sassil. "There was talk, the one year - before the war started - of doing a Klingon opera. Aktuh and Maylota."

"Ah," Sassil said with a nod. "A classic."

"So I understood."

"I can't stand it." Sassil made a disgusted face.

This quieted Bianca suddenly. "Oh."

"They made us learn those in school," Aurora said. "I never really liked them either."

"Just that one." Sassil nodded, narrowing her eyes at an empty spot on the wall. "I had... a lover who was excessively fond of it. It grew tiresome to listen to... so did he."

"So you guys broke up?"

"In a manner of speaking," Sassil said in reply to Aurora's question, before letting her continued thousand-lightyear stare speak for itself.

Tw'eak placed a cup of katheka before Sassil. "And here you are."

"Ah!" Sassil took a moment to enjoy the smell. "Just as I remember." She took a sip.

"Glad you like it."

Sassil sat back from the table. "Do you do this frequently? It seems wasteful for you all to just sit here."

"We each trust that our departments are capable of running efficiently without our continual supervision," Octavia replied.

"Your whole ship runs on this basis?"

"I should prefer it run no other way."

"But then what is your purpose, if not to command?"

Octavia arched an eyebrow. "The crew are accustomed to my expectations, as well as Starfleet's expectations. Once clarified and made routine, no further intervention is required unless for consultative purposes, or as required by regulations."

Sassil shook her head. "Regulations. Always regulations."

"Does your chain of command function in a different fashion?"

"Entirely. One does not 'consult' on a warship. Nothing becomes 'routine'."

Tw'eak sat back for the moment, content to let her sister talk. She looked to Octavia, who asked, "Do Klingon vessels not require maintenance?"

"All the time."

"Would this maintenance not better be conducted preventatively, routinely?"

"Perhaps our components are simply superior to yours and do not require maintenance."

"Indeed. The Klingon Empire gained much engineering knowledge and understanding through their prior alliance with the Federation, as no doubt is continuing thanks to contact with the Romulan Republic."

Sassil raised her chin, looking down her nose at Octavia, her antennae coming together. "You are implying that Klingons are warriors, rather than engineers."

"An interesting leap in logic - not one I intended. Klingons certainly are warriors, but not exclusively. Collaboration is surely the more meaningful path than conflict in the coming struggle."

Shaking her head, Sassil looked back to Tw'eak. "That." She indicated Octavia.

"Her," Tw'eak corrected.

"Her attitude, I mean. Already defeated. 'The coming struggle' will be a struggle for the Iconians to suffer with, a suffering inflicted by the Klingon Empire." Sassil took another sip from her katheka.

"That's true, now that there's no immediate threat to Qo'noS." Tw'eak caught herself, receiving a sharp look for saying as much, and hastily added, "or Earth - or New Romulus for that matter."

"You think we would not have withstood them? You think we would not have fought just as gloriously with our homeworld gone?" Sassil pointed out the viewport. "Look at the transformation which the destruction of Romulus brought to our one-time enemies - they have emerged the stronger for their experience!"

Bianca couldn't help herself. "That's the first time I've heard anyone speak positively about billions of dead Romulans," she quipped.

"They died because of the treachery of the Tal Shiar - even if Qo'noS had burned, a new and mightier Klingon Empire would have stood the stronger without it!"

"That's not been our experience," Bianca noted. "The information we learned from Spera was pretty clear on that."

Sassil looked from Bianca to Tw'eak abruptly. Tw'eak fought to keep from wincing, but her antennae vibrated in such a way that it was hard to hide. "Who is this 'Spera'?"

"She's been a valuable source of intelligence for us, from an alternate timeline."

Sassil continued to stare at Tw'eak, who kept her features and antennae impassive. "You were always the worst of liars, Twaiheak." Her eyes bore down on Tw'eak.

After a moment, Tw'eak sighed. "Tell her about Spera, would you, Octavia?"

"Of course. Commander Esperanza sh'Abbas de Salaberry of Starfleet Intelligence is currently on assignment aboard USS Voyager, in the Delta Quadrant."

"She's also the admiral's daughter," Aurora added.

Sassil straightened up, nearly spilling her katheka. "You - how could you have children?"

Octavia continued. "Her human father, deceased, was a Starfleet Marine-"

"You - you laid with a pinkskin?" Sassil was incensed. "You sicken me!"

"Hey, watch your language," Bianca countered sharply.

"Yeah," Aurora added, angrily. "She might be your sister, but she's our admiral."

"I must insist your tone remain respectful," Octavia said placidly, "or I shall have to summon security and have you confined to quarters."

"This is why I left," Sassil continued, unfazed. Her eyes continued to bear down on Tw'eak, who rested her chin on her hand, looking out the viewport. "I always knew you would be the source of grievous dishonour - I had read, in our intelligence reports, of your valour against the Hirogen, the Borg, even recently in defense of Qo'noS, but to know you had fallen so far - and you - you! - dared to challenge me to _ushaan_? After what you have become?"

"It never happened," Tw'eak retorted. "At least, not in a way that led to me having children. He's dead in this timeline. You'll be happy to know I can't live in whatever shame you think I have."

"But this... child of yours - what you said before - that pitiful nonsense about sparing my life - !"

"Was all accurate, as I phrased it." Tw'eak looked up at her sister, a sort of gleam in her eye. "Neither of us have bonded yet." She then spoke very slowly, emphasizing the depth of her feeling. "Spera - my daughter, Spera, adopted though she may be in this timeline - is as sacred to me as if she were pureblood Andorian." Tw'eak stood. "You may not understand that. But you left. The Andoria you call home may as well have been stamped out of existence by a planet-killer. These people - these pink-skins, as you put it - are my friends. They're my family."

Sassil scoffed. "They are not our people. This is not our way!"

"I don't know what gives you any right to speak inclusively," Tw'eak replied. "We are nothing alike."

Sassil stepped away from Tw'eak, moving towards the door. Bianca rose, but Tw'eak gestured for her to sit back down. "You - this isn't over. I will have vengeance upon you, Twaiheak."

"What in Uzaveh's name for?"

"For the shame you have brought upon me in that pathetic contest earlier, and for the shame that is the Andoria you represent."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Then go ahead and kill me, Sassil. Come on. Get it over with."

This stopped Sassil in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed. "What?"

Tw'eak raised her arms, palms up, unarmed. "Come on. Kill me like you say you want to. Do it here."

"But-" Sassil pointed to the seated officers, who were astonished into silence by the scene before them. "Surely they will strike me down, or confine me."

Tw'eak looked squarely at her sister, her eyes serene. "Vengeance is not a Federation value." She lowered her hands. "If you intend to hold some sort of grudge against me, for some imagined sin, then I ask you to spare me the anxiety of waiting. Kill me now." Sassil hesitated, just as Tw'eak had earlier, so Tw'eak continued. "Whatever shame you think I've caused... I'm sorry. But I am proud - damn proud - of the things I've done, some of them at terrible cost to people I cared about. Where you see honour and glory in death... I see sacrifice, pain, loss. Your best possible ending is still one dead person too many. We go throwing our lives away against the Iconians - or against each other in the meantime - and everything we believe in is dead already." She took a half-step towards Sassil. "Don't you see? We don't have enough time left for blood feuds, for _ushaan_ , for any of that. I had hoped giving you a chance to work it out, the old way, would settle it for you. But I was wrong about you, I guess. The Sassil I knew is truly dead."

Caught off-guard by this set of remarks, certainly not what she had expected, Sassil stood stock still for a moment. "What would you ask of me, then?"

"Help us. You have your contacts in Klingon Intelligence. I have people in Starfleet - not just Starfleet Intelligence, but all over. It's time for us to set aside the past, and work together... to save the future." She held her hand out to Sassil. "It's the only way forward."

Sassil wavered for a moment. "This... child of yours..."

"She's twenty-one. Hardly a child."

"Has she a bond group?"

"No. She comes from a timeline where the devastation was nearly total, and the only people in the world she could rely upon were the two of us."

"The two of-?" Sassil pointed from Tw'eak, back to herself.

"That's right. My suggestion is maybe we work together for a change... this time, before the Iconians get here."

Sassil took on a look of haughty disdain. With the metal in her suit and the static electricity coursing through the fur and fabric of her garment, Tw'eak had a hard time getting an idea, from her antennae, of Sassil's mood or response. Yet after a moment longer, she stepped forward and clasped Tw'eak's hand. "Alright," she concluded. "Together."

Tw'eak offered a diplomatic smile. "Wonderful."

The door opened, admitting Pal, who carried a tote bucket brimming with combat steel. "I have come to return the general her weapons, now that she is no longer in custody."

"Good thing you didn't get here five minutes ago," Bianca said, breathing for the first time in a while.

Aurora gave an anxious giggle. "That - that would've been awful!"

"Thank you," Octavia said to Pal.

"I also bring news of our rendez-vous. Subcommander Oulius asked me to relay the message that a Klingon cruiser will be alongside to retrieve the general in twelve minutes' time."

"Very well." Octavia stood from her chair. "It has been an honour making your acquaintance," she said to Sassil.

Sassil stepped back from Tw'eak, bowing in the honourable fashion to the assembled company. "Qapla'!" she uttered, then turned towards her bin of weapons and began methodically inspecting each of them for damage. Tw'eak gave a sideways nod of her head to the duBois sisters, and the four officers moved past Sassil to surround Octavia's command chair on the bridge. Pal remained behind, standing between the command chair and the doorway, unobtrusively keeping his admiral safe.

As soon as the door swooshed shut, Bianca leaned over to Aurora and joked, "and I thought you and I had problems."

Aurora could no longer contain her giggling, and after a moment, both Bianca and Tw'eak laughed in turn. The three of them looked over to see Subcommander Oulius returning to his duty station, a look of perfect confusion on his face. It was nothing on the look Octavia gave the three of them - as close an approximation to a dirty look as a liberated Borg could manage.

"I find nothing funny in this matter," she whispered urgently. "Your method was most unsound."

"I'm sorry?" Tw'eak was taken aback by Octavia's tone. "Maybe we should take this up in your ready room, then."

"We shall." Like a scolding schoolmarm, Octavia raised an arm, gesturing in the direction of the ready room door. The four of them had made their way inside before Sassil departed the conference room, leaving a now-bewildered Oulius to come to his own conclusions as to his being left in command.

Octavia patiently watched the door close behind Bianca before she continued. "Please sit down."

Aurora and Bianca slunk into a couch against the bulkhead, but Tw'eak remained standing. "I always take my reprimands standing up," she insisted.

"Twice today you openly gave a Klingon general an opportunity to kill you aboard this ship. The responsibility for your death - and the diplomatic incident which would follow in short order - would be entirely mine to deal with as captain."

"They would've cleared you. I was acting on my own volition - and I left a note in my log taking full responsibility for the entire matter."

Octavia hesitated a moment. "I was not informed of this development in advance."

"I'm sorry I didn't mention it. I more or less expected that things would work out."

"And if they had not? What then?"

"I don't know," Tw'eak said, considering. "Depends on what you mean."

"I have observed the change in this crew since you accepted promotion, and since our ranks were added to that of your task force. There is a confidence, a morale which is present among these officers in the role they are being asked to perform which is exceptional. They are wholly and devotedly loyal to you, personally."

"It's true," Bianca squeaked.

"There is - for lack of a better term - a faith which they place in you, which I have rarely seen nor heard of aboard Starfleet ships."

"Faith - in me?" Tw'eak scoffed. "To do what, exactly?"

"To get us through," Aurora answered.

"Through what?" Tw'eak asked.

Aurora looked at Bianca, then Octavia, before answering Tw'eak. "Just about anything, ma'am."

Tw'eak's eyes followed Bianca's hand as they came up and wiped a tear from her eyes.

"We can't do this without you," Aurora continued.

"I was really scared she was going to kill you," Bianca added.

Tw'eak fought the urge to curse, to yell at them, to tell them they were wrong - that she was Andorian, finite, not even Whole. Yet she remembered what she had said about them to Sassil, that these were her friends, her family. She felt a closer connection to these three people than she did to anyone else in the universe, excepting Spera and Dashii, of course. Were the two of them here, the ready room would have contained the whole of her heart in one place. Tw'eak let her shoulders slump and nodded, conceding. "Alright, I admit, it was stupid. All of it. The _ushaan_ , then calling her out like that - stupid. Not very vice-admiral-like on my part. But I don't know that I really feel all that much like a vice-admiral, some days. It feels like I'm still an up-and-coming, brash young lieutenant commander who needs to take all the risks, and protect the people that matter most to me. Because you do matter - all of you. You each mean a great deal to me. And I'll do whatever I can. I promise. Even if that means... I have to remember that I'm not the one taking all the risk anymore."

"Yeah, leave some risk for us actual lieutenant-commanders, please," Bianca joked.

Tw'eak silently cursed herself for forgetting about Doc - and her wife Kim, for that matter. "Bet Doc will be happy to hear this. Me not taking any risks - she'd probably retire."

"Doubtful. Though I had considered presenting her with a recording of your statement, for good measure," Octavia said flatly.

All three officers stared at Octavia, Aurora's eyes in particular intent upon her.

"That was a joke," she continued.

Tw'eak laughed. "Okay, good." She patted a smiling Bianca on the shoulder.

"I was wondering," Aurora said, still intent upon her captain.

Tw'eak gave another sideways nod - this one, back in the direction of the conference room. "Come on - I didn't get to finish my cup of katheka. And I can't imagine better company for that - anywhere."

* * *

 _Admiral's log, stardate 99509.1 - The Klingon warship escorting General Sh'abbas is well on its way back to the Empire, and Silhouette is once again proceeding to Freylar IV in order to meet with the archaeological team led by Dr. Field. With any luck, we'll be able to make the most of an opportunity to learn more about the Iconians. First, though, I'll be using the time we spend at warp as an opportunity to get caught up in another fashion._

Tw'eak was at her desk, as was always the case of late, she figured - sitting here, sitting there - but her eyes were fixed upon her screen, where an image from the Delta Quadrant showed Spera, seated at a desk much like her own, aboard the starship Voyager.

"I can't believe you didn't kill her," Spera said in response to Tw'eak's update about recent events aboard the Warspite.

"I would've," Tw'eak replied, "but I don't know. Thinking about it now, I don't regret that I didn't."

Spera nodded. "I suppose it doesn't help that I have such ...preconceptions about her."

"You have bad experiences with her. That's not a preconception."

"No, it's... a sort of... future memory that hasn't happened yet. Or something." Spera gave a little chuckle. "We used to have nicknames for you both. You were 'the blue lady', and she was - um... let's say they called her 'the blue witch'. That works."

Tw'eak simply continued on her train of thought. "I was certainly proceeding from preconceptions. Misconceptions, more like."

"What do you mean?"

"We grew up together. I thought I knew her well enough to know I didn't like her very much. She got caught up in a very strange crowd - we're all very independent, our clans, and some of them are still strong advocates of Andoria itself being independent again, no longer part of the Federation, even though there's so much important good that comes along with it. We'd never be able to secede from the Federation now, with what's at stake."

"That's crazy. I can't believe anyone would want to jeopardize Andoria by doing that."

"They think the only way to put Andoria back together is to make it strong again by reviving the old traditions, the Imperial Guard, everything. Some of them still hold massive grudges against the Vulcans, even though they've never seen one in the flesh."

"Doesn't make any sense."

"We're Andorians, we typically don't make sense. Like it or not, though, the clan in which I was raised had a very strong influence from my charan's family, who are old-style Andorians of the most traditionalist sort. It's why he stands guard at the Wall of Heroes instead of having joined Starfleet - it's why he is the person he is. Sassil took up those influences, and along the way, it went from being that Andoria was stronger without, to being that Andoria was weaker with the Federation within. The only way to get stronger is to take the Federation out."

"But the Federation has been around for centuries."

"And I think that's part of it - they've grown up in a culture that is so heavily invested in the Federation that they can imagine a world without it as better. Back when Andoria joined the Federation, we were at war with almost everyone, including ourselves, and we had a constant struggle to look after ourselves. Now we have industrial replicators, medical supplies, and a whole host of alien cultures that we can interact with freely. Andoria's stronger because of it. But they see anything from outside their particular ideal of Andoria as being... unwelcome."

"I don't understand how they can be that hateful."

"It's not hate," Tw'eak corrected. "It's a matter of interpretation. From their point of view, the Federation is a burden on Andoria's greatness. I've always been of the opinion that the two strengthen each other. It's not in our best interest to stand alone now, it's not the people we've developed towards being. And I argued with this about Sassil - time and again, once I was in the Academy. She insisted that I was being indoctrinated by Starfleet. I insisted that she was the one that was indoctrinated. And after a while, neither of us had the energy to insist on anything to each other anymore. That was enough to bring us to where we are now - I had my life, she had hers... which took her to the Klingon side somehow. Along the way, I came up through these ranks" - here Tw'eak tapped her rank on her collar - "and she came up through those. It's just sort of strange that we'd both end up doing intelligence work."

"I don't know," Spera replied. "I mean, look at me. Now I'm in Intelligence, too."

"Yeah, but that's different - you're a consultant. I don't think you'll have time to go through the Academy."

"No, but the Admiral has me taking a steady regimen of 'refresher' courses. I don't know what they're supposed to be refreshing - I've never seen half this stuff before."

"In what areas?"

"Everything! Some stuff I know, like warp theory or small-squad tactics, because I grew up on starships. Other stuff, like political philosophy - God, that was hard! I spent hours trying to remember the difference between all these silly ideas. If I ever see another word that ends with 'ism' it'll be too soon."

"It's important. Diplomacy sometimes depends upon being able to read how best to answer a question - knowing someone's outlook on politics can be helpful in that regard, and in solving problems."

"I know, but I won't be doing that stuff myself, Shreya. The Admiral will be there, and if he's not, then Commander VanZyl knows so much more than I do. I can always rely on them."

Tw'eak smiled. "I can remember having a similar attitude about my superior officer once - I'll learn from him, we'll get on great, things will be fine because I have a more experienced officer I can trust to show me the right way to do things. That was Captain Corlett, on the Repulse - and he'd been replaced by an Undine infiltrator."

"No, that I'm sure of, about the Admiral. He's every bit who he says he is. Did you get my note, about the mind meld?"

"Yes. That was incredible to read." The idea that Spera had melded with Tuvok in order to extricate the presence of an Undine from his mind was still a bit difficult for Tw'eak to fully understand - she worked a lot better in the corporeal reality of the physical world. "And these re-born people you've been working with, that you talked about... the Kamali?"

"Kobali," Spera corrected with a grin.

"Sorry. I've never been to the Delta Quadrant, remember."

"Very interesting people - their homeworld, Kobali Prime, is under siege. We're still working alongside them to try to re-take it, but it's complicated because the planet is also home to numerous Vaadwaur."

"Vaadwaur..." Tw'eak thought for a moment. "They're the other reptilian species out there."

"Yeah. They're a lot like the Voth, actually - not in appearance; they're not as much like Gorn. But a long time ago they ran a massive empire across territory in the Delta Quadrant using special subspace access points. It was Voyager who - have you ever heard this term, 'let the cat out of the bag'?"

"Yeah, or something from a bottle. Not spilled milk. Some other thing."

"Same thing - they let the genie out of the bottle."

"That's it."

"Right. And now the Vaadwaur are back, they're as angry as ever, and they've got huge numbers and advanced technology all of a sudden."

"Do we know from where?"

"No, but our best guess is that they've got help." Spera saw the look on Tw'eak's face. "I know, I know. If it is the Iconians, I'll let you know. We're trying to build a coalition of local races and empires in order to hold them off for the moment, until we can figure it out."

Tw'eak raised her eyebrows. "Sounds challenging."

"So far, it is. The good news is that everyone recognizes Voyager. Not everyone likes us, but we're working on it. I know some of these species - the Malon, the Benthans, the Talaxians and Hazari - but others, like the Ocampa, I hardly know at all. They kind of scare me, based on what I've read. The Admiral tells me that he knew several, and they were all pretty harmless, except for one. Still, I don't know - I don't particularly like the Vaadwaur, but I don't really know if I blame them for trying."

"What do you mean?"

"The Vaadwaur had control over a vast territory, Shreya. They were ruthless. Their ships used a network of subspace corridors called Underspace, they'd just turn up suddenly and wipe out whole colonies. When Voyager brought a small group of them out of stasis, they tried to take over this ship. There were only fifty ships of theirs, then - all ancient. Now, there might be thousands, all crewed, and all strong enough to stand up to the best of what we have to offer. They've spread out and re-established their Supremacy, as they call it."

"So it's not just a world they've claimed? The Kobali, I mean."

"No. Even then, the Kobali are holding their ground. But that's the complication - some of the Vaadwaur are still there. And some of the Kobali are re-born Vaadwaur." Spera closed her eyes and shook her head. "Super complicated."

"Right." Tw'eak took a deep breath.

"And that's just the one threatened species. The Turei can't believe the Vaadwaur are back - they thought the Vaadwaur were extinct. And then there's the Borg Co-operative, the Cralor and Pravic, the Octanti, those crazy guys in the garbage haulers..."

"I hope you took some katheka with you when you left," Tw'eak interjected, "for when you need a moment to figure it all out."

"There was lots aboard my shuttle. It's weird, you know, seeing it parked in the space they used to reserve for the Delta Flyer. It doesn't feel like it belongs there."

"I think you'd like Tom Paris, actually. We've met before - he's an interesting character."

"I know I would. His wife, too. Actually, all of them - you can't be aboard a famous ship like this and not be aware of all the other people who have sat at those duty stations. It'd be like being on the Enterprise with Captain Garrett."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes slightly. "Captain - Rachel Garrett?"

"Sorry. Starfleet history in the pre-Khitomer era, my most recent study subject. I've been really interested and reading a lot about the Enterprise-C - its crew, how it was lost, or maybe wasn't... how Empress Sela actually might be the daughter of a long-lost Starfleet officer from a temporal incursion."

"That's confirmed, you know. I did a paper on this when I took that course - Sela told Ambassador Picard about it personally, while he was commanding the Enterprise. There are records of her medical scan and everything in the Starfleet Archives."

A twinkle came into Spera's eye. "Which one? Come on, Shreya, pop quiz. Did that happen aboard the Enterprise-D, or Enterprise-E?"

Tw'eak considered for a moment. "That would've been Klingon Civil War, so before the Dominion War... Enterprise-D."

"You're right!" Spera laughed, then looked meaningfully at Tw'eak.

"You seem to have forgotten that my first posting was to the Enterprise-E."

Spera rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't. Forward Phaser Control, deck seven."

This recitation irked Tw'eak. "I've told you that story before, I take it."

"All the time. It was one of your favourites. I think I heard you tell that story about the time you were in Captain Picard's ready room at least a hundred times."

"What story is that?"

Spera was astonished. "You're kidding, right?"

"Maybe," Tw'eak lied. She considered for a moment - this would have been a quarter of a century ago.

"You told me that Captain Picard spoke to you about duty and service as an ideal."

"But not to me personally. There were eleven or twelve of us there, we'd all just been promoted to lieutenant or lieutenant commander."

"No, I know. Just... the way you used to tell that story, you always had this look in your eyes. Like you really believed it was true."

"Of course I do. Did I ever tell you why that mattered to me so much?"

"Probably."

Tw'eak scoffed. "I never felt that I deserved that promotion. Or the transfer to the Nelson. I still don't really think I did."

"That's so you. It's not that Captain Picard saw something special in you."

"He didn't," Tw'eak replied, nonplussed.

It was Spera's turn to scoff. "How do you know?"

"I was just another redshirt in the phaser room. Besides, I really wasn't that disciplined an officer. I had casual relationships with lieutenants in other departments, which I shouldn't have, and I wasn't ...just wasn't the person I am now. Regulations were suggestions, not... not regulations. I never got in trouble like others did, but I also took stupid risks on a regular basis - doubled up shifts on security detail just for a chance to get out of the office, that sort of thing. I was bored. I felt caged. I wanted out. And then I was, promoted to lieutenant, transferred to the Nelson as assistant tactical officer."

"Next you'll tell me you didn't deserve the next promotion after that."

"I got my arm blown off - less than a year after they stabbed me in the neck. I still don't know how any of that earned me a promotion - or the Starfleet Cross, for that matter. All I did was get in the way."

"You used to say that 'bravery is sometimes just a case of the right place at the right time'."

"Something like that, yeah."

Spera nodded. "But what about after that?"

"Oh, I was Lieutenant Commander for a while - now that one, I could understand. I'd been tactical officer and head of security for years, and I liked it, but I'd earned my command qualifications and I'd been hoping to move up on the Nelson. It didn't happen that way, but that made sense. Then when Captain Corlett turned out not to be Captain Corlett, they promoted me again. And now, twice in the past two years I've been promoted - but every time I'm reluctant to accept."

"But you did. And now you're the old blue lady."

Tw'eak's antennae flared outwards. "They really called me that?"

"Yeah. Not that you ever heard it. I'm pretty sure, anyway."

"I don't imagine anyone I heard refer to me like that would've enjoyed the experience."

"No. I'm kind of glad it never came up." Spera laughed, then after a moment, said, "Shreya?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever meet her?"

Tw'eak was confused. "Who do you mean?"

"Empress Sela."

Tw'eak wrinkled her nose. "Don't call her that."

"Sorry."

"Her 'Star Empire' is nothing more than a shadow of the one the Tal Shiar helped to destroy in the first place. Typical Tal Shiar - doesn't matter how small the mound as long as you can plant a flag on it. Or a monitoring station, more like."

"I don't think you understand. She had a mother from a different timeline. Like me, kind of."

"Not at all. You're my daughter. If I remember correctly, Sela betrayed her mother."

"And I would never - that's not what I meant either." Spera sighed.

"You're wondering if you'd have something in common with her?"

"Oh, I know we wouldn't. Just because we're both... orphans of a sort, I guess. We're both here, in this timeline, but we wouldn't be unless something had happened in a different timeline." Spera waved a hand. "It doesn't matter. Whatever the Iconians have done with her, she's nowhere to be found. Still, I wonder what it'd be like to work with her."

"You'd have to watch your back for knives, at all times," Tw'eak quipped. "Plus let's not forget that she was responsible for the death of her mother."

"I know, right? That's something I don't understand - her mother must have loved her if she tried to escape together.

"But it gives you an idea of how dangerous Sela truly is. She had already killed her first Starfleet officer by her fifth birthday."

"No kidding." Spera smiled at Tw'eak. "Anyway, sorry for getting off track. I should probably... and you probably have important stuff to get back to, though."

"Nothing's more important than a chance to talk to you, Spera."

Spera blushed slightly. "Yeah, thanks."

"But I really don't have anything more important than a cup of katheka to worry about for the moment. We're still a good half-hour out from where we're going."

"That's another thing," Spera said, leaning forward. "We're not allowed to tell each other where we are."

"That's right. Not a word or a co-ordinate. Nothing."

"Like, even though I could trace your subspace relay network position and get a pretty good idea of your course and heading by triangulating your-"

"No, you won't," Tw'eak said seriously. "That'd be a violation of more Starfleet regulations than I can count."

"I know, I know, didn't say I would. You're so literal."

"Just - okay. I half-expected you to tell me you had."

"No, but I found a way to circumvent the security so that I could, if-"

"Spera."

"What? Relax, Shreya. First thing I did was tell the Admiral. He was very glad I brought it to his attention." Spera offered a poor imitation of Tuvok. " 'This is most disquieting, Commander. Thank you for bringing it to me.' " She arched an eyebrow in case Tw'eak hadn't gotten the joke, then started giggling.

"That mind meld you had with Tuvok really helps with doing impressions, I take it."

"Really? Was it good?"

"Sure," Tw'eak replied in as non-committal a fashion as possible. Spera's impression of Tuvok had been a little over-the-top, almost embarrassingly so.

"I wouldn't do that in front of anyone else - it's kind of disrespectful to make fun of Vulcans, since they don't find anything funny."

"That's Tellarites you're thinking of - too busy debating details to catch a joke. Vulcans get the punchline, they just laugh by raising their eyebrows at you."

"Not at all!" Spera laughed. "Shreya, that's awful of you to say!"

"Just kidding," Tw'eak said, a small, impish grin on her lips. She adjusted herself in her chair, her facial expression far more sincere. "You... listen, kid, you just take care of yourself out there, all right?"

"I will. Of course I will. You too, okay?"

"Always do. Otherwise Doc would put me out the airlock herself."

Spera shook her head, laughing for a moment, before giving Tw'eak a sincere look of concern. "I mean it, Shreya."

"I will." Tw'eak gave Spera a little wink. "We'll talk again in a little while."

"Looking forward to it. Say 'hi' to everyone for me on Warspite. Love you."

"Love you, too. Sh'abbas out." Tw'eak turned off her display and went over to the replicator, retrieving a packet of katheka from the desk drawer before she did. She looked back towards the screen. Spera's dealings in the Delta Quadrant were a step beyond what she would have been prepared to undertake on Starfleet's behalf at her age. The conversation had reminded Tw'eak that, at Spera's age, she had barely been able to handle a phaser control room, let alone the delicate diplomacy required to resolve some of the issues they had discussed. It was a great big complicated quadrant out there on the far side of the galaxy for her to wade through... while Tw'eak knew there were few twenty-one-year-olds up to the task, she also took comfort in knowing that Admiral Tuvok was proving to be a mentor, a sort of father figure, for her. It worked in much the same way that the Vulcans who had looked after her in her impetuous teenage years had been. Their influence had helped Tw'eak calm a great number of the competing, irrational impulses which threatened to overwhelm her. To know that Spera was in such good hands - and that those hands, most crucially, were not just her own - was an immense relief.

But not so great a relief as a cup of katheka would doubtlessly prove. She pressed the input for the replicator to produce the ingredients she required, and then returned to her desk to prepare herself a cup of katheka. As she enjoyed it, she read up on the Kobali, Vaadwaur, and other species of the Delta Quadrant - _a little refresher course of my own,_ she thought to herself.


	80. Part V, Chapter 13

About half an hour later, cup of katheka enjoyed while reading up on numerous facts and details about the Delta Quadrant, Tw'eak was called to the Silhouette's bridge. The ship was now most of the way to Freylar IV, where Tw'eak would consult with Doctor Field, one of the Federation's leading experts on the Iconians. It would be a short meeting - Bianca duBois had given her a short list of questions, most of which were intended to get the archaeologist to speculate on what they could find out in the present, extrapolations from his previous work - but an important one. She came through the turbolift doors to see Kit McQueen standing next to Lieutenant Nikau at operations, wearing a look of concern. "Admiral - come have a look at this."

Tw'eak picked up her pace a bit, moving to the right-side station. "What is it?"

"Long-range sensors indicate three Orion ships in orbit of Freylar IV," Nikau noted.

Tw'eak looked over at Lieutenant Lini, at tactical. "Specify?"

"The big one is probably a Brigand-class cruiser. The other two are smaller escorts, probably corvettes."

"What are they doing here, ma'am?" Kit asked.

"We saw Orions at the dig site on Lorink," Tw'eak said, thinking aloud.

"Maybe it's connected," Kit replied. "Perhaps they want to ask the doctor a few questions."

"They can wait their turn." Tw'eak looked over at Lini. "Weapons to full. Prepare to engage." She then moved to stand next to the conn. "I want you to put us right in front of that cruiser."

"No problem," O'Leary noted. "Changing course."

Lini didn't look up from her console. "Once we're a bit closer I'll be able to pick out vulnerabilities more specifically, but if it's an unmodified-"

"How long?" Tw'eak asked.

"Thirty seconds?" O'Leary checked his chronometer. "Thirty-seven, now, with the course change."

Tw'eak nodded. "Sound battlestations, red alert."

"Aye," Lini confirmed, and within moments, the all-too-familiar sound of the alarm could be heard across all decks, followed by the furious movements of a crew readying for action.

Tw'eak took her seat next to the captain's chair. "We haven't heard from anyone on the surface," Nikau observed. "No distress signal - no signal of any kind."

"They probably weren't expecting Orion company," Tw'eak replied. "Let's assume the worst. Tactical readout?"

"Confirming the major ship as a Brigand-class cruiser. The other two - one's a corvette, the other looks to be a Corsair. Not reading any interceptors, yet."

Tw'eak nodded.

"Correction," Lini called out. "Second corvette present as well, it was in the Corsair's sensor shadow. Also picking up at least four interceptors, returning from the surface. It looks like they're-" She looked up at Nikau. "Are they escorting shuttles?"

"Seems like," Nikau confirmed.

"Something special's aboard those shuttles, I'd bet," Kit said to Tw'eak.

Tw'eak looked to Lini. "None of those ships are moving towards us? Not even the escorts?"

"No clear signs of anyone engaging us - but we're under cloak. They can't know we're here."

Tw'eak's eyes went back to locking with Kit's. For the Orions to launch and retrieve shuttles from the surface was indication enough, but those shuttles were under escort. "Something special indeed. What?"

Kit turned to Nikau's station and focused his sensor scans. "Yeah - I'm reading people onboard, some machinery..." She looked over to Lini. "Lifesigns are human, Vulcan and Rigelian, along with Orions."

Lini nodded. "I'm not reading anyone left on the surface. My guess is that they've taken hostages and material from the planet."

"Slavers?" Tw'eak wondered. "It'd be awful thing if these Orions showed up by coincidence."

"No chance." Kit pointed to her console. "If these were slavers, they'd be running a much bigger war barge."

Tw'eak nodded. "So they're errand boys for a matriarch somewhere out there."

"That'd be my guess," Kit replied.

"We're in position," O'Leary said from the helm.

Tw'eak got up and moved to Lini's station. "Can you target to disable?"

"Yeah, of course - don't want to fire on the shuttles, though. Small targets are harder to disable."

"Don't risk hitting the shuttles. We'll beam their contents aboard once we've secured the area." Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Security to cargo bay one." She looked to Lini. "Get a lock on everyone and everything - even the Orions."

"You think they'll talk?"

"I know they won't. But I also expect that the larger ships will jump to warp. Can you beam a transponder onto one of the larger vessels?"

Lini chuckled. "I was just going to suggest that. I modified a sensor probe emitter to transport onto their hull exterior - know just the place, too. Their internal sensors are known to have a blind spot back here." She pointed to a curve in the aft hull of the nearest ship, the Corsair-type through-deck cruiser, a sort of smaller carrier craft and the home base for the smaller craft in-system. "I'll have it latch on right there. It'll replicate sensor probes at intervals and drop them behind - even if they're at warp."

"A trail of bread crumbs. Nice. How soon can it be ready?"

"Right now." Lini keyed in a few commands and looked up at Tw'eak. "Transport complete."

"Perfect. Aside from the shuttles, target to disable?"

"You got it," Lini replied confidently.

Tw'eak smiled. "Lieutenant, I owe you a cup of katheka later." She looked back to O'Leary. "Stand by for attack pattern beta - target the Corsair. It's probably where the shuttles are headed."

"Just say when," O'Leary confirmed.

"Admiral," Lini advised. "Regulations indicate that we should attempt to contact the Orion ships before firing upon them."

Tw'eak looked at the olive-green ships hanging in space on her viewport, and returned to her chair. "Not today, I think."

"But, Admiral-"

"I appreciate your sentiment, Lieutenant, but anything I could say to them face-to-face, I would much rather say with dual beam banks."

"They're more likely to listen that way," Kit noted.

"Precisely." Tw'eak's glance came to meet Nikau.

"Cargo bay is ready," Nikau reported.

"So's the transporter," Kit added.

"Go."

"Beam-out in progress," Kit said, issuing the commands to her console. "It worked."

"De-cloak and engage." Tw'eak leaned forward expectantly in her seat.

"Attack pattern beta," O'Leary said. "Here we go."

The Silhouette emerged from cloak, knifing towards the Corsair with its phaser beams blasting the target, knocking out its starboard warp engine and causing several devastating hits before working over the Brigand. Unlike the forward ship, the Brigand had its shields, then its weapons, online within moments, leading to it returning fire with its disruptors, although with little effect against the Silhouette's shields. The two corvettes accelerated and turned, powering up weapons as they did. In the meantime, the interceptors split their focus - while three of them moved to pursue the Silhouette, one opened fire on the now-empty shuttles, destroying them in order to leave no evidence.

"Evasive maneuvers - get us clear for another run," Tw'eak instructed.

"You got it," O'Leary replied.

"Cloak up, please?"

Lini's voice was as good as a play-by-play. "Corsair's engines are offline - Brigand is powering up its warp engines - now the corvettes are moving into defensive formation..." She looked over at Tw'eak. "They're holding position."

"Cloak is up," Kit added.

"Should we hail them now?" Lini asked again.

"We said what needed saying," Tw'eak said, smiling at Lini. She tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to cargo bay one - what do we have?"

"Admiral, Lieutenant Dalmat here. Doctor Field and his personnel are aboard - the doctor has asked me to thank you for the rescue. Two of his team are wounded, we have medics looking after them. Five Orions dead, one prisoner."

"Good work. Carry on. Sh'abbas out." Tw'eak looked to Kit. "Not slavers, then."

"Probably not." Kit looked at the viewscreen. "Now we let them get away?"

"That's the plan," Tw'eak replied. She looked over at Lini. "Although maybe a few words might be helpful. Hailing frequencies, please."

"Open," Nikau replied.

"This is Vice Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas of Starfleet Task Force Silhouette. To all Orion ships in the area - I will give you precisely ten seconds to get as far from here as you can before I finish what I've started. If you value your lives, you'll find someplace else to be." She gave a half-nod to Nikau, who closed the channel.

"Looks like the Corsair's going to charge off on one engine," Lini noted. "They're re-routing power to that engine now. It won't get them very far."

"They just need to get back to where they came from," Tw'eak noted. "Then we follow them home."

On the screen, Tw'eak watched the Brigand and its escorting corvettes leapt away into warp speed. "There they go," O'Leary mumbled.

"Lini?"

"Probe generator is affixed," she noted. "And still within range of our..." She trailed off, following a line of trajectory for a moment as it established itself. She continued watching for a moment. "I've lost them."

"But you can follow their trail."

"I will." She looked confused, then went to the science station, pulling up a map of the star charts for the region. "If I'm correct, though... we won't really need the trail."

"Explain."

Lini input a command, and a yellow line became visible heading out from Freylar. "Their course takes them directly to the Lilitu system. Unless they're headed to a rendez-vous beyond that, but they'd have to cross the system to get there if they are."

"Lilitu?" Kit scoffed. "Isn't that a little obvious?"

"I don't understand," Nikau said.

"Lilitu is notorious for being a sort of gathering-place for Orion starships," Tw'eak explained. "It's nothing but asteroids and suspicious 'debris', orbiting a star that's near several prominent trade routes. Both the Klingons and our side avoid it - it's a haven for raiders and if we're there at all, it's to patrol it in force."

"But anti-piracy operations aren't in our mandate," Lini noted. "Maybe we should contact Starfleet Command to notify them."

"They could be on their way to a drop," O'Leary said, turning from his conn. "They pick up the stuff, add a doctor who speaks Iconian to increase the bounty, and once they get there, transfer him to who wants him - maybe a real war barge - and then whoever it is gets to learn all about the Iconians."

Tw'eak nodded. "Makes sense."

"But we can't just take the ship to Lilitu," Kit protested. "I've done system patrols there, when I was captain of the Mosquito. There are so many raiders and 'independent operators' in there, all of whom have one thing in common: they hate Starfleet. It's a hostile environment for any starship, and there's no way we'd be advised to go it alone in there."

"What about if we brought the whole task force?"

Kit shook her head. "I don't know if we should go at all."

"Whoever it is trying to get their hands on Iconian artifacts, we have to know." Tw'eak looked to O'Leary. "Set a course for Lilitu, maximum warp."

"At that speed, won't we outpace the Orion ship?" Kit asked.

"That's my plan," Tw'eak stated. "We get there before they do, and follow the trail, see where they lead us. Best case scenario, we find out who these Orions are working for, and we get in and out without engaging them. They won't have tachyon detection - Starfleet doesn't use cloak."

"But the Romulans might," Lini noted. "Recommend we contact the Joint Liberation Service, ma'am."

Tw'eak nodded. The three-power patrol force known as Joint Liberation was the current form of what Selkirk Rex had started, and a huge upgrade over his ragtag force. A mix of warbirds, starships and armed merchant cruisers dedicated to retrieving those who had been lost from the hands of slavers now worked full-time to safeguard the trade lanes. With the end of the war, the force had come to include a few committed Klingon commanders and their warships as well. Joint Liberation's overall commander was Aetius Konsab, a Romulan admiral whom Tw'eak had previously met on several occasions. Now, however, was not the time to alert his forces - the absence of any hostages or taken individuals meant this was not a problem he was needed to solve. The involvement of the Iconians, on the other hand, made it very much Tw'eak's problem instead. "Noted," she said in reply to Lini. "Signal anyone you can raise, tell them to meet us at co-ordinates just outside the Lilitu system, and to come under cloak. Once we have backup, we'll go in. In the meantime, I want to be able to track everything that our Corsair target does until it makes its rendez-vous. Once we know what we're dealing with, we'll be in a better position to decide whether we go for them or not."

O'Leary turned back to his console. "Course laid in and plotted for Lilitu."

Tw'eak looked up at Kit. "Objections?"

"None," Kit said after a moment, shaking her head. "I just hope we're ready for anything. It'll happen, there."

Tw'eak smiled at Kit. "We are. I'm sure of it." She turned back to face the helm. "Let's do this."

The Silhouette, still under cloak, engaged its warp engines, on a heading directly for Lilitu.

* * *

The interior of the Lilitu system was a mass of asteroids of various unremarkable ores, most of them not much bigger around than a typical space station. Yet within this system, if one looked closely enough - in the shadows, or using a variety of different sensors - there were subtle hints, overlooked if not sought, to suggest the habitation of many of these seemingly worthless rocks. It was their numbers, and their sheer volume, which gave safe harbour to small bands of raiders and outlaws, along with their starships, none bigger than a frigate. The region was lawless, largely as a consequence of its star's location in space, and it was into systems like this one which the Orion Syndicate would always find its way in order to conduct its shadiest, most nefarious of dealings. It had been no surprise to anyone who had been to the Lilitu system that Orions laying in course for refuge would choose Lilitu as their destination.

On the edge of this system, Tw'eak watched several of the asteroids as they twinkled and slowly turned in space, conscious of the irony in her presence. One lone sherriff wouldn't be enough to clean up this particular town. It was for this reason that Silhouette remained under cloak, while across the system from their position, the starship Partisan had just begun deploying surveillance probes and taking passive scans of any rocks in space larger than a shipping container for clues.

"Warspite reports they'll be here, with Salamander and Spirit, in about six minutes," Lieutenant Edvard Nikau reported from operations.

"Very well," Tw'eak acknowledged. She turned to Kit McQueen, seated in the captain's chair to her left. "I hate waiting."

"Me too," Kit murmured in reply.

Yet for several minutes, that's just what they did. Tw'eak used the time to retrieve a padd and put together the last details of her report to Admiral Quinn on the recent events on Lorink III. She was irked because she had hoped to ask Bianca duBois a question about a particular science officer of hers who had shouldered a phaser rifle - it had been her hope to mention that officer in her dispatch, perhaps merit her a commendation. She could picture the officer, blue-collared shoulders perched up over the edge of the monumental remains of the structure, phaser pointed uncertainly towards the Klingons. It was a step beyond what had been expected of her, and Tw'eak appreciated what had proven to be nothing more than a token gesture of support. Had the Klingons decided to fight, things might not have ended so well. She tapped out the last few words of the report, and filed it for sending later. A subspace transmission while under cloak meant a dead giveaway of a ship's position.

Tw'eak then wandered over to the tactical station. "What's it look like out there?"

"We're just getting the first few sensor probe readouts now via data-link from Partisan. There is a huge amount of activity for a system of its size and official population. Even then, it can be deceptive - that looks like a mining operation, but there's an active subspace field somewhere in the rock. I've never heard of a mining operation that used subspace fields like that."

"That might be because mining operations on rocks don't require subspace fields."

"So it's obviously not what it looks like. Neither is that freighter." Lini indicated a ship lazily holding a course in the general outer direction of the system. "It looks like it has no reason to be there - but it's running an all-purpose jamming field so intense that I barely get a sensor contact from it."

"Maybe they're waiting for the same ships we are," Kit suggested. "Or hiding from someone."

"Maybe. Hiding in plain sight, though?" Lini looked doubtful.

"We'll find out soon enough." Tw'eak looked up as there was a flash on the viewscreen, ships dropping out of warp.

Lini's facial expression became assured. "Just like I thought - they all just showed up together."

"The Orions?"

"Yes, ma'am." Lini tapped her console. "All the same ships we just encountered."

"Oh, how sweet," O'Leary joked, feigning a sympathetic reaction. "See? That's true love in action, people!"

"So the other ships dropped their speed so they could all stay together," Tw'eak suggested. "For security, or to hide their numbers?"

"Not sure, ma'am." Lini noticed Tw'eak looking at her awkwardly and averted her gaze.

"Sorry, just thinking aloud." Tw'eak smiled. The young lieutenant's reaction reminded her very much of what her own would once have been.

The sound of the hailing frequency became audible. "Warspite to Silhouette."

Tw'eak pressed her console, her smile broadening. "I was starting to wonder when you'd get here."

"Our apologies, Admiral - we felt it was best to conceal our approach by staying within the Orions' warp trail."

"Good thinking. I don't think they know we're here." Tw'eak looked to Lini, who shook her head to the negative, confirming Tw'eak's point. "It's most likely they don't, I'm being told."

"A welcome advantage. We will be alongside momentarily. Warspite out."

The turbolift door opened, admitting intelligence officer Khao Manee to the bridge. "Mind if I join you up here, Admiral?"

"Not at all." Tw'eak smiled warmly at Khao. "If anyone knows this system, it'd be you."

"Aye," Khao said, forgetting himself for a moment and slipping back into his most famous role, as the 'pirate king' Selkirk Rex. "Time to scrub the rocks free of barnacles again, I see."

"Isn't it always?" Kit McQueen replied.

Khao moved to the science station, and brought up the map of the Lilitu system. "Just as I remember. Just as infested as I remember."

Tw'eak stood and moved to Khao's side. "Any insights you can provide on this would be welcome. I'm sorry I didn't ask you up here earlier."

"Oh, I can come and go as I please, have no fears of that. I was just speaking to Doctor Field's research assistant, a fellow named Ecyrp - wish I could tell you what species he was, but he was very talkative. We rescued everyone from their camp - a few wounded, but none seriously. He handed me a series of interesting drafts of reports about Freylar that they hadn't yet published. The site they've found there looks very similar to the one we almost fought the Klingons over, on Lorink - power plant, temple structure, the works. We were just going over what was taken from Lorink, comparing it to the details from Freylar. Seems to be some sort of components for a gateway control system."

"There was a gateway in that temple on Lorink?"

"So it appears, once upon a time. If we're right, the Iconians put in the gateway and the locals built their temple around it. Probably some time after - probably worshipped the Iconians as gods. Never would've met them, either."

Tw'eak snickered. "They would've liked that, I bet."

"One big difference - the site on Freylar was built into the side of a cliff. It was pretty high up - looks like whatever civilization came into existence on Freylar treated it like it was special, for thousands of years until they passed on. But I don't know if the Iconians would've wanted their worship - if they even would've noticed it, I mean. If there's one thing I wish I knew in all this, it's what their motivations are. The Iconians, I mean."

"That's the question we all want answered - what motivates the Iconians." Tw'eak looked back to the viewer, her mind still on the situation unfolding just beyond. "Any idea what these Orions' motivations are?"

"Oh, probably profit and mayhem - standard Orion operating procedure, really." Khao brought up the Orions' position on the map. "Looks like that freighter is coming out to them."

"I was just going to say that," Lini noted from tactical. "Our freighter friend is clearly involved in this somehow."

Tw'eak took a step back towards the centre of the room. "So they're putting what they stole onto a freighter... they're transferring it from an Orion warship onto an unarmed, hopeless freighter." Tw'eak looked at Kit, confused.

"Do they want us to take it from them? Or are they trying to throw us off the chase?"

"I doubt it," Khao observed. "This looks like it was a planned rendez-vous - one we weren't expected to see. More likely that the master of that freighter has powerful masters himself."

Tw'eak moved to the operations console. She opened a frequency to the Warspite. "Sh'abbas to Warspite."

"Warspite. Octavia here."

"Stay within transporter range of the most damaged Orion ship."

"The... Corsair through-deck cruiser."

"That's the one. If you see shuttles prepping for takeoff, scan their cargo and see what they have."

"We will re-configure sensors to do so. If we discover anything of Iconian origin, I will signal you."

"Good luck. Let me know if anything comes up. Sh'abbas out." She then called up the chart of narrow-band frequencies used by the task force, as Octavia had used to contact Silhouette, and hailed the Salamander. "Silhouette to Salamander."

"Admiral." Tw'eak recognized the voice of Thylin Ch'damui, the Salamander's captain. "How may we help?"

"I want you close on Warspite's left. Ask Captain Pim to move to the right. Be ready for anything."

"What about the Partisan? They're deep in-system without an escort."

"You worry about Warspite, we'll look after Partisan."

"Okay. Can I ask what this is all about?"

"There's some broken Iconian artifacts - they might be working ones, we don't know - onboard that Orion ship. We're fairly certain they're moving it onto that freighter."

"So we'll disable the freighter and the Orions?"

"We won't be engaging unless we absolutely have to," Tw'eak said cautiously. "We ruined their fun once already today. No sense in letting them know we followed them here."

"Alright. So we'll fly formation, keep the cloak up."

"Good. I'll let you know if the situation changes, but don't de-cloak unless I authorize you to do so. Sh'abbas out."

"The freighter is hailing the Orions," Nikau said. "Encrypted channel - freighter's registered out of Drozana Station, under a DaiMon Frek."

"The Orions are powering weapons," Lini said quickly, before adding, "but not raising shields."

"Strange," Kit pondered aloud as Tw'eak returned to her seat. Khao Manee sat down to Kit's left. "They're threatening this freighter?"

"Intimidation," Tw'eak ventured. "That'd be my guess."

"Maybe. But for what?"

"Hard to tell. Not like the freighter can fire back."

"That we know of."

"Sorry, ma'am," Lini pointed out, "but that freighter is very much unarmed."

Tw'eak looked up to Nikau again. "No way you can patch us into their comms?"

"Still trying," Nikau said, shaking his head. "But I have a message from the Warspite coming in."

"Let's hear it."

"Admiral." It was Octavia. "Our scans of the Orion ships have revealed no Iconian materials, however, there are trace resonances from high-band scans which the subcommander believes indicate Iconian artifacts aboard the freighter."

Tw'eak snapped her fingers. "So that's it. They're not the sellers - they're the buyers."

"So it would appear. Shuttles are being prepared for launch aboard the Corsair. Would you like me to have Oulius reach his contacts in the Joint Liberation Service?"

"We were discussing that earlier here - no evidence of slaving here."

"Yet their support may prove invaluable."

"I think we can handle a few Orions and a freighter, Octavia."

There was a moment of silence. "Admiral."

"I mean it. There's nothing to worry about."

"Admiral?" The voice on comms changed - Oulius now directly addressed Tw'eak. "We're detecting a subspace field in the area - something very powerful out there."

Kit sprang from her chair, crossing to Lini, as Tw'eak got up and moved to Nikau's sensor station. "What do we make of it?"

"Sensor readings matching with threat database," Oulius continued. "Consistent with the subspace dampening field of the Tal Shiar technology adapted from the Borg."

"The Tal Shiar?" Kit asked. "A bit far from home, aren't they?"

"You should know by now, Captain - it's never out of the way for them."

Kit chuckled, then looked up. "So whose side are they on?"

"No idea," Tw'eak said with a shrug. "Not ours, that's for sure."

"Look!" O'Leary said from the conn as the massive, glowing form of a Tal Shiar adapted battlecruiser came into view, slowly moving towards the freighter and Orion ships.

Nikau's console lit up, and he said to Tw'eak, "We're receiving a hail - that is, they are."

"Let's hear it."

"-vessels. This is Admiral Nerala Koval of the Romulan Imperial Navy. Your ships are impounded, and I arrest all of you, in the name of the Tal Shiar. Any resistance or show of force will be met with deadly reprisal. You have thirty seconds to power down your engines and weapons, and prepare to be boarded."

Tw'eak nodded. Koval had been the commander of the battlecruiser she had faced during her brief tenure commanding USS Avenger on its shakedown cruise. It appeared that their work against this particular foe hadn't been done that day over Ponor II, when Tw'eak had ordered Avenger to engage at point-blank range in the intense heat of Ponor II's atmosphere before breaking off at transwarp. It seemed as though Admiral Nerala Koval had survived to fight another day, after all.

Tw'eak turned to Nikau. "Narrow-band hail - get me DaiMon Frek or the Orion commander."

"I'll try."

"Twenty seconds," Koval's voice boomed.

Tw'eak went to the auxiliary station and called up the fleet co-ordination screen, ordering Salamander and Spirit to move into flanking positions against the Tal Shiar warbird via data-link. She then turned to Nikau. "Anything?"

"I have them both, actually."

"On screen."

The main viewer split, showing both the Ferengi, DaiMon Frek, and an Orion male, shirtless, with a series of devices fitted to his bald, green head. "I am Mogum."

The Ferengi gave voice to his pent-up frustration. "Where did you come from? It doesn't matter - these Orions are trying to haggle with us - in violation of Ferengi trade laws! We had a deal!"

"I'm not interested in your deal." Tw'eak moved to the centre of the bridge. "We didn't expect to see Tal Shiar in this system. Clearly, the two of you didn't, either. And she's about to end both of you. All I want to know is if you're requesting assistance."

"I'm an independent contractor!" Frek replied.

"Me - getting help from you? After what you did on Nimbus? That'll be the day." Mogum disconnected, leaving Frek alone on the screen.

"Not sure what I'd do, if I were you, Frek." Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "But you're an independent contractor, you'll figure it out."

"Ten seconds!" Koval seemed to be savouring the moment, based on the tone in her voice.

Frek cut the channel - and his freighter began turning, then leapt to emergency warp speed. "He's gone," Lini said, almost wistfully.

Tw'eak shook her head, returning to fleet-coordination. "Close channels, Lieutenant," she ordered Nikau, her tone sombre. "I don't want to hear them calling for help." She tapped up Spirit and Warspite and ordered them to pursue the fleeing freighter, then put Salamander on a course to intercept and escort Partisan out of system and back to safer space. She doubted there was any point in ordering the science ship to remain behind in order to retrieve survivors. Even if the Tal Shiar took prisoners, the Orions wouldn't let themselves live long enough to be interrogated.

Lini was suddenly indignant. "We're not going to help them?"

"We can't," Tw'eak replied. "We offered. They refused."

"But they'll be annihilated!"

"Their fate is not our concern. That freighter's, however, is." Tw'eak returned to her command chair. "Mister O'Leary, set a pursuit course - intercept that freighter, please."

O'Leary shook his head sadly. "Sorry, green guys."

"Don't feel sorry for them," Khao said angrily from his console. "They're Orions."

Both Kit and Tw'eak looked over their shoulders at Khao, his teeth gritted, his ears pushed right back in rage, perking up slightly as the first Orion ship - the Corsair - was set upon and heavily damaged by the Tal Shiar's first volley. The other Orion vessels, the Brigand and corvettes, along with the Corsair's interceptors, opened fire in reprisal. Within moments, heavy disruptor fire was being traded from both sides.

"Viewer forward," Tw'eak ordered, cringing at the sight. "Let's keep our eyes on where we're going." She stared intently at Khao. "Not on where we've been."

Khao snapped out of his fury and nodded at Tw'eak, returning to his seat after a moment. As the Orions traded fire with the Tal Shiar, the Corsair vessel now on the brink of destruction, they were left to their fates by the starship Silhouette, which pursued Frek and his freighter with its Iconian cargo. Tw'eak swallowed hard at the difficult choice she had just been forced to make, but the freighter - and the safety of whatever artifacts might be aboard - and the task force's mission had to take priority. Whoever survived the engagement behind them would surely follow the freighter before long. Time was short to secure that cargo - as for whatever regrets or second thoughts she or her crew might have had, Tw'eak found she had no time at all.

The forward viewer once again had the freighter captained by DaiMon Frek in its sights. Tw'eak bit a knuckle. "Hail them again."

Lieutenant Nikau shook his head. "Still nothing."

"It wouldn't take much for me to knock out their shields," Lieutenant Lini suggested.

Tw'eak contemplated the suggestion for a moment. It did have its merits. "No," she said, then paused for a moment. "We don't have any reason to do that."

"I'd say otherwise," Kit said. "Whoever wins that fight back there, comes after this freighter - and they'll do a lot more than disable their shields."

"But we offered them assistance," Tw'eak replied. "We can't turn around and fire upon them."

"Why not?" Khao Manee asked. "I would. Request they stand down for inspection, on suspicion of hauling dangerous goods."

"Suspicion of what?" Kit asked. "We only know they have Iconian materials onboard."

"So there we go. Theft of antiquities. We board them and then get on with it."

"There's a problem with that," Nikau interrupted. "Those inhibitor fields - we would be required to produce evidence of the materials actually being on board. We can't. And we surely can't get a transporter lock. Sending teams over based on a deck plan isn't quite as safe as using actual co-ordinates - we don't know if the internal layout is the same, plus we wouldn't be able to beam them out once they were there."

"So we launch boarding shuttles, then."

"We don't have that kind of time," Tw'eak said. "Put us alongside her to starboard, O'Leary." She moved to the fleet co-ordination console and signalled the Spirit to move to the freighter's port side, match speed, and decloak. She then ordered Warspite to move right in front of and above the freighter, then move their warp field as close together as was safely practicable, before decloaking.

"Matching speed," O'Leary reported. "Coming alongside."

"Deactivate cloaking device," Tw'eak ordered. Lini shot her a look, as did Kit. "Do it."

By sheer luck, Spirit and Silhouette decloaked within microseconds of each other, revealing their positions to the freighter's sensors at nearly the same time. Within a few moments, Warspite became visible as well.

"Open the hailing frequencies," Tw'eak directed Nikau.

"Open."

"DaiMon Frek - this is Vice-Admiral Sh'abbas. I wanted to show you just how dangerous it is to ignore me. Either come to a stop, or we will open fire."

The freighter disappeared from the forward viewer. "He's dropped out of warp," Lini noted.

"Don't lose him." Tw'eak used her chair and the console to brace herself as the Silhouette decelerated rapidly and closed distance with the freighter. The ship contorted itself with the shearing force to try to turn around at that speed with a minimal loss of distance, but to Tw'eak the effect was a mere shuddering of the bridge deck beneath her.

"DaiMon Frek is hailing us," Nikau noted.

Tw'eak sat still for the moment. "Lieutenant, I want you to lock phasers and torpedoes onto that freighter." She tapped inputs for Spirit and Warspite to do the same.

"Admiral-" Lini's face registered a horror.

Tw'eak's face was as cold and hard as steel. "Lock. Weapons."

"He's hailing us again," Nikau noted.

"Distance to freighter?"

"Seventy-four thousand kilometres," O'Leary noted.

"Nicely done, helm," Tw'eak observed.

"Thanks," O'Leary replied. "Been workin' on that maneuver."

"Admiral?" Nikau said, his voice insistent.

Tw'eak got up from her chair, walked over to the ship's dedication plaque, and squinted. " 'Above the cloud with its shadow is the star with its light,' ", she read aloud. She looked back towards the room. "And to think I thought he was a mathematician."

"Who, ma'am?" Kit asked.

Tw'eak pointed to the name on the plaque. "Pythagoras. You know, with triangles. His theorem. We have a different name for it on Andoria."

Lini and Nikau exchanged meaningful glances. It was O'Leary who finally asked the question on everyone's minds. "You okay, Admiral?"

"Of course I am. Just... keeping the DaiMon waiting, for a change."

This led to relief, even laughter, from the four officers in front of Tw'eak. "Right," Nikau added after a chuckle.

"Open that frequency now, if you would, Lieutenant."

DaiMon Frek's face appeared on screen. "This is outrageous, Admiral! You have no cause whatsoever to be detaining-"

"I'm about to offer you a deal, Frek. Pay attention."

"Deal - with the Federation? Please, Starfleet doesn't pay latinum - and I have enough energy credits to last me a lifetime."

"That lifetime will be rather brief if you refuse."

Frek frowned, his swagger fast deflating. "Alright, I'm listening."

"That system you just ran out from has two combatants going at each other. One of them will survive. Having already refused our protection, there's nothing much I can do for you when the other gets here."

"I had to drop out of warp to hear that?"

"You should've answered my hails earlier - not my problem you can't recognize an opportunity. So here's the deal. Transfer your cargo to the starship Warspite immediately. Have your crew transported aboard as well."

Frek snorted. "This is your idea of a deal? I spent latinum to get this freighter to where it is."

"It'll be an expensive coffin if you're on it when they get here."

A snivelling noise came from the viewscreen, causing Lini to make a face. "Go on," Frek implored.

"Once that's done, reactivate those suspiciously powerful jamming emitters of yours, and set your freighter to autopilot on the same heading at maximum warp. Help us throw your pursuers off the trail."

"You're lucky the cargo is worth more than those emitters," Frek sneered. "I paid a lot of latinum for them."

"They're about to save your life. As am I. Do we have a deal?"

Frek considered for a moment. "I suppose so."

"Oh, and one other thing. I'm willing to agree to overlook your involvement in the sale of stolen antiquities on the condition you co-operate and explain, in detail, on the record, about the 'deal' you had with that Orion."

"No way! I'd rather die than talk."

Tw'eak raised both eyebrows. "Suit yourself. Whoever they are coming after you in a minute, they'll have your lobes as trophies soon enough."

This idea did not appeal to the DaiMon. "Wait!" Defeated, Frek slunk into his chair. "Alright, fine."

"Good. Arrange for your transporters to beam you aboard as soon as our shuttles depart with the cargo. I will warn you, though - time is of the essence."

"You're keeping my cargo!?"

"You'll be compensated for your co-operation and released, along with your crew, aboard Drozana Station. You're to tell anyone who wants to know that your freighter was lost in an ion storm with a cargo of terraforming equipment and water purifiers."

"And I suppose that's the cargo I'll be reimbursed for, instead."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "Reimbursement for your current cargo would come in the form of time served on a Federation penal colony." She shook her head and pursed her lips. "Not terribly profitable. I'd take the energy credits."

Frek grappled with the weighty considerations of lost profit versus lost life, and begrudgingly met Tw'eak's eyes, then nodded. "We'll commence transport immediately. I'll need three shuttles."

"They're already on their way. Sh'abbas out." Tw'eak looked to Nikau, then added, "hail the Warspite, please."

"Hailing."

Octavia appeared on the main viewer, Subcommander Oulius standing to her immediate left. "Admiral."

"Launch three cargo shuttles to take the artifacts into custody. Make sure the shuttle crews have security."

"Very well." Octavia tilted her head slightly. "The DaiMon was willing to negotiate?"

"Something like that. They're abandoning the freighter and re-arming the jammers - they'll be the epohh in the chase, you could say."

"I understand the metaphor."

Oulius looked amused. "Most would have said 'rabbit'."

"Just wanted to see if you were listening back there at tactical," Tw'eak said, smiling at the Romulan tactical officer. "Secure the crew in the brig, then take them to Drozana Station and drop them off there. Frek will meet them there once he's done telling us what we need to know."

"Understood." Octavia looked over to operations, then nodded. "Shuttles are on their way."

"Good. Not a moment to spare. I'll signal Spirit to resume cloak - we will, too, until the cargo's safely aboard. If you're surprised in the meantime, get that cargo at all costs. Whoever it is that's after it, we can't risk their getting their hands on it."

Octavia nodded. "We will not let you down, Admiral."

Tw'eak smiled, a twinkle in her eye. "It'd be a hell of a time for you to start. Silhouette out."

"Resuming cloak," Lini stated.

"Get us some distance from the freighter - but stay within transporter range. The sooner Frek finishes up and gets over here, the better."

"Understood," O'Leary replied.

Tw'eak looked over at Kit. "Well. That certainly went smoothly."

"How long do you figure until they double-cross us?" Kit asked.

Tw'eak sat back down in her chair. She took a deep breath. "If I were them... I would be already," she replied.

"We're lucky you're on our side, then," Khao Manee added.

Tw'eak grinned fiercely. "Exactly," she said, exultant. She stood up and moved to the turbolift. "Khao, Lini, you're with me."

"Where are we going?" Lini asked.

"Warspite. I want to make sure I'm there to greet the DaiMon when he comes aboard." She looked to Khao, who had come to stand next to her in the elevator. "You can ask the questions, and you" - she looked at Lini, who joined them in the lift - "can learn a thing or two." Tw'eak looked up, addressing the turbolift itself. "Transporter room one." The doors whooshed closed, and the lift departed the bridge.


	81. Part V, Chapter 14

_Admiral's log, supplemental - With the freighter at its maximum warp speed and its jamming unit at full power, we're staying with our 'epohh' friend in the hopes that it works as a lure. In the meantime, I've moved over to the Warspite in order to have a conversation with the freighter's captain, DaiMon Frek._

The table in the Warspite brig's security office, a room empty save for the table and an adjacent duty officer desk which sat unoccupied- had three seats: one for Tw'eak, another for Khao Manee, and the third, on the opposite side, sat empty.

"Do you know what you're going to ask?" Khao whispered.

"I was going to let you do the talking," Tw'eak replied.

"Me? You're the admiral."

Tw'eak gave Khao an unimpressed look. "Seriously? Why are you even in Intelligence if you're going to leave everything to me?"

"That's not what I meant - I can ask follow-up questions specifically about Iconian technology-"

"Follow-up?" Tw'eak winced. "Are you too anxious to do it - is that the problem?"

"No, not at all."

"So then what is it?"

Khao's ears, far back on his head, twitched a little. "We may only get one crack at this. I've got to make sure I'm sufficiently thorough."

"So be thorough. Ask the same question more than once if you have to - but let me be the one that waits to ask the questions, not the other way around."

"But I thought-"

"That way, when I do ask him something, he'll know it's serious. Then he'll talk. Here he comes." Tw'eak raised her chin in the direction of a noise. Through the open doorway of the security office came a Ferengi dressed in traders' clothes, followed closely behind by Lieutenant Lini, phaser rifle in hand.

"Sit there," Lini said, pointing.

"This is all - you're making a big mistake, Admiral. I have friends in the Trade Commission who would hit you with a fine so big your grandchildren would still be earning enough latinum to pay it back."

"Prisoner's statement is noted. Thank you." Tw'eak looked over at Khao, unperturbed. "Ask your questions."

"What was your business in the Lilitu system?"

Frek smiled smugly, but answered anxiously. "I don't have to answer that. You don't have jurisdiction to ask me that. Lilitu's not a Federation system."

Tw'eak retrieved a padd, then began to take notes - the names of starship classes she could remember. She started with Constitution, then added Constellation and Miranda. Frek looked from Khao to Tw'eak, his eyes wide.

"What are you writing?"

Tw'eak did not respond.

"I'll ask again." Khao maintained a flat tone. "Your business in the Lilitu system?"

"I'm not going to tell you," Frek insisted.

Tw'eak looked down at her padd. Excelsior, she added, then stared at Frek, before adding Oberth, Springfield, New Orleans and Ambassador. She paused for a moment. Probably best to let her train of thought run in chronological order. Her activity, however, was clearly beginning to terrify Frek.

Khao continued. "You said at the time that you had a deal."

"Maybe I did. I don't remember"

"With the Orion Syndicate."

"The ships were Orion. That doesn't mean Syndicate. Not necessarily." Frek scoffed. "My freighter was built by Bolians. Are you going to interrogate Bolians, too?"

Tw'eak stared at Frek in silence for a moment before adding Tuffli -the class of the freighter, as it happened- to the list, along with Merchantman and DY-100, and a few other types of freighters.

"Your freighter carried Iconian artifacts. Was it your intention to turn them over to the Orions?"

"I'm not answering that."

Tw'eak looked from Frek to Lini, who adjusted the grip on her phaser rifle slightly. Tw'eak looked at the rifle, then back to Frek, before adding Danube, Peregrine and Yellowstone - all runabouts and courier-interceptors - to her list. Important to include all the smaller ships. Delta Flyer, she added.

"Look," Frek offered, "we were in the Lilitu system. We had a business opportunity - made a deal. We were there to transfer cargo. That was why we approached the Orions. It was a guess. That's all."

"You told us you had a deal with the Orions. I highly doubt you would've gone there without the terms agreed in advance. What were you offered in the deal?" Khao asked, his tone still bereft of inflection or emotion.

"That was what we were negotiating when you showed up."

Tw'eak looked back down to her padd, and added Galaxy, Nebula, Sovereign, and Odyssey. She gave another hard look at Frek, then put down Vesta as well.

"Okay, so we had already worked out the terms well in advance," Frek continued, looking back to Khao. "But we ran a considerable risk! You think I'd run all the way to Lilitu without having everything bound by contract ahead of time?"

"Who were you working for?" Tw'eak asked suddenly.

Frek looked over at Tw'eak, astonished. "I'm an independent contractor," he repeated.

Tw'eak looked over at Lini. "Just hold on." Her eyes drifted from Lini, who was a bit surprised by Tw'eak's comment, having not done anything, to Frek. "This is Lieutenant Chas," Tw'eak said, intentionally giving the wrong name. "She grew up on a freighter that was a lot like yours - think they bought theirs from the Bolians, too, didn't they Chas."

Lini's eyes darted about. "Oh - mmhmm," she said quickly.

"This one time - she doesn't like when I tell people this, but this one time, they made a deal with a Ferengi that the DaiMon in question didn't honour - and it cost her parents their lives. She's one of those people who don't like Ferengi. Can't say I blame her." She stood. "So, I suppose the commander and I will leave you in her custody."

This caused Frek to really begin to panic. Khao looked over at Tw'eak, anxiety causing his fur to bristle slightly. "Admiral, I can't let you do that," he said, a slight growl in his voice.

"I'm not asking for input," Tw'eak replied flippantly. She looked down at her list, and put Defiant, Akira, Norway and Steamrunner in rapid succession. "Just trying to figure out what to put down here." She then added Prometheus to the list.

Frek tried to glance over the table, but the touch of Lini's hand on his shoulder nearly caused him a heart attack. His eyes flashed to her stern expression, then back to Tw'eak. "What - what are you-"

"I'm trying to determine whether we transfer you into Klingon custody. We're technically closer to their borders here." Tw'eak tapped Intrepid, Luna and Olympic onto the padd. "Just filling out the rest until I've made up my mind."

Frek began to panic. "She- you can't- you can't let her!" His eyes pleaded with Khao.

"Just tell her what she wants to know," Khao implored Frek. "She's right - there's nothing I can do to stop her."

"But you can - you're a Caitian, you have claws and teeth and things!"

"Don't look at me." Khao shook his head. "I'm a pacifist."

Frek's eyes shot wildly along from Khao's, to Tw'eak's, to Lini's face, which remained impassively locked onto a spot on the bulkhead as she held motionless, rifle at the ready. "I tell you - and that padd goes away?"

Guardian, Tw'eak put in. Phantom. Eclipse. Scryer. Frek sat on the edge of his seat, and Tw'eak let him dangle there for a long beat. "Depends on what you have to say," she said, then went back up to where she had missed the Cheyenne class, and put it into the list.

"We were hired out of Drozana Station by an agent named Norek."

Khao waved Frek on. "Agent of who, exactly?"

Frek looked from Tw'eak to Khao, frantic. "The Tal Shiar. They'll kill me."

"Just keep talking," Khao urged.

"We were to go to Starbase 234, and wait for a Federation professor and his team to come along, offer them transport to... some out-of-the-way place... Frellem or something."

"Freylar system," Khao corrected.

"That's right - how did you know?"

"Those hostages you were making deals with the Orions over... they were Starfleet Intelligence agents," Tw'eak replied, lying again. "Which is why we're here."

"Oh-" Frek's eyes widened yet again. "I had no idea. Those guys are good, they sure fooled me!" Frek laughed nervously. "But it's not my fault! Them being Starfleet wasn't part of the deal! Those damned Orions set me up -"

"Why did the Tal Shiar send you to get them?" Khao asked, impatient.

"They didn't - or at least, they didn't want them. Norek got in touch about a week ago, told us that he needed us to rendez-vous with the Orions, in Lilitu. I was sent a file - told to open it once we got there, it'd have further instructions. When that Tal Shiar ship came out of transwarp, I realized things had... gotten too expensive for my tastes, so I ran. Seemed the sensible thing to do."

Tw'eak looked down at her padd, adding the Chimera class and Avenger class - how she could forget the class of ship she was aboard! - before taking one last look at the padd and tossing it aside, onto the nearby desk. "Won't be needing that," she said. "So let's review. You went from Drozana to Starbase 234, posing as a passenger ship. You took the intelligence team to Freylar, where they began their mission. You then returned to Drozana?"

"Eventually, yes."

Tw'eak stared at Frek. "Maybe I need that padd again after all-"

"We took two runs along our regular route from New Romulus to Deep Space Nine."

"Carrying what?"

"Self-sealing stem bolts, energy cells-"

Tw'eak leaned back, reaching for the padd.

"-and contraband. Romulan ale, a few driclae pups and epohhs, and three Rihan sailbacks."

"Ooh," Tw'eak said, her expression pained as she leaned back forward. "Stealing the wildlife from the Republic homewold while working part-time for the Tal Shiar. I may just remand you to the custody of the Republic. Mind you, the Tal Shiar have a nasty habit of infiltrating the Republic... hmm."

"No, don't!" Frek smiled anxiously. "I'm - I'm co-operating! I'm helping! I'll tell you whatever you need to know!"

"Good." Tw'eak pointed to Khao. "I want you and your Caitian friend here to go over every last detail of your ship's activities, no matter how insignificant you think they are, from the minute you first met this Tal Shiar agent, up until the present. If I don't have that in full, in the next hour, then you and your crew will find yourselves on the wrong side of the nearest airlock."

Frek flinched as Tw'eak stood up. "Don't!"

"Get talking." She looked over at Lini. "Come with me."

Tw'eak and Lini walked out together, not looking back. Once they were well out of earshot, Lini turned to Tw'eak. "Did you mean for him to make a mess of himself?"

"Who, Frek? Absolutely. That's the only way to motivate a 'hard case' like him."

"No, I meant the commander."

Tw'eak looked over at Lini. "Khao? Really?"

Lini nodded, her eyes slyly sizing up her admiral. "You didn't tell him ahead of time that you were playing the bad cop, did you?"

"Worked better that way. Didn't it." Tw'eak smiled at Lini. "You best go back and remain on guard, Lieutenant... what'd I call you again?"

"Chas." Lini smiled back at Tw'eak. "Andorian for 'zero'. Good choice. It's how I figured out what you were doing."

"Just our luck that the good DaiMon wasn't as sharp as you."

"Can I ask, ma'am - on the padd... what were you writing out on there?"

Tw'eak considered for a moment whether to keep her best-kept secret to herself. "Starfleet ship classes," she replied.

Lini chuckled. "Nice. Just wondering." She turned the rifle over in her hands. "Think he'll notice it's not loaded?"

"Only if you take a shot at him."

Lini shook her head. "No way. That guy? I'd just club him with the butt end. Non-lethal."

"Safer," Tw'eak said with a smile as she stepped through the brig doorway. "I'll be on the bridge. Let me know if you need me."

"Yes, ma'am," Lini said, returning to the office.

* * *

Tw'eak emerged on the bridge in time to see Octavia turn away from Oulius and tap her commbadge. "Admiral Sh'abbas to the bridge," she said.

"What is it?" Tw'eak said.

"Wow," Aurora exclaimed from the engineering station. "That was fast."

"I was already on my way here." Tw'eak looked over to Octavia, who came back towards Oulius and pointed to the tactical console.

"Our epohh has a pursuer," Octavia noted.

Tw'eak looked at the tactical display and puffed out her cheeks. "Should've wagered on it," she said. "I knew it'd be them that got through."

"Tal Shiar battlecruiser - sensors indicate some damage to its outer hull, repairs in progress." Oulius confirmed. "Approaching at warp nine-point-nine."

"Not even cloaked," Tw'eak said, shaking her head.

"Correct," Oulius replied. "Their hull is regenerating in several areas of damage, and their shields are at sixty-eight percent." The console notification sounded. "They are hailing the freighter."

"It may be their intention to utilize intimidation as a first step," Octavia observed.

"Standard Tal Shiar operating procedure," Oulius added.

Tw'eak mulled it over for a moment. "Let's get behind them. Signal Silhouette to follow our lead."

"We're going to fight them?" Aurora cried, in surprise.

Tw'eak nodded at Aurora. "Best to be prepared for it."

"But there's no one on that freighter - we have what they're looking for onboard."

"The commander raises a valid point," Octavia said, considering. "We would perhaps benefit from permitting the Tal Shiar to engage the freighter without engaging the Tal Shiar in turn."

"That'll take them about ten seconds," Oulius replied. "That battlecruiser is a killer. And you can bet there are more like it out there."

"All the more reason not to fight them," Aurora offered as rebuttal. "They could have escorts, and then we'll be the ones caught outnumbered."

Tw'eak looked at the console. "What are they doing?"

"Still following the freighter." Oulius looked up sharply. "They're launching plasma torpedoes. Impact in six seconds."

"It won't take much," Tw'eak said.

The freighter was hit, and on the screen, Tw'eak watched as its warp field faltered and the freighter fell to sublight speeds. "Helm, full stop - intercept course."

"But Admiral-"

Tw'eak gave Aurora a sharp look, silencing further protest. Aurora made a sour face, then stepped back to her console, only to be met by a sharp look from her sister at the science console. "What?" she angrily asked Bianca. For her part, Bianca merely shook her head, confused at Aurora's demeanour.

On screen, Tw'eak watched the starfield seemingly hit the brakes, then as the ship turned, the stars slewed to the right quickly, revealing the plasma burn on the freighter's deck in the distance - and the massive, threatening bulk of the Tal Shiar in the foreground.

"They're Tal Shiar," Oulius implored. "In a Borg-adapted battlecruiser. We have to stop them."

"It may be best for us to permit them to proceed," Octavia countered. "Perhaps we could affix more sensor probes, in order to trace their-"

"No," Tw'eak said finally. "They're violating that freighter's trade charter, and its neutrality. Doesn't matter what we know about it - this is a blatant violation of interstellar law. Make sure we have this on record."

"They're firing again," Oulius noted. "Looks like they're trying to disable its engines."

Tw'eak moved to a console at the back, pulling up the fleet-coordination screen after inputting her authorization to use it. She ordered Silhouette to attack the Tal Shiar vessel from the freighter's far side, on her mark. "Lower our cloak. Hail them."

"Hailing frequencies open, Admiral," Oulius noted as Octavia moved to her command chair.

"This is Vice Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas of Starfleet Task Force Silhouette. The freighter you have attacked is operated under a neutral charter-"

The screen blinked to life, and Tw'eak stepped forward to face the imposing, familiar features of Admiral Nerala Koval. "Admiral Sh'abbas," Koval began, cordially. "I had thought you were dead."

"Admiral Koval. My apologies. Once again, the Tal Shiar has misled you - this time, about me," Tw'eak said, then added, "given how we parted at our last meeting, I was surprised to learn you survived that hot mess we left you in. "

"Oh yes. That's right. How silly of me to have forgotten such a trivial matter as your desperate maneuvers over Ponor II."

"Judging by how readily you recall the place it happened, I hardly think you've forgotten at all." Tw'eak smiled menacingly at her adversary.

Koval's demeanour changed to one of rebuke. "Is it the Federation's policy to protect thieves and slavers now?"

"Really, Admiral. Even for Tal Shiar, that's beneath you. That's a neutral freighter. Not much of a surprise to find it under attack by the likes of you."

This remark brought a snicker from Oulius, who covered it by attempting, noisily, to clear his throat.

Staring at Tw'eak with a disdain beyond typical for her, Koval crossed her hands in front of her. "I will give you thirty seconds to engage your engines and withdraw."

"You can count off any number you like. I'm not going anywhere. And you're not going aboard that freighter."

Koval raised an eyebrow. "So you know- you realize that its contents are the rightful property of the Tal Shiar."

"Oh, sure. And I'm the empress of Andoria."

"Explain." Koval's eyes widened in alarm.

Tw'eak's tone was detached, scientific. "You're a dreamer, I'll give you that. I thought I'd dream a little, too. After all, the... Romulan Imperial Navy, for instance, that you pretend to belong to? A daydream. The real Imperial Navy died with the Star Empire. Many of its warbirds disregarded orders, valiantly trying to evacuate their own people before it was too late, only to find their efforts hampered by security-minded Tal Shiar. I know. I saw it myself. Could scarcely believe it - not that you will. But I know the truth of what a nightmare your organization made of Romulus' last days. Imagine my surprise, when we finally learned what killed that Star Empire, what brought that Imperial Navy to such desperate efforts - the very same Tal Shiar that made you what you are."

"Lies!"

Tw'eak continued. "And then there's that so-called battlecruiser of yours. I've seen our tactical scans - it's more like ten million spare parts maneuvering in precise formation."

Koval stood up, her arms gesturing expansively. "This starship is unique - a collaboration of Romulan and Borg technology."

"One doesn't collaborate with the Borg," Tw'eak said dismissively. "Next thing I know you'll be telling me that resistance is futile."

Koval's eyes narrowed. Her nostrils flared, and she raised a closed fist. "I would not presume to tell you anything that you'll find out yourself!" She then angrily snapped off the viewer.

"She's cut the channel," Oulius said quickly.

"That's the thing about dreamers... they're a bit cranky when woken up," Tw'eak said in mock sympathy. Her tone then became intent. "Red alert. Shields up. Ready weapons."

The alarm klaxon sounded. Tw'eak took up a spot next to Oulius at the tactical console. "They're opening fire," Oulius observed, moments before the ship rocked with impact.

"Shields holding," the ensign at operations reported.

"Attack pattern beta - fire at will!" Tw'eak ordered.

The Tal Shiar battlecruiser and the starship Warspite charged at each other, the former leaving the freighter behind as a distant memory, the latter moving past and off on a heading away from the freighter, for its protection. Tw'eak leaned into Oulius. "Stay evasive - try to pull them away as much as you can. We need them to believe that the Iconian materials are still aboard the freighter. That means I need you to make it look like we're protecting it. Jam their sensors - if they find out we've got the goods-"

"Right," Oulius said. "I'm trying to reroute power, but something's wrong."

"Aurora, emergency power to weapons," Tw'eak called out over her shoulder to the engineer. The ship rocked slightly from an impact.

"Mmhmm." Aurora seemed distracted in her reply.

Oulius shook his head. "EPS rerouting is locked out. I can't get enough power to weapons."

Tw'eak stepped away from the tactical console, and stood between science and engineering. "Aurora?"

"Hmm?" Aurora looked at her console.

"What are you doing?"

"N - nothing," Aurora replied sharply.

The two ships continued to engage, Oulius using an almost figure-eight style of attack/defense maneuver - drawing the Tal Shiar warbird closer, then darting off, forcing them to chase, by which time the Avenger-class starship had brought its forward guns to bear. But something was wrong. While the accuracy and impact of those weapons was perfect, the power that went into those impacts was dampened by a lack of hitting power.

Oulius made a frustrated noise. "We aren't even making a dent in their shields with power setup like this. Shall I continue engaging with energy weapons?" Oulius requested.

"Continue firing - keep up the evasive pattern, away from the freighter. Octavia, see if you can help him with telemetry for a moment."

"I will assist." Octavia worked the hand console at the side of her command chair, looking for weak spots in the Borg technology utilized in the Tal Shiar battlecruiser.

Tw'eak moved into Aurora's field of view. The engineer did not look up, intent upon her console, which displayed the balance of EPS distribution, finely balanced to be nearly equal to all four major systems. "What are you doing?" Tw'eak repeated to Aurora.

"She's locked out EPS rerouting," Bianca said. "All power levels are equalized."

"It's perfect," Aurora whispered.

"What is?"

Aurora looked at Tw'eak as though she were about to faint. There was a singsong quality to her explanation. "All in the right balance. Auxiliary power - for repairs and emergencies. Engine power - for speed, for- for defense. Shield power - to keep the shields up. Weapons power - to... to fight. It might not hurt them when we fight back... but then, they can't hurt us either."

Tw'eak looked to Bianca as the ship's deck shuddered with another impact. "What's happened?"

"I don't know. I've never seen her like this."

Aurora's eyes widened. "And we'll all go home, safely, to bed."

Tw'eak's brow furrowed. "Home... from space?"

"Yes," Aurora said in a conspiratorial tone. "Home, from space."

"We can go home and fight back"

"Not - it won't be like before." Aurora's voice became agitated. "It can't be. Not like the last time. So many died. But this time we do it differently."

"Telemetry is of limited use when the energy being directed is insufficient to the task," Octavia advised.

"Try to find a way around it."

There was a touch of frustration in Octavia's reply. "I have been doing so."

"She needs help," Bianca stated, worried. "I'm taking her to sickbay."

"No, you're not." Tw'eak signalled the nearest security ensign. "I need you at your station."

"But-"

Tw'eak gave Bianca a serious look. "I appreciate the sentiment, Commander, but we're in combat and being hit by plasma weapons. Your place is here."

"Alright," Bianca said after a moment's hesitation, turning to activate the hazard emitters.

She reached out to Aurora's shoulders. "Come on, Aurora."

"No!" Aurora pushed away from Tw'eak's hands. "You'll - you'll break it!"

"No, we won't. I promise. We'll go home in just a bit." She patted Aurora on the back, suddenly wishing she knew how to apply a Vulcan nerve pinch. "Nobody's going to die onboard today."

"It's just... I only just got that warp core. He's so pretty. We all like him, you know."

The security ensign came alongside as Tw'eak stepped away, and Aurora nearly leapt at the feel of his presence. On her other side, Pal came into view, and she spun around, astonished at the sight of the Jem'Hadar. She fainted, and Pal took her arm in his. With the aid of the security ensign, he brought her to the turbolift. "I will bring her to sickbay," he said, his voice surprisingly genuine for a Jem'Hadar, and as the turbolift doors closed, Tw'eak patted Bianca on her arm.

"Octavia, take over at engineering," Tw'eak said, her voice tender with concern.

"I'm sorry, Admiral," Bianca said softly, looking up from her console for just a moment.

"Why?"

"Because of..." Bianca shook her head, resuming her focus on her duty. "There'll be time for it later, ma'am." She turned back to her console. "Activating hazard emitters."

"We took quite a few hits from their plasma-disruptors," Oulius said. "We haven't taken significant damage - to shields or hull."

From the engineering station, Octavia concurred. "It appears the commander may have provided us with a defensive solution for future consideration, as we have been able to receive their sustained assault without receiving critical damage. However, I am unlocking EPS conduit re-route and directing power to weapons and shields exclusively."

"It'll make our hazard emitters much less effective if you do," Bianca noted. "Just saying."

"True - but what Aurora didn't consider was that the longer they can stand up to us, the better they can adapt, and learn how to hurt us." Tw'eak moved back to Oulius' side. "Turn and face, Subcommander - fire at will, attack pattern alpha."

"With pleasure," Oulius replied, preparing a spread of torpedoes and a course of antiproton fire onto the target.

In space, the distance between the Tal Shiar battlecruiser and Warspite narrowed with both at maximum thrusters, intent. The Tal Shiar vessel fired first, two of their beams narrowly missing the deftly-maneuvering Warspite. Then it was Warspite's turn. A full salvo of antiproton fire saturated the forward quadrant of their shields, just before the quantum torpedoes came into play, detonating violently against the already-weakened shield facing. The hull damage was minor, but the fires it caused to spread gave the forward section of the battlecruiser a look of being a demon from the very heart of hell, the green hue of its hull texture overlapping with the orange-yellow flames to create a snarling sort of visage.

"Ooh, that hurt them," Bianca said. "Their forward shields are down."

"They're re-routing," Oulius added, "and turning back towards the freighter."

"I was counting on that," Tw'eak replied, and vaulted over to the fleet co-ordination screen, ordering Silhouette to commence her attack run.

From just above the freighter, guns targeting the battlecruiser with thrusters already at full, the Phantom-class escort Silhouette decloaked, its dual phaser beam banks and quantum torpedoes tearing into the exposed forward section of the Tal Shiar battlecruiser. The initial level of damage increased considerably as Silhouette continued its attack run, causing an explosion in the central section of the battlecruiser as it closed the range to target. The adapted battlecruiser, once the pride of the Tal Shiar's limited space navy, yawed over slightly, thrusters losing momentum, the whole ship careening without attitude control for a moment. From abaft, Warspite continued to fire on exposed vulnerabilities, weakening the integrity of the battlecruiser's shield and hull alike with withering intensity.

"Beautiful," Oulius remarked in awe.

"Their weapons and shields are both offline," Octavia noted.

"They're bleeding plasma," Bianca noted.

Indeed it was so - onscreen, a hideous cyan plume spewed forth into the space below the battlecruiser, as it lurched onwards towards the freighter.

"They're firing their engines, emergency power," Oulius observed. "Full thrusters."

"It appears that their intention is to ram the freighter," Octavia continued. "Impact in twenty-three seconds."

Tw'eak sent numerical symbols to Silhouette via data-link - 'well done' - 'resume cloak' - 'disengage'. She then moved to the captain's chair. "Let's keep our distance," she said.

"Admiral, they're hailing us."

Tw'eak looked up at Oulius. "Let's have it."

On the screen, the once-haughty visage of Admiral Nerala Koval appeared, marked down one side of her face with a stain of green blood from a head wound she had suffered. "Fools - Federation fools! If we can't have this cargo, neither will you!"

"Oh, we've already secured that cargo."

"What?"

Tw'eak nodded. "I'd say I'm sorry, but that would be -what did you call them again? Right. Lies." She smiled serenely at her defeated adversary. "Jolan tru."

Koval looked about, desperate. "Helm - all stop! NOOOOO-"

But it was too late. The viewscreen exploded into static - and then, after a moment, the screen returned to tactical view, showing another explosion, that of the Tal Shiar battlecruiser and freighter consumed by the loss of containment in the former ship's artificial singularity. A brief, violent cyclone of gravimetric destruction consumed both ships - absorbing much of the detonation of the freighter's warp core in the process - and after a moment both disappeared as the artificial singularity closed upon itself, leaving only a relative handful of debris floating in space around the collision site.

"Sweet dreams," Tw'eak said candidly, to the remains of the Tal Shiar vessel on the viewscreen.

* * *

 _Admiral's log, stardate 99510.1 - The task force has secured the materials wrongfully removed from the sites on both Lorink III and Freylar IV, and will return to Station Phoenix in order to place these ruins into our analysts' capable hands. While Warspite is en route to Drozana Station to release DaiMon Frek and his crew, I've given permission for Doctor Field and his team of researchers to conduct an examination of what was taken - both to see what they can learn and to see if preservation as antiquities might be a better option. In the meantime, I have an important visit of my own to make._

The turbolift doors opened, and Tw'eak stepped through, on her way to sickbay. She nodded to an ensign who boarded the turbolift moments after she did, before nearly running over Khao Manee at the intersection.

"Admiral!" he said impatiently. "I was just going to come find you on the bridge, and here you are."

Tw'eak stopped and turned in the intersection. "What's this about?"

Khao raised a furry hand, containing a padd. "DaiMon Frek's statement. He didn't say much more in terms of new details."

"But it's on the record now."

"Yes - about that." Khao's ears flicked backwards. "I was most uncomfortable with how you handled the interrogation."

"Sorry. They're not really my area of expertise." Tw'eak lowered her voice. "I usually leave them to my intelligence officer."

"Is that what this is about?"

"You wanted the results. You didn't have a plan. So I improvised." She pointed to the padd. "And look, results."

Khao's facial expression was one of disgust. "The ends justify the means, then."

"Where did you get that impression?"

"From the way you violated the DaiMon's rights as a Federation citizen - we had no right to even mention extradition as a possibility."

Tw'eak shrugged. "A lever. Got him moving."

"So it's that simple, then."

"No." Tw'eak gave a thin smile. "You want better, next time do it yourself."

"You should've left the interrogation altogether, if you didn't know how to handle it."

"That is a hell of a thing for you to say to me." Tw'eak scowled. "As it was, if I'd left you to it you'd still be down there repeating the same question over and over. If he'd had any vital information, your method of - what, boring him to death? - would've gotten us nowhere."

Khao made a soft hissing noise. "As it is," he continued, "there is no vital information here."

"There's a name - Norek. We didn't know that before."

"False name. You won't find Norek in records. Count on it."

Tw'eak fought the urge to give into her frustrations and explain precisely how that name made a difference. She knew Khao would've known well enough how. "Of course not - but it's a lead. Others on Drozana will know who Norek is. It's a Ferengi station. They keep records - for a price."

"And then what?"

"As I indicated before, Commander, I typically leave 'then what' in the capable hands of my senior staff. As this is an intelligence matter, guess which senior officer I would expect to handle it."

Khao shook his head. "I can't believe you. You're so quick to make this my fault."

"That's funny, I was under the impression you were the one assigning fault."

"But this isn't how it should be done. I don't care what the circumstances - there are regulations here on such things, and they back up what I'm saying."

Tw'eak crossed her arms. "If you're looking to make a specific charge, then you'd best state a specific regulation."

Tw'eak watched Khao flinch, and his whiskers quivered for just a moment. It was to her advantage that he didn't know the regulations well enough to quote chapter-and-verse. All that time he had spent on the edge of legality in his own anti-piracy flotilla worked to her advantage. She imagined a recent Academy grad like Lieutenant Lini might know the paragraph-sub-paragraph in question by heart, but it was enough to trip him up. She knew better than to give him a grudge to nurse. She needed an opening in this conversation that allowed them both to withdraw on proper terms.

Khao hesitated for a moment and said, "These are regulations that - at least in principle - we even followed ...where I'm from."

Tw'eak followed his meaning - this wasn't how Selkirk Rex would've run the show. And as Khao Manee had once been Selkirk Rex, he was speaking from his experience without referring to himself in first person. "Granted, but we're here now, and we're desperate for leads. I didn't trust Frek to be honest. So we did what humans call 'playing hardball'. I'm not going to pretend I'm ashamed of that, or even sorry - not when it was the best we had for a plan, on short notice. As I said to you earlier, if you think you can do better next time, then please, do. I'm accustomed to my officers having a plan of action for me to follow and support. Because you're right - things go more smoothly for everyone when I can trust my officers to do their jobs."

"Certainly. But whoever comes up with it, a plan of action should be constrained within regulations."

"I don't deny that."

Khao wasn't about to let go. "Then how do you rationalize that statement with what you just did to Frek in the brig?"

"I didn't do a damn thing to him - still, persuasive."

"He's a Ferengi. They can be persuaded by all sorts of things. The amount of compensation he'd receive for his lost freighter, for instance."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Even for a Ferengi, that's small change. Besides, we don't know if his crew serve him out of obligation or as a criminal enterprise."

"That's - again - that's hugely prejudicial to freighter captains." Khao was irked by this statement for reasons Tw'eak had not intended. This was not the orderly withdrawal with honour she had hoped to achieve.

"I'm not accustomed to finding freighter captains making deals with the Syndicate."

"Sometimes they do. Not every deal with the Syndicate is slaves-for-latinum, you know. Sometimes it's how you make ends meet out here."

"Sure." Tw'eak sensed Khao's growing frustration. This was a point he was clearly keen on winning. Yet Tw'eak had meant what she had said - she didn't feel the slightest remorse at playing the game she had to secure Frek's co-operation. Clearly, neither had Lini, whose role had largely been to follow Tw'eak's lead in an elaborate bluff. If anything, she wished Frek had known something that would have made his statement a truly worthy 'get', as the saying went.

"Besides which," Khao continued, "guilty as he is of certain infractions, there's no way you'd talk to a Klingon prisoner of war like that."

"I certainly would, if lives depended on it."

"You'd do all that again?" It was Khao's turn to scoff. "To a Klingon warrior? He'd slit your throat."

"In my own brig? Really."

"Granted - but you see my point."

"I'm afraid I don't," Tw'eak countered. "I realize you don't like it, but I had a feeling he knew something we needed to know, and I didn't expect him to offer that information for any price - not when it means betraying the Tal Shiar. Lives may have depended upon what he knew. So, he had to be made to feel as though his life depended upon it as well."

"So he's dead either way - he's going to die because he betrayed the Tal Shiar."

Tw'eak scoffed. "You don't think they'll assume he did once they learn he was in our custody?"

"But we've loaded the round that'll kill him!"

"On the contrary - he should've never dealt with them in the first place."

"That doesn't justify our involvement like this, though!"

"Like I said, it was a judgement call." Tw'eak felt her antennae nearly touching with frustration. She tried to change tack. "You never once - in the flotilla - you never once made a judgment call based on a hunch, or a premonition, or anything like that?"

"No. We always made sure we had the evidence first. Sometimes it meant we missed chances - and sometimes that meant we missed a chance to make a mistake, too. But idle threats were never on the table."

Tw'eak shook her head. "You never had sufficient authority or weight of force to threaten anyone, even idly."

"Our very operation was threat enough to the Syndicate. It helped that they were so blatantly open about every aspect of their operation, admittedly, uncoded broadcasts and unencrypted data lying about all over - but they learned to be cautious once they knew we were out there, yeah."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes slightly. "The Iconians aren't going to give us that sort of opening. And we need to stop them before they can start. I'm not going to have the relative luxury of an enemy that operates arrogantly, like the Syndicate did. And I am certainly not going to have the time to philosophize like this before I act in future. If needs must, then I expect you to put aside the best intentions and make the best of what we've got. Is that clear?"

Khao shook his head, laughing. "You just - I'm sorry, you just reminded me of someone I used to know. An officer like you who thought that charging in and 'making the best' of situations was going to somehow be for the best. He's dead now - used to be a Marine. I think you knew him."

It wasn't clear if Khao's intention in bringing up Leo had been to provoke Tw'eak or to hurt her, but either way, Tw'eak found herself feeling very much like she was being put in her place. While this was always a dangerous maneuver for someone to attempt, for it to come from a subordinate officer - one with a shady history and a past of his own, no less - simply amplified her reaction. Leo's chief complaint about Selkirk had always, always been his reticence to act on anything without firm, unquestionable proof. Now this same overly cautious commander was either making a grievous error by jesting at her emotional scars, or worse, was telling her how to do a job that no one, least of all Tw'eak, could be sure she was doing correctly. The surge of emotion in Tw'eak's still-broken heart pressed against the breakwater of her sense of duty, which held in place, as did the tears swelling in her eyes. She gritted her teeth. "That will be all, Commander."

Perhaps sensing he had taken a step too far, Khao tried to speak. "Maybe I-"

Tw'eak's tone was pure Andorian frost. "I said -" She took a short breath to ensure her tone remained measured. "Listen carefully. You may not be aware of it, but what you just said a minute ago was one of the most hurtful things I have ever heard spoken to me - that it comes from an officer under my command makes it doubly insulting. I would highly recommend you never, ever speak to me like that again. And I don't know what I'll do to you if you try." Khao attempted to speak, but she raised a hand. "No. You're dismissed. Another word and you'll be relieved of duty and confined to quarters."

Khao took a step back - clear recognizance that he had forgotten himself and his place aboard. He offered the padd meekly, but Tw'eak turned on her heel without taking it, and proceeded at a parade march to the sickbay, choking back a sob as she did.


	82. Part V, Chapter 15

It had been some time since Tw'eak had seen the interior of the Warspite's ready room. It had not been long since it had been her ready room. She was surprised to find that, aside from the desk, there were no furnishings at all. In the adjacent room, where once had been a restroom, there was now a regeneration alcove - not altogether unsurprising for Octavia to have in her ready room, but aside from the desk, three chairs - one at the desk and two opposite - and a window, there were no other furnishings at all. Along each wall were strategic displays of Federation space, one showing the Alpha and Beta quadrants, with the far wall displaying task force information and a list of developing news items from the Federation service.

Tw'eak stepped inside, followed shortly by Subcommander Oulius, who had shown her in. "It's just like you remember, I bet," the Romulan said as he came inside.

"Not at all, in fact."

"I know," Oulius said, smiling. "I was joking. The captain's tastes in decor are far more... spartan, I believe to be the term."

"I can understand it. It's not like she has pictures of family or personal mementoes to display."

"No. Still, she's one of the finest captains I've ever served." Oulius looked at the strategic display, and Tw'eak watched his eyes drift to the system formerly known as Dewa.

"I do the same thing," she said. Oulius looked up, surprised. "Anytime I see a star map, my eyes always drift to Andoria."

"You do that, too," Oulius said, surprised. "Even if it's not on the map."

"It's a point of reference. You start there - force of habit, really - and try to see how far you've come."

Oulius smiled and nodded. "That's about right."

Tw'eak pointed up in the direction of the Romulus system. "Yet you... started up here, if memory serves. You were just a baby when your homeworld was destroyed."

The smile faded from Oulius' lips. "Your information is correct."

Tw'eak sat up on the edge of the desk. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, you know."

"May I be frank?"

"Certainly. I expect it of my senior officers."

Oulius' lips turned upwards. "It pleases me to know you think of me as such, even though you have a larger task force to command."

"Starfleet entrusted me with this ship right out of spacedock, brand new. And I myself once stood a post right where you do. The tactical station is nearest and dearest to my heart. Always will be - it's where I came from."

"Is it always the first place you look on a starship's bridge, then?" Oulius asked.

"Always," Tw'eak affirmed. "But what were you going to say?"

"I... this isn't really something I would typically confide in someone, and to be perfectly honest, it would be unthinkable to speak this on a Republic vessel, even in confidence."

"Go ahead."

Oulius looked down, his shaved head clearly displaying the mark of grief which he and many Romulans had taken to wearing as tattoos in the aftermath of their homeworld's loss. "I... no longer feel any pride in being Romulan."

This admission astonished Tw'eak. "I see."

"I don't know how you can - I barely understand myself." Oulius' voice gave hints of internal conflict, of anguish. "Look at how we represented ourselves to the outside world - for centuries. A martial society, marching beneath the raptor's wings, oppressing the Remans and countless other civilizations for our own gain, manipulating our own people against their best interests... the very definition of 'tragedy' could have a picture of our homeworld's remains right there next to it."

"I know what you mean. But the tragedy had a cause - the Tal Shiar."

Oulius' eyes widened at their mention. "Them - how I hate them. The things I've seen... you've read reports, the Elachi, the Iconians, what we discovered about what happened at Hobus..." He gritted his teeth. "Watching that warbird of theirs tear itself apart was the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life."

"It was nice to see, wasn't it?"

"It's what I've wished for every member of the Tal Shiar for as long as I can remember - that they'd all find themselves an artificial singularity and disappear into it forever."

Tw'eak nodded. "This is one of the major reasons I value you as a senior officer, Subcommander."

The admission caught Oulius by surprise. "Ma'am?"

"Do you know - I've known engineers that were more efficient in their capability than Aurora duBois, for instance. Octavia's a good captain but there are others I'd find more hospitable, or perhaps less conservative in their tactics. I sometimes wish Kit McQueen was MORE conservative in hers. And don't even get me started on Pal..." Tw'eak chuckled.

Oulius nodded. "I know what you mean. Scary."

"In good ways."

"Obviously." Oulius looked around. "He's in here, isn't he."

"No idea. My point," Tw'eak continued, "is that I look at other officers I've served with over the years, and through it all, there are two things I value most in my command staff - whether it's on one ship or all of them. They're honest with me, no matter what... but also that they're honest with themselves. I was thinking about them today - the Tal Shiar, I mean, not my people - and I have to admit to myself, I kinda hate them, too."

"You do."

"Oh, yes. I see what they've done. And at one point I was Hakeev's plaything, in a personal torture chamber of his design. I had to fight mugato in hand-to-hand combat, packs of warriguls - aehallh, too. Then I read his records - of others he had tortured and broken, over the years, the things he'd learned, things he no doubt passed on to his masters. The things I saw in there... he learned what no man should ever know."

"I can imagine."

"But when I faced him, at last, I saw in his eyes the same fear, the same insecurity, that his victims undoubtedly had in theirs. I realized that what set him apart from me wasn't the things that he did. It was the things I would never, ever do to anyone." Tw'eak took a moment to consider this in light of the conversation she had recently had with Khao Manee. "And that is the other thing - the other essential trait of all my trusted senior staff. I have to know that they're restrained by more than just rules and regulations - but by the kind of moral fibre that keeps us an institution apart from those of the sort that the Tal Shiar represents."

"It's part of the reason I'm here," Oulius said, "on this exchange. I'm one of those who wants the Republic to follow in the Federation's footsteps, rather than the Klingons or - Elements forbid we go back to the old ways."

"But that's why I appreciate you. You're driven by your hopes and ambitions. You're driven towards our improvement, all of us, together." Tw'eak smiled. "It's why I'm glad you're aboard."

"Thank you, ma'am. And may I say what a truly brilliant experience this has been for me - and for my brother, as well. Tavian's come a long way. We're both pretty glad to have had the chance to be here."

"I'm glad to hear it. But - to get back to your point - don't let your shame at who you are drive you in the wrong direction. My sister Sassil did that, left Andoria behind for the Klingon Empire. I'm not suggesting she did the wrong thing-"

"I would," Oulius interrupted. "I don't know how she can live with Klingons - their allies aren't much better than the Tal Shiar, just... not as ruthless."

"Fair point," Tw'eak conceded. "Still, be motivated by what you are, and be motivated to find your best destiny - for you, for your people... for your family. Whether here or on mol'Rihan."

Oulius smiled. "Thank you, ma'am. And for my mnhei'sahe as well."

Tw'eak nodded, familiar with the Romulan concept which was partly a soul and partly a driving ambition. "Can't forget that."

"I should get back to my station. Thanks again." Oulius gave Tw'eak a bow, a deeply respectful gesture for a Romulan, before turning and heading out the door.

"Any time." Tw'eak stepped off the desk and put in the subspace contact codes, wondering to herself if Remans also respected the concept of a mnhei'sahe. The computer, meantime, worked to connect to subspace relays and make contact with the Reman Resistance.

* * *

The connection finally came through, and Tw'eak found herself facing the scarred, mottled visage of Obisek.

"Ah, it's you, little spy," he said in his unmistakable baritone, referencing a nickname he had given her. They had first met after the Bonaventure had helped defeat a Tal Shiar force arrayed in defense of their installation on Nimbus III - the same installation where Dashii was later held by the Orion Syndicate. That first trip to Nimbus had brought her into closer contact with Obisek, and led in time to their working together to stop Hakeev and the Tal Shiar - and to witness Empress Sela's Scimitar being hauled away forcibly by an Iconian vessel, to parts of the galaxy unknown. Yet Obisek and Tw'eak had maintained a good working relationship, even an admiration for each other, despite not having seen each other in two years. "It is good to see you again. I had wondered if our paths would cross again."

"Good to see you, too," Tw'eak said, smiling.

"And now here we are. How may I be of assistance?"

"Starfleet has assigned me a task force which has, as its primary mission, the study of all intelligence related to the Iconians. We've discovered something I think you might want to hear about."

"Ah, yes. The Iconians. Their day is not long in coming."

Tw'eak gave Obisek a confused look. "How do you know that?"

"Is that not fairly common knowledge, at this point? The end of your Federation's conflict with the Klingons was seen by them as a threat."

Tw'eak nodded. "It's true. But the Iconians represent a threat to us all."

"I agree. This is why I have ordered our scientists to fully co-operate with the Federation in the study of anything Iconian which we discover in territory we control. It has been difficult, but Captain Lansley of the starship McAuliffe has been our liaison officer on such matters."

Tw'eak nodded her head. "Yes, I've read her reports. Our recent experience suggests Iconian artifacts may be reaching the Tal Shiar, for purposes unknown."

This news caused Obisek to shift in his chair a bit. "Now I understand why you have come to me. I am listening."

"Earlier today we intercepted a Tal Shiar adapted battlecruiser which was attempting to apprehend a freighter owned by a DaiMon Frek."

Obisek shook his head. "Frek is unknown to me. Go on."

"The ship itself was carrying Iconian components and parts as its cargo - Frek had previously worked for the Tal Shiar by transporting a Federation research team, as passengers, to a site on a planet called Lorink III. They were then ambushed by Orion raiders a while later, and taken hostage. We broke up the transfer of those passengers back to the Orions in the Lilitu system."

There was a chuckle from Obisek. "Lilitu. I am unsurprised."

"Same here. We have reason to believe that the Tal Shiar is attempting to gather more Iconian technology."

"This is, of course, nothing new in and of itself - but these are components and parts, you said."

Tw'eak nodded. "That's right. We're not sure what their purpose was."

Obisek raised a hand. "Forgive me - I must step away for just a moment to consult with one of my aides about this development."

"That's alright." Before Obisek got up, Tw'eak quickly added, "I apologize for being the bearer of bad news."

"An understandable sentiment, and one I appreciate. However, I am one who would rather be told 'bad news' directly, than learn it by more difficult means. Excuse me."

Tw'eak found herself nodding again, this time in complete agreement. She, of course, worked exactly the same way - although, of late, bad news seemed to be the only kind she received anymore.

Her commbadge sounded. "Oulius to Sh'abbas."

"Go ahead, Subcommander."

"Admiral, I have your daughter standing by on secure subspace channel."

"Spera?"

"That's right. Priority one."

Tw'eak frowned. "Ask her to give me five minutes - I'm already in a priority-one conversation in here."

"Very well. I'll keep her on subspace for as long as I can - she's in the Delta Quadrant, secure channels can come and go from there.."

"Oh, I know. Thanks, just hold on."

Tw'eak waited for a moment longer, and Obisek returned to his desk. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he began. "I have been informed that our agents within the Tal Shiar have provided us with information regarding the potential need for additional working Iconian gateways becoming an increasing priority among the fractured leadership of our enemy."

"Sorry, they're actually looking for active gateways?"

"And attempting to seize them for the access to Iconian-controlled space which they provide."

"To what end, though?"

"Our intelligence is not so specific as to provide a clear explanation, but I believe that the cause of their sudden interest is one of two things: either they endeavour to launch some sort of pre-emptive strike, like the one they once attempted in the Omarion Nebula against the Dominion, or - more likely - they are attempting to mount rescue and retrieval operations in Iconian space."

"Why is a pre-emptive strike less likely, in your opinion?"

"The gateways are all terrestrial in nature - I doubt that they would be able to get any more than a regiment of their number through the portal before the Iconians reacted. Besides which... these are their gods."

Tw'eak considered for a moment. "Yet they could still sabotage the Iconians in pinpoint raids."

"Only if the Iconians would permit the gateways to deliver them to sensitive institutions in the first place - or perhaps shut down the entire gateway network, as they once did to the gateway network that links us to the Delta Quadrant, for example."

The Delta Quadrant - Spera was still waiting. But Tw'eak had another question. "So let's say raids are out of the question - what would they retrieve? or rescue?"

"Retrieval would perhaps be of intelligence, perhaps technology for their usage. But there are few captives whom we know the Iconians to have in their custody and whom we know the Tal Shiar would attempt to rescue. One such would be Taris. But more likely -"

Tw'eak's face fell. "Sela."

"Precisely. The return of the Empress would stabilize a great deal of the incoherent power balance in the former Star Empire. The Tal Shiar would presumably rally to her, even after she abandoned Hakeev to us."

Tw'eak found herself remembering the cold, stoic face of Obisek as he leveled the rifle and fired into a kneeling Hakeev, and shuddered slightly. "But what then?"

"I am not certain we would wish to find out. Sela is powerful, manipulative, ruthless - and all the more so when isolated or insecure."

"So I've heard," Tw'eak said with a grin.

"Yet not all within the Tal Shiar - or the Imperial Navy - would be happy for her to return. She brooks no rivals and would expect complete obedience to herself, and her cause."

"So it's best for us not to let them have her back."

"We may not have the choice. If the Iconians truly are as powerful as they say, the Tal Shiar may merely be provoking them into action - perhaps that fatal choice to return to dominance - by making this attempt."

Tw'eak nodded, still conscious of the other channel and Spera. "Please let me know - or let Captain Lansley know - if you learn anything further on the subject."

"I will certainly endeavour to do so." Obisek sniffed, then added, "It would be immensely appreciated if you, too, would share what you learn with us. My people's future may depend upon it."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'll forward everything I can to the McAuliffe. I hope you'll understand we may have to redact certain sections of the intelligence, in order to preserve the security of our operations."

Obisek laughed. "Perhaps I shall have to send a single shuttlecraft to infiltrate Earth Spacedock in order to learn more, then."

Tw'eak smiled in response. "A 'little spy' of your own? I wouldn't recommend it - it's not so easy to sneak in."

"Perhaps not. Be advised that we have made great efforts in securing the Vault as our operational headquarters. I would advise against trying that again."

"There's no need now - we're better off working together for the greater good, whether that be against the Tal Shiar, the Iconians, or anyone else."

"I completely agree." Obisek gave Tw'eak a nod on the screen. "I look forward to hearing from you again. Obisek out."

Tw'eak watched the screen switch to black, then flip to another channel - this time showing Spera seated at a bridge console aboard the starship Voyager, with Admiral Tuvok visible, standing just before the command chair, in the distance. "There you are!" Spera said. "I'd been waiting for you."

"Sorry - I was just - on another channel. Everything's priority one today, it seems."

"Yeah, I know - there's a lot of information I have to tell you." Spera's eyes went wide. "We... I should mention that I'm contacting you as the intelligence officer of USS Voyager - conferring with the admiral responsible for intelligence on the Iconians."

"So this is official business, then?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, though - how are you?"

Tw'eak smiled. "A bit tired. Could use a katheka."

"God, me too. Okay - are you ready?"

Tw'eak was unexpectedly aware of just how much her heart was hurting. She had missed Spera so much in these past weeks. Her presence aboard ship, the time they had spent together, the bond they had come to share as mother and daughter... these were the things that Tw'eak found she valued most of anything in all the world. To see her Spera in a Starfleet uniform, seated at a console aboard one of the most famous ships in Federation history, gave her immense pride and a sense of fulfillment she had rarely felt in her life. Yet it also made her lip quiver, to know that the ships they were on were on opposite sides of the galaxy.

"Shreya?"

Tw'eak shook her head and came out from behind her thoughts. "Sorry, I... get to overthinking things when I'm tired."

"I know, I remember."

"You should probably be referring to me as 'Admiral' if this is official," Tw'eak joked.

"Really? I am no good at protocol and stuff." Spera leaned a little closer. "Like, I keep calling him Tuvok rather than Admiral. I don't think HE minds, but the others - well, never mind."

"We'll talk more about that later, Commander."

"I- right. Okay. So you remember we were trying to organize an alliance against the Vaadwaur."

"I do."

"Well, we found ourselves some unlikely allies... namely, the Vaadwaur."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

"I don't know how to explain it without being gross - remember back around stardate four-one-something-something, when there was an alien conspiracy that Captain Picard exposed at Starfleet Command?"

"With the neural parasites? Yes, I did a paper on them for Tactical Xenobiology at the Academy."

"Tactical Xenobiology?"

"We had a nickname for it - 'everything you wanted to know about killing everyone but were afraid to ask'. It was my highest mark in my sophomore year."

"Seriously. Well, anyway, then you know how they work - they embed themselves in the base of your skull and there's this little breathing tube - anyway. The Vaadwaur leadership - not the current leadership, mind you, but the Supremacy leadership - were infested. All of them. We exposed their involvement - it was really cool, I got to wear a holo-emitter and pretend to be one of them, and Commander Eldex, he's a Vaadwaur, he's now their leader?"

"Spera?" Tw'eak interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"It's just - sorry, this isn't usually how these sorts of reports are filed."

"I'm sorry, Shreya - Admiral. It's just, this was so amazing, I got to do so much cool stuff. I even killed a couple guys. Not like civilians or anything - they shot at me first, and they were armed and everything, so it's all good that I-"

"Spera."

Spera's eyes closed tightly. "Sorry! Sorry, I did it again. Sorry. We exposed the Vaadwaur Supremacy leader, this guy named Gaul, as being infested. Then Eldex and his guys were like, 'no, we don't want to let you lead us anymore', and Gaul's side and Eldex's side began dividing against each other - so we helped Eldex's side out, and they joined up with us. But in order to save the Vaadwaur, we had to attack their homeworld. We brought the whole Delta Alliance together - the Turei, some Kazon, the Hazari, the Benthans, the Kobali, the Hierarchy, even these Borg who live in a co-operative society and not the Collective - all of them came together and we got through to landing troops. And I got to meet Seven of Nine again! She's a lot like Octavia, how they talk in that sort of deadpan tone all the time? You know what I mean."

Tw'eak cleared her throat.

"Right - we had to go down and fight our way through to Gaul - and he had a lot of guys with him, it was a really hard fight and I got knocked out this one time, but the Doctor was there to help - but anyway, this is the part that really matters - it turns out the Iconians have been not only supplying the Vaadwaur, but actually controlling them as well."

Tw'eak's eyes widened. "The Iconians are?"

"That's right."

Shaking her head, Tw'eak remembered what she and Ambassador Worf had learned aboard the Solanae Dyson sphere - that the influence of the Iconians extended into all quadrants of thi galaxy and beyond. Their presence was a threat to all species across the galaxy if they returned. "I suppose we already knew they had a foothold there, but for them to manipulate the Vaadwaur's development like that... sounds almost unbelievable."

"I know, right? But there's more. We found Iconian artifacts that the Vaadwaur were using, on their homeworld. We were able to access its memory core. The Vaadwaur were communicating with the Iconians through an Elachi outpost, in subspace. We found an access point and Voyager went. The Republic warbird Lleiset came along with us - you remember Commander Jarok?"

Tw'eak nodded. "Of course I do."

"She came along, she was amazing - and we went over to the outpost, which was an awful place I would never want to go again. The Elachi and the Solanae are working together, which we already knew, on the Iconians' behalf. But it seems like their specific purpose is in order to find ways to get to people, to control them, even just to torture them. The Elachi bring them in, and the Solanae figure them out. We liberated some of the test subjects they were holding. We also found out that those neural parasites, we call them Bluegills? The Solanae genetically modified them. And the Iconians send the messages."

"So that's how they controlled the Vaadwaur."

"Exactly. They paid the price for the advanced technology they received with their freedom, is how Tuvok explained it. But that station... ugh. It was so nasty - I had this EV suit on, but it felt like I could still smell them. And the things they did to those people... I don't even want to tell you. They were implanting parasites forcibly into people, and we shut all that down, but then we found Sela, and she said that she had been-"

"Wait, wait - hold on. Go back. THE Sela?"

"You don't want to call her Empress either, do you."

Tw'eak fell against the back of her chair. "Just - Spera. Where is she now?"

"In Republic custody, aboard the Lleiset. She's co-operating. She was their prisoner and she gave us a ton of useful information. I'm going to transmit all of that to you shortly."

"Secure channel only, please."

"Oh, yeah - I think Commander Jarok was planning to make the full de-briefing available to us, and the Klingons will receive it as well. But Sela made a few good points - like, she made the one point, which I could've told you, actually, I think I did. There isn't a safe place in the universe anymore. The Iconians, and their Heralds, can show up anywhere - one, a group, an army, a fleet, whatever. The whole universe is a short step away. And that makes them SUCH jerks about everything."

"They're overconfident, you mean."

"Yeah. And that overconfidence is their greatest weakness. I hadn't really thought about it like that before, but it makes sense. They really don't expect us to put up much of a fight. They must think they can... just beat us, no problem." Spera shrugged. "I don't know, they might be right," she added, quietly.

"Did she say anything about when? Do the Iconians have a timetable in that memory core you have there?"

"We're still running analysis. I think Tuvok wants your task force to take possession of it, since you have all the experts onboard."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'll send one of my ships to rendez-vous with you at Delta Quadrant Command. It'll take the better part of a day for it to get there, but we'll be there."

"Okay, good. We'll pass along all the information and materials we have at that point. Hopefully you can figure something out."

"That's what we do," Tw'eak noted. "On the plus side, you've managed to ruin the Tal Shiar's day."

"I like the sound of that," Spera replied. "How'd I do that?"

"We think they're running a smuggling ring to get their hands on Iconian components. I contacted Obisek, the leader of the Remans, and he thinks they're trying to mount a rescue operation to get Sela back."

"Too bad for them she's in the Lleiset's brig." Spera snickered. "Good luck getting her back from there - Iconian gateway or none."

"I wouldn't laugh too much - remember that Taris broke out of a secured Federation facility during a lockdown a while back." Tw'eak grimaced. "I was there at the time - it was awful."

"Shreya..." Spera gave Tw'eak a little smile. "Come on, nothing's going to happen."

Tw'eak gave a half nod. "If you're sure."

"Oh, wait - you think I'm telling you something from the future, or something."

"I didn't think that at all."

"Okay, because God, I keep doing that - people hear me say something and I think they think I mean that it went this way in the future and I'm revealing temporal paradoxes all day long or something."

"Just tell me if you are. Talking about your timeline, I mean."

"Always do." Spera looked over her shoulder. "I gotta go. We're going back to see if Eldex knows anything else about the Iconians, see if the Vaadwaur homeworld has any other Iconian devices on it. Won't be long, but until we get a more complete subspace relay network set up in this quadrant, I can't talk to you there while we're at warp. If we're going to meet your ship, we need to get to Vaadwaur Prime as soon as possible."

Tw'eak laughed. "Are you seriously explaining ship scheduling problems to me?"

"Sorry, sorry! Of course you knew that. Just tell me everyone's okay."

"Well, Octavia's run off with Pal to Risa, and Aurora decided to ushaan Bianca the other day over Oulius..."

"Ooh! Winner fights me for him!" Spera had a good laugh. "I can see that, too - Aurora would probably win, she's taller."

"I'm not so sure - Bianca could probably be pretty dangerous."

"But they're all okay? How's Dr. Hewson and the baby?"

"She's fine, no baby yet. I haven't heard from your zhayra."

"That's Zhayra Dashii for you, though - only calls if she needs you." Spera smiled. "I miss you guys."

"We miss you, too." Tw'eak did her best to mask the profound depth of longing she felt as she said that.

"It's weird - I'm only really used to being on a starship where you're in charge. You were right - this has been such an important experience for me. I've learned so much from Tuvok."

Unbeknowst to Spera, Tuvok had quietly crept into the frame from the captain's chair. "Indeed," he said, causing Spera to leap in place.

"Oh God!" Spera cried. "I'm sorry, Admiral - I promise I'll wrap this up quick."

"Hello, Admiral," Tw'eak said.

"Admiral Sh'abbas. It is most agreeable to speak to you again. I trust all is well in the Alpha Quadrant."

"We were just talking about that, yes. I was just telling Spera that I'm arranging for you to meet one of my ships - probably the USS Turing - in a day's time."

"I will make arrangements with the Vaadwaur to ensure our punctual arrival. In the meantime, it would be beneficial to those arrangements if-"

"Right," Spera said, interrupting. "Love you, Shreya! Gotta fly."

Tw'eak's voice cracked slightly as she said, "Just take care of yourself, kid." She swallowed, then added, "See you again soon. Warspite out." The screen flashed to a Starfleet chevron, and for a minute afterwards, Tw'eak felt a whole host of emotions - regret at letting Spera go, a newfound pride at the officer she seemed to be becoming, jealousy at the experience Spera was having without even graduating from the Academy, sombre remembrance of the timeline which her daughter had endured that had been experience beyond anything the Academy could offer, and a quiet acknowledgement, deep in her heart, that the young woman she had just spoken to was unquestionably the dearest thing to Tw'eak in the whole universe.

* * *

Tw'eak was still staring out the window, a short while later, when the door chime sounded. She turned, surprised, and said, "Enter."

Into the room came Bianca duBois. She seemed uncomfortable. "I hope I'm not intruding, Admiral."

"Not at all. I was just... waiting to hear back from Obisek, the head of the Reman Resistance."

"Yes, I remember." Bianca smiled, looking downwards. "I heard about that. Aurora didn't sleep for days, looking for you."

"She told you about that, did she," Tw'eak said with a laugh. "It's funny now, but she and Octavia saved my life that day. Hakeev would've executed me if they hadn't beamed me out right when they did."

"Yeah," Bianca said. "Can we sit down?"

Tw'eak took a seat at the desk. "This is one of those 'something you need to talk to me about' conversations, isn't it?"

Opposite, Bianca sat in one of the desk chairs, tense. "I wanted to apologize, on Aurora's behalf."

Tw'eak shook her head. "No need for that."

"You meant what you said - about not noting this in the reports?"

"I see no reason to make any report of it. Period."

Bianca's shoulders relaxed. "Okay, good. She's - I know you've known her a long time-"

"Not as long as you have," Tw'eak said, consciously aware of Bianca's discomfort.

"Right." Bianca pursed her lips and looked downcast. "She doesn't want me to talk to you about any of this, you know."

"But whatever it is, she talks to you about it."

"Of course. We... we talk about everything together. She's my sister."

Tw'eak brought her hands together on the desk. "What's this really about, Commander?"

Bianca took a deep breath. "It's... 'rora hasn't been the same, since that day we faced the Borg. She's never been very good at dealing with loss - she still talks about how much she misses people, years after they've been dead. I'm kind of glad my mom and dad are both still alive - 'rora would be a mess, even if they were ill for a long time, maybe even especially so."

"And you're worried she won't be able to do the job effectively."

"She has a lot of responsibility. I know that the captain covers a lot of bases operationally and that it makes Aurora's job as first officer a lot easier to deal with, but... I've seen the intel. I know that once the Iconians arrive, people are going to die."

"Yeah," Tw'eak said, nodding. "But we all would've died if it wasn't for Aurora - at least once already, that day we faced that cube. Had she not taken such good care of the EPS junctions and routing in advance, the ship would've detonated. As it is, the Starfleet Corps of Engineers has referenced my report on our damage control efforts in order to standardize Warspite's setup for all future Avenger-class starships."

"That's amazing. I hadn't heard that before."

"Aurora has. I've told her as much before - she's an exceptionally good engineer. A bit unconventional, but the best ones usually are. Soon enough they're going to look to her to captain her own starship."

Bianca frowned. "I know. But that's my point. I'm worried she'll drive herself too hard, care about everyone, not be able to make those sorts of... you know, command decisions."

Tw'eak chuckled. "You're trying to tell me that I'm unqualified for command, then."

"No! I -what? Admiral - I would never!"

"Because I hope I care that much. Aurora was still a lieutenant when she was assigned to me. Her previous performance appraisals all said what you did - that she had no confidence, prioritized people over mission objectives, exercised undue caution, overthinks, over-engineers, overdoes everything. Yet somehow she was qualified both as a warp core specialist and a ground combat officer. To my mind, she was perfect."

"I don't understand."

"I've served with a lot of officers - mostly good, fortunately. There were the tin-plated types that thought they were gods among the stars, and should therefore be worshipped by anyone of lower rank. There were the grudge specialists, who viewed every complaint or objection as a personal slight, and the ones who thought motivating people meant making them too scared to not fully comply. And at least one who considered his every instinct a divine providence - and usually had to rely on his crew to save him."

"I think I've served under one of each," Bianca noted.

"We all have. But that's my point. I've seen every kind of wrong in certain officers. It helps you realize what makes for the right kind of officer - 'don't be that guy'. For me, the best officer is relentlessly hard on themselves, constantly striving to do better, but willing to accept faults in others and work together, compassionately, for the good of the whole crew. I've known few officers as good like that as Aurora."

"You really think so?"

"I do. I've told her as much, many times. She never believes me. I understand your concern - that as her star rises, she'll burn so brightly that she'll wink right out." Tw'eak shook her head. "Not the Aurora I know."

"It's just - she's taken these last few months so much to heart. And I know she's talked to the counselor, though I don't know what they've talked about, but still, I haven't... I don't know if it's worth mentioning here, but I've been afraid to be perfectly honest with her about things."

"Like what?"

Bianca looked up slowly, embarrassed. "You really want to know?"

"If it's something you're comfortable with sharing, sure."

"Right. Well, I had been in a relationship... feels so weird to say it now. And to you - I mean, after what happened on Risa..."

Tw'eak nodded. "Just before the Borg attack."

"Yeah. I don't really remember when in that cycle of events, but I stopped hearing from Cam on a regular basis. That wasn't strange in and of itself - one of us would occasionally be unable to contact the other, temporarily. And I saw him again for a couple hours over Qo'noS. But this time, it felt so different. The next time I heard from him... he called it off."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"So was I - at least, until I found out it was because he had found someone else aboard ship. That's why he hadn't been himself when I beamed over - he thought she'd walk in. But I was just glad for the break from Aurora. She got to be a bit much... it was me who finally talked her into going to see Counselor Derret. I just couldn't help anymore. You probably noticed - we were sniping at each other a lot more for a while there."

Tw'eak nodded. "I can't help but notice when there's friction between sisters. I've experienced enough of that in my time."

"Which is another reason I was hesitant to talk to you about it - I mean, we just found your sister alive again, on the Klingon side, and I didn't want to come and complain about my problems with my sister when yours were so much... bigger? worse? I don't even know."

Tw'eak smiled. "One of the... prerogatives of being the admiral is that you sort of exist in two parts. You've probably noticed this in your department as well - you're the boss, but you're also a person, too."

"Now that you mention it, yeah, I know what you mean."

"So I can compartmentalize who I am - my sisters, and Spera, my personal life, my personal preferences - and be professional. It kind of helps, actually. I learned a lot from the Vulcans, when I was younger. I use what they taught me, every day. I have considered suggesting to Aurora, from time to time, that she might benefit from greater mental discipline. But I knew, as her captain, and now as her admiral, that the suggestion couldn't come from me."

"Counselor Derret can probably help with a lot of that. She's really nice to talk to."

"You've been to see her?"

"Oh, yeah. I was in a relationship for eight years that just came to a crashing halt. Honestly, I've been so happy to be aboard this ship because there's so much to do - all this crazy Iconian stuff and I'm probably the only one that's happy about it because it gives me something to think about."

Tw'eak remembered a conversation she and Bianca had shared once, on the subject of musical theatre. "Maybe you need something to sing about."

Bianca seemed surprised by this suggestion. "Do you think?"

"Maybe."

"I have to admit, it really helps to sing to myself sometimes. In character - I really feel like I'm back in character sometimes. I just need a red felt cap to complete the look."

Tw'eak smiled. "Oh, I hated that thing."

"But it's such an essential part of playing Eponine!"

"Didn't fit over my antennae. Not properly - they had to cut holes in it for me, and ...I must have looked like a dressed-up epohh, singing on stage."

"Oh - that must have been annoying."

"Yeah. The static electricity in the material was bad, too. I remember one time, in the middle of Eponine's death scene, on the barricade, I fell - and the hat pushed up against my antennae. I reached up with my 'wounded' arm to pull it forward. The director was not happy with me."

Bianca burst into laughter. "Oh, that would have - that's hilarious."

Tw'eak refocused. "We'll all lose people in what's ahead. We've already lost enough good people fighting the Klingons and everyone after. I look at Octavia sometimes and wonder what kind of person she was before she was lost."

"Going back to what you said earlier, about bad officers and good officers - I know some of the crew find her aloof, even a bit cold on occasion, but she really is one of the best captains I've ever had."

"I hear that a lot," Tw'eak confirmed. She then added, "I hear that about her first officer just as often."

Bianca smiled. "I know. I'm proud of 'rora. I love her so much - we... I'm so glad you were able to post us together on the same ship."

"Don't thank me, thank Dashii - it was her fault, remember."

"That's right," Bianca said with a laugh. "There's one other thing I wanted to say. You've known Aurora for almost... five, six years now?"

"Something like that."

"And we talk all the time - as you know."

"As you should," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Reminds me I should call Dashii sometime."

"Well... I've never heard her describe you in anything less than perfect terms. 'rora... sometimes she tends to go all fan-girly about things for no good reason, like that time she discovered raktajino - that was a rough couple weeks for both of us because that girl does not need raktajino."

"I think I remember that. She was like a Capellan power-cat prowling the engine deck."

"Yeah, it was bad." Bianca puffed her cheeks and rolled her eyes. "But anyway - like I was saying, she has always been a huge admirer. At first, when I came aboard, I thought maybe she was exaggerating. But now I kind of think her descriptions of you were an understatement."

This made Tw'eak blush - she swallowed hard. "I appreciate that."

"No, really. Some day - I mean, if I ever get that old - but some day people are going to talk about you the way they talk about Admiral Janeway, or Ambassador Picard, and I'm going to get to tell them about the time I spent serving with you."

"I hope you're right," Tw'eak replied. "Not about the legend stuff - rather, both those legends you named are still alive. I'd like to do my duty and go home afterwards." Tw'eak's eyebrows lowered slightly, her tone much more serious. "Wherever that turns out to be."

Bianca stood up. "Anyway, I don't want to take up too much of your time - I know you have to talk to the Remans and everything."

"If you want my advice, Commander..."

"You know you can call me Bianca, right? I mean, sometimes you call Aurora by her first name - I don't want you to think you can't do the same with me."

Tw'eak nodded, suddenly self-aware. "Alright. I wasn't doing that on purpose or anything, just... habit."

Tw'eak's comment seemed to have only heightened Bianca's level of self-awareness in turn. "It's not like it bothered me or anything, I just... anyway, what were you saying?"

"Right. I don't really know what to tell you about the break-up. I mean, I've never really had a lengthy relationship before. The ones I have had tended to be like photon torpedoes - they go right the way you want them to, until they explode."

Bianca laughed. "That's... well said."

"I think you're best to talk to the counselor about it. And I think you're best to have your sister do the same, as she needs it. When you're ready, you can tell her you're single again."

"That's probably safest."

Tw'eak gave a little smile. "And next time we're on Earth Spacedock, you can all have fun at Club 47 - girls' night."

Bianca shrugged. "I don't know if I'm up for that. I mean, I never really wanted to have to be in this position. Anything that happened would be, y'know, 'on the rebound', so to speak."

"Maybe. Still, between you, your sister, Octavia, maybe even Spera... it'd be a heck of a night out."

"You wouldn't be up for coming along?"

Tw'eak squinted at a spot on the far wall, her half-smile still on her face. "Depends on whether or not the guy I've been seeing is in port."

"I didn't realize you already had someone-" Bianca raised both hands to her mouth. "Oh, God, I'm sorry, that sounded so insensitive."

"I know what you meant. But my relationship with - with Spera's father was already well over before his death. As you well remember."

"I'm sorry I do. He was so wrong about you."

"I know. So I had already told myself I deserved better. And it happened that I found better."

"I'm very happy for you. That's wonderful to hear."

Tw'eak stood up and moved around the desk, leaning against it. "It's not exactly public knowledge - he's in Starfleet, and so am I, so there are questions of rank, of timing, of how serious we are about each other."

"I can't imagine you not being serious."

Tw'eak smiled, tilting her head to one side for a moment. "You didn't know me as a young lieutenant, then." She chuckled. "Still, at this point, yes. Whatever our hearts feel for each other, our responsibilities have to come first. At least until the Iconians get here. Then we'll see what happens after the end of the world."

Bianca nodded. "I like the sound of that."

"Hopefully he does, too."

"Can I ask... I promise I won't tell Aurora, but-"

"Of course you'll tell Aurora." Tw'eak shook her head. "That's why I'm not telling you."

Bianca's head lowered in faux-shame. "You're right. Okay, fine."

Tw'eak patted Bianca on the shoulder. "You know, some day I might look back and tell people that I served with the both of you, and proudly reminisce about all those adventures we had."

Bianca scoffed. "I don't really think that's going to happen anytime soon, Admiral."

"Who said anything about soon? You're both more than capable of writing your own legends in Starfleet." Tw'eak smiled at Bianca. "I envy you. You're at the right end of your career to find your own path, find your best destiny."

"You - you really think I could make it in command? Or that Aurora could?"

"Anyone can. We each have our own gifts, and our own needs. The more you can look after - not just your sister, but your department, and yeah, maybe someday a ship or even a fleet of your own - but the more of that you can handle looking after, the more you should aspire to do exactly that. I've said it before, it's not enough to merely treat Starfleet as a job, a career, a self-directed thing. It has to be about the people you serve with as well. If I didn't believe that, well... we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Bianca smiled. "Thank you for this, by the way."

"Octavia's door is always open. Sometimes I'm in here instead."

"Right. I'm going to go back over those Iconian artifacts one more time, just to be sure - I should've mentioned that before."

"Okay. And tell Aurora she can always come to me, just to talk, same as you. Always."

"I will. Thank you." Bianca turned and went out the door, then turned just before it closed. "I really appreciated your time."

Tw'eak nodded. "Any time. I mean that." With that, Bianca turned and was gone. Along the way, just as the door closed, Tw'eak saw Bianca's head turn to make eye contact with someone passing by. This person was revealed to be Octavia who, moments later, appeared in the same doorway.

"Admiral. I apologize if I am intruding, however, I am afraid that my opportunities to regenerate have been few of late."

"It's your office. I can contact Obisek from the observation lounge if you'd rather."

"Not at all. While I am unaccustomed to having another present while regenerating, I would not find it to be intolerable."

"Of course not - you'd be unconscious." Tw'eak pointed beyond Octavia, towards the bridge. "That chair of yours out there, with the Borg components... it doesn't work one hundred percent?"

"It serves the same purpose as a cup of coffee might for a human crew member - the partial regeneration allows me to maintain a presence on-shift for a longer period of time than normal."

"How much longer?"

"Fifteen to eighteen hours, if uninterrupted."

Tw'eak was astonished. "And how long have you been on duty without regenerating - in here, I mean?"

"Eighty-six hours and thirty-eight minutes."

Tw'eak's eyebrows went up, her antennae out wide. "Octavia, that's... far beyond what Starfleet regulations would suggest as normal - even for you."

"Nevertheless, if I am so capable, at ninety-eight percent efficiency, for that duration, it is of greater inherent value than shift changes of junior officers whose decisions would depend upon interrupting my regeneration for guidance regardless."

"Maybe so, but you have to have some downtime built into your schedule."

"Given that I can monitor my nano-probes in the arboretum remotely, my 'downtime', as you call it, has already been built into my schedule."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Not what I mean. Getting off the bridge - a holo-novel, maybe even a chance to exercise or-"

"Such things are not strictly within my hierarchy of needs." Octavia's tone seemed apologetic. "I did not expect you to be disappointed with my efforts in this regard."

"I'm not disappointed - I'm impressed, don't get me wrong. But you were trying out new things before - jokes, for instance. Romance. Other things. Maybe it'd be helpful to get back to those things again."

"Perhaps." Octavia tilted her head. "Given the essential nature of the task force's mission, I did not feel it appropriate-"

"Octavia." Tw'eak took a step towards her friend, taking her hand. "Listen to me. If we devote all of our energies towards the Iconians, if we... if we lose touch with the things that make us who we are, even remote sensing and nano-probing... then they've already won."

Octavia took a moment to process before replying, merely staring at Tw'eak. She eventually said, "I do not understand how to be any other way but that which I currently am. I have optimized my efficiency across all available platforms of interaction."

"But are you happy?"

Once again, Octavia hesitated. An eyebrow rose, then fell. "I believe that I am, however, I have discovered that self-appraisal of 'happiness' can be deceptive - those who consider themselves 'happy' find they are not, and vice-versa, with alarming frequency."

"Well, that's true, but..." Tw'eak raised her hands. "Listen, for what it's worth, I would be far happier to know you were continuing your exploration of your own humanity. I realize you can't deny your identity, as Borg, but just don't lose sight of the fact that there is a whole other side to you."

Octavia nodded, moving past Tw'eak towards the alcove. "I will endeavour to do so. However, at present, I require the opportunity to regenerate for several hours."

"I won't wake you unless you're absolutely needed."

This made Octavia stop and turn in surprise. "The term 'waking' is not exact."

"It came to mind. So did the thought that I should wish you pleasant dreams."

"Again, the analogy is imprecise. Nevertheless, the sentiment... is appreciated."

Tw'eak smiled and nodded. "See you in a bit." She turned and left the ready room, the sound of Octavia's alcove becoming active in its regeneration cycle reaching her ears moments before the sound of the doors sweeping shut.


	83. Part V, Chapter 16

The phrase 'the door is always open' was one Tw'eak had always found to be a profound contradiction aboard a starship. After all, too many potential hazards were present - explosive spatial decompression, fire, various other emanations and radiations and, of course, armed intruders were only some reasons why that phrase had to be false. Simply put, there was no way the door could always be open. There was also the fact that the door itself had a chime and a mechanism which closed it automatically. So while, in the literal sense, that door wasn't always open, it was in the realm of its other meaning where that phrase proved most apt. The door itself was not as important as what lay beyond it. In this case, for Tw'eak, it was something she had not given herself permission to seek from anyone: emotional support.

She struggled, in hindsight, to understand precisely why she had drifted down this particular corridor. There was no particular reason for her to be on Deck Four. She seemed to surprise at least a couple of ensigns whom she spotted, and who recognized her, along the way. Yet by far the most startled younger officer she encountered was the half-Betazoid half-Vulcan officer whose counseling suite she arrived in unannounced.

Answering the door chime was a youthful-looking lieutenant commander, whom Tw'eak estimated at first glance to be in her early thirties, with lengthy, bouncy light-brown hair, a soft, rounded facial structure and a pair of bright, delicate eyes. She stood about Tw'eak's height, though far more curvy in her build - or perhaps it was simply that her hair's curls suggested a curvy build - and Tw'eak noted a padd in her hand. Immediately at the counselor's appearance, Tw'eak could sense the feedback of a telepathic presence with her antennae - though what, precisely, Prin Derret was sensing was beyond Tw'eak's perception.

"Admiral!" Derret said with surprise. "It's - hello. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You're Commander Derret?"

"Counselor Derret, please. I only use rank if I have no other alternative. Welcome to my office." Derret retreated a couple steps. "Please come in."

Tw'eak waited until the door closed behind her before she sat down. "I'm sorry to drop by unexpectedly."

"No need to apologize - you're in luck, actually. My fourteen-hundred cancelled and my fifteen-hundred had to re-schedule to nineteen-hundred. I would've bumped them around anyway if I'd known you were coming by." Derret placed the padd on an adjacent end table and sat in a chair facing Tw'eak. "This is an unexpected privilege."

"Thank you." Tw'eak shifted a bit in her chair. "How's everything down here?"

"How do you mean that question?" Derret corrected herself with a smile, and as she brushed her hair from her eyes, Tw'eak caught the first glimpse of a pointed ear, a clear sign of Derret's Vulcan heritage. She corrected herself. "I'm sorry, that sounds like something a ship's counselor would ask, doesn't it."

"It's alright, I... I'm accustomed to those methods from experience."

"Really. So you've done this before. That helps. I hadn't yet reviewed your personnel file - I only do once it's necessary. But honestly, I'm something of an admirer of yours."

"Oh." Tw'eak's suspicions rose. "Really."

"Yes - I do that, I'm a bit dependent on my feed from the Federation News Service. Lower decks and all." Derret nodded towards the padd she had lain aside at Tw'eak's entry. "Sadly quiet today, though. I hate slow news days." Tw'eak couldn't help but perceive Derret's tone as flippant, which, with Derret's telepathic skill, she seemed to sense instantly, and in response, added, "I should explain - I'm just happy to know there's a greater world out there. When you spend all day helping others, things can get a little microscopic in scale. It's nice to lose yourself in a wider, shall we say, ordered galaxy... if that's even a thing."

Unconvinced by this explanation, Tw'eak resisted the urge to arch an eyebrow. "I can imagine."

Derret held out a hand, indicating Tw'eak. "But that's how I came to be acquainted with you. When I was assigned to be senior counselor for this task force, I already knew your name from your work aboard... Bonaventure, was it not?"

Tw'eak smiled, appreciative. "Yeah, that was me."

"Yes, good, I'm glad I got it right." Derret's smile, already warm and inviting, seemed to somehow have its wattage doubled slightly. It was something that Tw'eak was sure was a trick of counseling, and if she was honest with herself, she found it both immeasurably attractive and disconcertingly effective at disarming her. Perhaps it was a telepathic trick, or perhaps simply a professional one on Derret's part, but whatever guard Tw'eak had put in place to maintain her reserve was being slowly eroded by the counselor's seeming sincerity. "But yes, I feel all settled in now. This is really quite a task force! Where I can, I keep appointments with any number of crew members across all nine of our starships - not that I would discuss anyone other than you, of course, unless you came with a particular inquiry."

"I don't." Tw'eak had little interest in the counseling histories of her various officers - whether that was just the duBois sisters or others aboard, it was neither her place to ask, nor particularly of interest. "I was sort of wondering, actually... how do you recommend that we deal with all this?"

Derret's grin faded slightly into a confused look. "That's an interesting bit of wondering you're doing. Can I just - how we... deal... with all this. We meaning... you? Your command staff?"

"Sure. Maybe just myself. I don't know."

"And how you - meaning, you - deal with... this. What would that be?"

Tw'eak took a deep breath. "Where would you like me to begin?" she asked, only half-sarcastically.

"I don't know. You tell me." Derret raised a hand. "Or you could not tell me. You're not obligated to tell me anything - I always like to point that out ahead of time. This isn't an interrogation."

"No, I realize that."

"Good. Sometimes, people get nervous and think I'm sifting through their thoughts looking for their problems. It's against regulations, but if you'd like me to help telepathically, please ask and -"

"Not a chance," Tw'eak stated bluntly. She cleared her throat. "Sorry."

"That's alright."

"Since you're not familiar with my record, let me explain - how to put this..."

"You were attacked telepathically by an Undine, were you not?"

Tw'eak leaned in, disbelieving. "You just told me you hadn't reviewed my record."

"That doesn't mean I'm wholly unfamiliar with you. You'll have to forgive me for that... there are things I know from other people, other conversations I can recall having - some of them, about you." She glanced about. "Is the First with you? I don't sense anyone else here."

Tw'eak's disbelief turned into outright astonishment. "Pal? He's not. I don't think - I mean, you'd know better than I would. Pal?" Tw'eak waited a moment. "He's usually good about giving me a little privacy when I need it."

"Only a little?"

Tw'eak sighed. "I know you're just doing your job, but no, he's very good about privacy."

"That might be a good place for us to start, actually - your job, I mean, this task force. How long have you been in command of that?"

"Eight months. Maybe nine."

"And you like it?"

Tw'eak's face took on a thin smile. "Nothing else I'd rather be doing."

"That's an interesting way to put it. Still, it's quite a mission we have for ourselves. There's a lot of talk from people I see about the Iconians, their Heralds, the Elachi and Solanae..."

"They should be on people's minds. They're our primary focus."

"Which of those, do you think?"

"They're all in it together. It'd be like strictly focusing on the Gorn back when we were at war with the Klingons."

"And so soon, for you, to shift from that focus - defense - to this mission, which I understand to be more of an intelligence-gathering operation. It must be quite stressful to handle that sort of focus."

"You could say that, yes."

"And this is your... second task force? Let's be honest, it could be your hundredth - task force management of any scale is a massive commitment. I can well understand the difficulties must be... immense when your mission is also such a challenge, seeking intelligence about a potential enemy about whom we know so little."

"We know enough... some of what we know about them is from the past, and some of it is from the future. None of it is particularly good news."

"You - that's right, you have a daughter from an alternate timeline." Derret looked around for a padd. "Her name came up in a previous appointment - Spera?"

"Yes, that's her." Tw'eak pictured Spera's face as she had appeared on the subspace comm link - then pushed it aside, sensitive to Derret's telepathic senses.

"She's... not currently aboard."

"No." Tw'eak silently cursed her mind for betraying sensitive information. "She's working with - a task force in the Delta Quadrant." Tw'eak recognized mid-sentence that Derret's security clearance level may not be sufficient to discuss the starship Voyager's mission there, Spera's role in that mission, or what they had uncovered.

"Under Admiral Tuvok."

"I - I'm not sure if I should answer that."

Derret smiled broadly again. "You know Captain T'uni of Starfleet Intelligence better than I do. She personally cleared me for this position."

Tw'eak nodded. "So you're clear - classification-wise - for discussion."

"Oh, yes. You don't think she would let a telepath aboard if I wasn't, would you?" Derret chuckled softly. "I was going to say as much at first, and I apologize for not making that clear from the start."

"No, it's alright. I shouldn't take up any more of your time." Suddenly uncomfortable - especially with Derret's overt familiarity with T'uni - Tw'eak began to pull herself out of the chair she was in, but was halted by Derret's next inquiry.

"I would really be interested to know how you coped with that."

"With what?"

"Spera. Most other parents have the gestation period to adapt - and even then, it's a baby they're adapting to having around. My understanding is that she simply came back through time via the Bajoran wormhole. That must have been a ...jarring event to adapt your life around."

"You're right. Having Spera in my life... like you said, she came about suddenly. And she had so much information from the future."

"All about these Iconians."

"Yes. But also... about me. My future self had a message for me. It was her death that led Spera to journey to now. There wasn't anything left for her in that timeline except to survive. She hoped she would make a difference by coming back."

"Has she?"

"Oh, yes. There was a point where she didn't think she was, but since then, so much has changed from the timeline she knew - and I like to think it's because of her, yes."

"She has a father, I presume?"

Tw'eak's voice caught in her throat. "Yes." She hastily added, "It's complicated."

Derret offered another warm smile. "I can imagine. How does he feel about her?"

"He doesn't. He's dead." Tw'eak cleared her throat, aware of how maudlin she sounded. The hurt was still there, in speaking of Leo's death, and it surprised her. She forced her mind into a state of focus upon facts, details - anything but feeling. "He was murdered, on Risa, just days before this ship was nearly destroyed by the Borg."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I had no idea."

"It's alright. His death was a tragic loss, especially given the work he was supposed to be doing. And I never really understood at the time, but I realize now, and Spera realizes now, that he was never going to be who we wanted him to be. She knew it before, but I had to learn it - well, the only way I learn anything, the hard way. Spera's arrival changed everything between him and I, but it only accelerated the process. I would've scared him off eventually, I think."

"What makes you say that?"

Tw'eak stared blankly at Derret for a moment. "They all get scared off sooner or later. And if it's not me, having someone always after me tends to be what does it."

"After you - you mean, trying to kill you?"

"All the time." Tw'eak pulled down her collar to reveal the scar from the kut'luch, the serrated blade, which she had taken in the neck. "That was a Klingon assassin's work." She then raised her right arm and pointed at it with her left. "This isn't original, it's bio-synthetic - plasma pulsewave blast at close range." She tapped her forehead. "I had enough of a remnant of the Undine who attacked me in here that it came through in Spera's genes. And then there are the ones Doc could fix up - True Way, KDF, Hirogen, the Borg, the Tal Shiar, and, last but certainly not least, the Orion Syndicate. They've been trying to kill me for years."

"I suppose when one is as capable an officer as you are, it provokes reprisal."

"You could say that. But it was the Syndicate that inadvertently brought Spera into my path."

"How?"

"Leo - that was his name - and I tried to spend time together on Deep Space Nine once. While we were there, the Orions planted a bomb in a replimat to try to get to me, and when that didn't work, they made a full-fledged assault on the Promenade, before we had to leave the station altogether in a cloaked shuttle. I'm actually afraid to go back to Deep Space Nine - I don't think Captain Kurland would let me onto the station again, after what happened last time, and it wasn't even my fault. So we planned to go to the Gamma Quadrant, to lay low for a while... and there was Spera waiting for us at the mouth of the wormhole. Things were never the same after that."

"It's certainly understandable that things changed, but why do you think that was?"

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "Kind of obvious, no?"

"As I said, objectively, I understand - but from your perspective, across your relationship with Leo as a whole, why do you think things were never the same?"

Tw'eak thought for a moment. "We were just different people. We wanted different things. And we had a completely different level of commitment to each other. In the end, I think that was what did it. He saw himself becoming someone he didn't want to, all at once, with Spera in the picture. So he withdrew - in every way possible."

Derret gave a curt nod. "It can be very difficult for children - of any age - to adapt to a change in the relationship they have with their parents. How does your relationship with your parents come through in your relationship with Spera?"

The weight of the question overwhelmed Tw'eak for a moment. "I have no idea." She made a slight huffing sound. "I hope it doesn't."

"Did your parents serve in Starfleet as well?"

"They did. Three of them did. One of them... still does, in her own way. She's semi-retired from the Judge Advocate Corps."

"Yes, that would be Tri Sh'abbas... your shreya - is that the term?"

Chuckling, Tw'eak noted that Derret's seemingly-encyclopedic knowledge of her was pretty accurate for someone who hadn't reviewed her personnel file. It made her wonder why she hadn't just brought up shreya directly. "That's right. Still, I don't have much contact with my family anymore, now that my sister Dashii has gone on leave."

"Why was that?"

"That old-fashioned parenting you mentioned... she's in her gestational period at present. Having a baby."

"Ah," Derret said with a laugh. "Maternity leave."

Tw'eak shook her head slightly. "Not our term - 'parental leave'."

"Right - four genders. Andorians are nearly unique in that regard, you know."

Tw'eak nodded. "Yeah, unique in a lot of regards. Uniquely messed up."

"Would you say that about yourself, or about Andorians in general?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's just a perception I have, because of my sisters or because of my parents or just because, but I feel like being born with these" - here Tw'eak pointed to her antennae - "was the universe's idea of a bad joke. We're so distinctive, as a species, because of our genders and our heritage and our huge walking contradictions that form our so-called 'culture'. It just feels like we're the biggest mess in the Federation."

"It's very common to feel that way about one's own species."

"Is it?" FOOFNAR

"Oh, very much so. I've had humans, Bolians, Rigelians, Trill, even Vulcan patients who have all held that view about their own peoples. And it tends to be a view more strongly held by those whose families raised them on their homeworlds, or in families where their connection to their heritage is stronger than typical. It's something I run into all the time - it's not something I have personally experienced, being a child of two worlds, but it is something I can help to understand from a clinical perspective. Usually the underlying cause isn't shame in the culture, it's the individual's sense of not living up to it in their own way."

Tw'eak intended to reply, but, deflated, she could only hurt. "Oh," she said after a moment.

"I struck a nerve," Derret concluded after a moment.

"Is it - yes, but is it really that common to feel that way?"

"It varies. I've talked to many Andorians over the years - you're a part of a proud people who pride themselves on honour, on defiance of the odds, triumph in the face of certain peril. Your species survived, then thrived, on a world most species would find inhospitable. And now you're soldiers, diplomats, scientists... admirals. It's a lot to have to live up to, I get that."

"It is. I... I'm on very good terms with Va'kel Shon, captain of the Enterprise."

"The first Andorian to captain the Federation's flagship. Kind of cute, too." Derret wiggled her nose and smiled at Tw'eak. "If you don't mind me saying so."

Tw'eak felt a slight twinge of jealousy, which she hastily overwhelmed with factual recollections of the Enterprise-F's various lengths, heights and capabilities. Uncertain as to whether that was effective as a telepathic barrier, and unwilling to entertain a discussion of her feelings for Shon, she went for sarcasm. "If you're into his type."

"Tall, handsome, courageous, Andorian... he'd be perfect for you."

"I suppose. We've known each other a long time." Tw'eak looked away, shifting the topic as she did. "But we've both had to deal with the weight of the expectations of our people - the notion that we've got to be the best because every set of blue antennae from across the galaxy are watching us."

"Do you ever find that to more than you can cope with?"

"Only all the time," Tw'eak quipped. "How do you cope with it?"

"It varies quite a bit for certain people."

"I'm sure it does. I meant in particular - you."

"Me?" Derret pressed a hand to her chest.

"Yeah. You're, like you said, a child of two worlds."

Derret waved dismissively. "Oh, I'm the best there is at what I do."

"You are." Tw'eak was astonished.

"Oh, yes. I'm extremely capable, very effective in this role. I've been doing it for long enough that very little surprises me anymore, and I'm usually able to easily deal with whatever should happen to arise. I inspire the confidence of all that I encounter, and I help people through things they didn't think they'd otherwise be able to achieve."

"It must be nice to be so sure of yourself," Tw'eak replied acidly.

"I don't have to question it - I routinely receive feedback that's overwhelmingly positive, whether it's from technicians and junior officers, or from captains and others of high rank. And I'm always spoken of in only the highest of terms, with utmost respect and dignity."

This was all a bit much for Tw'eak. "How - how can you know that?"

"I'm what the humans would call a 'poster child' for Starfleet's values and principles, the very quintessential definition of what an officer in my role should be. And I fully deserve the trust, respect and admiration of all whom I encounter."

Tw'eak found herself narrowing her eyes. "This... what are you getting at?"

"I think you've figured me out. The person of whom I'm speaking isn't my own self, not at all. I don't think anyone would have a terribly good opinion of me if I rated myself so highly, do you?"

"Probably not." Tw'eak had to admit she had been forming such an opinion of Derret.

"Every time you've come up in conversation - you, Admiral - these are the sorts of things that I hear. What you feel that other Andorians expect from you... you live up to it, and then some. Do you realize how many times you've been cited in this office as the example other officers don't feel they can live up to?"

"Me." If Tw'eak had been astonished before, she was simply flabbergasted by this. "No."

"Oh, yes. I could - if I were permitted - give you specific instances of others who have mentioned you in such glowing terms that can scarcely be believed. But they believe them - and they believe in themselves because of you."

"No. That's not plausible."

"Why not? You're the kind of officer they admire, whom they know won't steer them wrong. A few of them have taken that a little too far, admitting to ...unprofessional levels of attachment. We're working on it."

Tw'eak stood up. "I'm sorry, but I really can't believe any of this."

"Why, because it's positive?" Derret gave Tw'eak another candid look, then raised her hand to the chair. "I run into this all the time - please, let me explain."

Impatiently, Tw'eak sat back down.

"I admit that this is a consensus - there are a couple of grumbling sorts, but they're mostly angry you're the admiral and they're not. It's not about you - although I think, if it were, you would hold tight to that one negative example and dismiss a galaxy's worth of praise."

Begrudgingly, Tw'eak looked down at the carpet. "You're right."

"Exactly. You wouldn't have gotten to where you are today if you made an honest appraisal of your self-worth. For one thing, you would've stopped driving yourself so hard."

"I drive myself as hard as I do because I let people down - all the time."

"Not really, no."

"Yes. That's the truth - not this... this poster-board you think I am."

"Poster child," Derret corrected.

Tw'eak ignored her. "You mentioned the Bonaventure - how many good people died onboard?"

"More would surely have been assimilated if you hadn't been there - not just onboard but across multiple star systems."

Again, Tw'eak spoke without regard for Derret's comments. "The entire engineering department of this ship died, almost to a person, not three months ago."

"So I heard. But we didn't lose the ship."

"I'm not sure that we shouldn't have."

Derret leaned forward. "We didn't, though. Your officers came through. Your leadership made that possible. Again, because they put such faith in you - the same way you don't want to let them down, they wouldn't want to let you down."

Tw'eak sat silently, shaking her head. "It's Starfleet they believe in, not me."

"From their perspective - and I've heard it from many of them - you embody what's best about Starfleet, every day."

"But their duty is to Starfleet."

"And their allegiances are to you, as Starfleet's senior representative. You set them at ease. You call them friends. You're professional, kind and considerate. I had one of them tell me that they would be more comfortable facing a Klingon tribunal than knowing they'd let you down."

"I- how? Who?"

"I can't remember who, exactly. Well, yes, I can, but the point they made counts for more here than their precise identity - and you know it."

Tw'eak could feel herself starting to shake - with anger? with frustration? with a realization that she was right? or that this was an argument she couldn't win? Her emotions started to boil over and she slammed her fist into her hand, as much to regain her composure as to detonate the maelstrom of turmoil within herself. Matter-of-factly, she pointed into her hand for emphasis as she spoke, counting her faults on her fingers. "I don't see how they can feel that way. I'm ...such a mess, inside. I can't keep my relationships in proper order, I can't even try to save the people I care about - I can't risk trying when so much depends upon me - and my only friends are the people who have to call me 'ma'am' out of deference to my rank. One of whom follows me around, invisible, in case someone else tries to kill me today - or tomorrow, because if it's not today, well..." Tw'eak made a sound that was partly laughing and partly sobbing.

Derret waited a moment, then addressed a question to Tw'eak. "So learning that each of your points is false, from the points of view of others, makes you feel... how, exactly?"

Tw'eak knew this was a therapist's trick to get her to lash out or something before coming to a deep reckoning. "I want to show them that they're wrong about me. I'm not who they think I am - they're taken in by the act, by the confidence trick they call 'command'. That's all it is. Whoever they think I am, good for them - and good for me, fooling them like that. I'll be damned before they see me for what I really am."

"Perhaps it's you who is wrong on this one, Admiral. Let's just - one point at a time. Your relationships... you mean romantically?"

"Yes. The last time I saw Leo - he was the man I loved who died on Risa - we had a huge fight in public and he treated me like he was ashamed to have been with me. And he was probably right to be."

"But you still loved him."

"Of course I did. I still would, if I could only..." Tw'eak had a realization. "If only he was who I had hoped he would be. But he wasn't. He was already married to someone else by the time we saw each other again, and then she - anyway, I'd tried to move on, too, in the meantime."

"How did that work out? With this 'someone new', I mean."

Tw'eak was careful not to let herself think too precisely, lest Shon's identity leak telepathically into the conversation. "Not well. Still trying to work it out. It's a little hard to do when we're never in touch. I don't know when it's right to call."

"You should. It can be hard. The level of strain between people in relationships, especially interstellar relationships, can be incredibly difficult to deal with for anyone."

Tw'eak thought of Bianca's recent breakup. "Exactly. But I'm expected to be alone onboard. Command can be a very isolated perspective."

"I don't know that you'd be strictly accurate in that regard."

"If I were part of a bond group it wouldn't matter. But I'm not. I'll never be Whole. So it's not like I care anyway. It never works out anyway. It's always just a matter of time."

"Do you... do you ever find time to express yourself, despite being alone?"

The frankness of this question put Tw'eak in a state of alarm. "You mean sexually."

"Yes." Derret seemed to sense Tw'eak's panic. "I'm sorry, was that too direct a question?"

"Not a subject I'm used to discussing, that's all."

"It's an important part of your overall balance. This is especially true of certain species, of which Andorians are one, for whom the physiological imperatives of sexuality are more pronounced than others."

"So you're telling me I need a boyfriend."

"Or girlfriend, even. Andorians are not exclusively heterosexual, correct?"

"Correct. It's part of being Whole - there are things we're supposed to find attractive about all three of the other genders. Still, I'm a bit unusual in that regard - I've only ever felt attracted to men." Tw'eak thought for a moment, then added, "I should say, those I consider 'male'. Usually."

"I hope you don't think I'm being prurient or anything like that. It's my professional opinion that the balance of all aspects of oneself is vital, in the literal sense of the word. And that includes the occasional release of that tension in order to get things right again. Sometimes a good experience on the holodeck of a more... intimate nature can be the best thing for certain people."

"I hope that's not what you told whoever it was that felt attracted to me."

Derret laughed, shaking her head. "Nobody's writing a holo-novel about 'My Special Night with the Admiral' or anything like that, don't worry."

"That you know of," Tw'eak corrected.

"The use of individuals who exist in the real world as part of holodeck simulations without their explicit consent is strictly forbidden by regulations." Derret gave a slight smile. "I've had to remind people about that regulation on a regular basis every time I make this point. But it's a perfectly valid one."

Tw'eak nodded. "So you're just talking in the generic sense."

"Yes. Oh, of course I am. It's a healthier alternative than keeping it in, is what I'm trying to say. But that's not all there is to life, of course - which brings me back to what you said before. You said you don't have any family of your own. Yet we've already talked about your daughter."

"Beyond her, I meant. I don't think of her as my family - I meant the ones I've known all my life. But you're right, Spera is my only real family - my saving grace, you could say. I still find myself surprised by her sometimes - who she is, what she means to me, what she's doing right now... it all gets to be a bit much, fairly quickly."

"I understand that. But you have other family - your sister, for instance."

"Dashii? She and I weren't very close growing up, and when she was at the Academy, she left to run off with a freighter pilot with whom she'd fallen in love. I took a week's leave to track her down and sort her out. Just last year, I had to rescue her again. It almost cost me my career at court-martial. But, now she's going to be a mom and I'm... I'm happy for her. We kept in touch mostly because there was no one else to call. Now that she has her bond group, and they're expecting... they don't want me bothering them, I don't think."

"Do you have other siblings?"

"I had four brothers and another sister. There were seven of us in total. All of my brothers were lost in the war, as were two of my parents, my thavan and my zhavey." Tw'eak shrugged. "None of us were all that close to one another. We knew each other too well, I suppose - we weren't comfortable with each other anymore after a while because we all wanted to be something else, something greater."

"Do you think they would be proud of you, if they were still alive?"

"My parents? My zhavey surely would be, but she wanted the command track her whole life. My thavan was disappointed I hadn't gone into the Marines, but other than that, I think he would be. I know my charan probably is, although I haven't gotten in contact with him in... years."

"Why is that?"

Tw'eak lowered her head. "It's actually a stupid reason, not one I usually discuss with anyone. My sister, Sassil, is shan-female like I am. She was always his favourite. She served in Starfleet for a while, and she could've joined a bond group, but refused. Felt it was beneath her to be a part of the present-day Andoria - she honestly feels that being part of the Federation watered down Andorian culture, that there's nothing to be proud of there anymore."

"Oh, she's wrong. But then, I'm a true believer in the idea that the Federation makes everything stronger for being a part of it."

"I used to believe that," Tw'eak said, thinking of Section 31, among other things. "But Sassil never did. We thought she was dead, and he took it really hard. The grief was difficult for him. I don't think either Dashii or I have spoken to him in years. He doesn't answer when either of us contact him."

"I see. That must be hard for you both."

"All the more now that we've found out that Sassil's alive. Has been all along - she worked her way out of a Klingon prison camp and now she commands a battlecruiser of theirs."

Derret made a surprised noise. "How did she manage that?"

"I don't know. We didn't really have time to get into specifics. But I haven't had the chance to get in touch with her, or even come to terms with her... not being dead. Too much else has been going on."

"With the Iconians."

"Yeah. I would never ordinarily admit it, but we're just not going to be ready. They could come tomorrow or thirty years from now and we won't be ready."

"I've heard many things - from total defeatist talk to people sharing the sentiment that they could take on the whole Iconian Empire themselves if you were with them."

Tw'eak made a face. "Could you - like, you've gotta stop doing that."

"What?"

"The big reminders of my supposed inspirational leadership."

"Just passing along what I've heard." Derret smiled. "You're genuinely uncomfortable with being that important to anyone else. I understand that."

"Do you."

"Yes. Again, very common for most people in command rank - there's this constant worry that today they might be good enough, but tomorrow they'll falter when more, or even the same, or perhaps even just something different is expected of them." Derret raised a hand towards Tw'eak briefly. "And it's like you said before - if it's not coming today, it'll be coming at the tomorrow. Like they're trusting their luck instead of relying upon their experience."

"Isn't that all it is, really, though? Just a matter of random chance working in our favour this time - next time we might not be so lucky."

"When one works as hard as you have, the odds are always favourable. Just having you facing the dealer means the deck is stacked in your favour."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes slightly. "Is that another of those phrases you've heard about me?"

"Only from myself," Derret said with another of her comforting smiles. "You really are a phenomenal officer, Admiral. The only person I've ever met who disagrees... is you."

"But there's good reason why I disagree. The task before us is... unprecedented. Immense."

"You said before that you can't picture yourself doing anything else."

"That's because I don't know that I can trust anyone else to do the job the way I can. Besides, me doing anything else between now and when the Iconians arrive is time wasted - time we don't have."

Derret shook her head. "I disagree. If the Iconians arrive tomorrow and you're still in command, already at your maximum stress threshold and unable to take anymore, then they'll win. And they'll win because you won't be able to stop them. Fighting them at the same time you're fighting your own fears and doubts-"

"They'd be there anyway."

"But would those fears and doubts be as pronounced as they are now?"

"So what do you suggest - a leave of absence?"

"I didn't say that." Derret adjusted herself in her chair. "But if you want, one could certainly be arranged."

Tw'eak realized the conclusion she had jumped to had suddenly become a course of action. "No, that won't be necessary."

"A little time away might be helpful."

"Time we don't have," Tw'eak repeated.

"Time you surely won't have once they arrive - and you seem certain they will."

"But I can't leave. We just need to keep going at this."

Derret took a deep breath. "Again, Admiral, I disagree. There is a huge difference between taking a period of leave, and leaving altogether. You're not abandoning your post."

"How can you - ? Of course I would be! We're talking about the future of the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Republic, all hanging in the balance here, in jeopardy."

"Do you remember what I said earlier, about my interest in the news? In the bigger cycle of things?"

"Yes."

"There's a good reason for me to follow it all as obsessively as I do. And I do, to be sure." Derret reached for a padd. "Before you came in, I was just reading an interview with the Federation President. He was reassuring in his words, about the threat of the Undine, how Earth Spacedock is better than ever after the repairs, about the threat posed by the Iconians being nothing we can't handle if we handle it together." Derret tossed the padd onto an adjacent, empty chair. "I don't just read the news, Admiral - I read behind it. Whatever they're saying, I seek to know more. I know enough about the psychology of most species to realize that these news pieces are always written with a purpose, a meaning beyond the message. The fact that they brought Aennik Okeg in to say these things tells me, logically, that this is what I am meant to believe - as he does, so should I. Our president, right or wrong. It's what the words are supposed to make me feel. I'm in love with the way they word things in the Federation News Service. Every subject is so important, every phrasing sublime in how they explain the details, present the official story. But what I learn is that the subject and the details are insignificant distractions, the phrasing is intended to be persuasive, and the actual story is completely other than the official one I've just read - how much at variance simply remains to be seen."

"You don't believe what they tell you?"

"Oh, facts, figures, that sort of thing, yes - but I don't read for that information. I want to know what they want me to believe. I deal all day with people who work for Starfleet and live their lives in an immense, carefully-constructed fiction, of order, of decency, of propriety. But I know that the reality they inhabit is far less structured - and the dividing line between that fiction and reality is a delicate one, almost flimsy." Derret leaned forward slightly. "I fear for the future of the Federation just as you do. I feared for it when the Dominion were our enemies, as a child. I feared for it when the Romulans lost their homeworld. I feared it during the war, each time there's been another Borg incursion, and I feared for it when the Undine made their attack on Earth and Qo'noS. But I've learned to temper my fear with hope."

Tw'eak thought of Spera - Esperanza, as her name was in full. "Hope."

"Yes, hope. I know, in your daughter's future, that we lost everything. And yet, she lived. You lived. Others lived. It wasn't comfortable. It wasn't glamourous, or glorious. But it was a continued existence. Life carried on. And wherever those survivors went, they brought with them just the people the Federation had brought them into being - for good or for ill. And where they went, so too did the Federation. Perhaps only a united federation of freighters, not planets, but the Federation endured. It will endure in our time as well. I'm certain of that."

"But how does this hope have anything to do with me?"

Derret leaned back in her chair again. "I was hoping you'd ask me that. No pun intended."

"So tell me."

"To many people on this ship, in this task force, their fictions within this reality are dependent upon their faith in the power of the Federation, of Starfleet, of their little roles within the greater whole and the meaning they gain from their purpose - like an isolinear chip within the starship, one might say. But most of them are scared. They may not realize it, may not want to admit it, but there is fear creeping into their fiction. There is a threat not just to their role, their meaning, their lives, but to their whole civilization, their whole way of life. They may not survive, individually - many of them tell me they would sooner die in sacrifices, again, for that meaning, than let the Federation fall. And I tell them, all of them - because I am, as I said, a true believer in the power of the Federation - that so long as we survive, within us, because of us... the Federation is us. Thus, the Federation survives."

"That's a powerful belief."

Derret tilted her head from side to side. "On the contrary, it is a most logical one. My point, though, is that hope can keep that fear at bay. And your role, which has two parts, is essential to that hope."

"Two roles," Tw'eak repeated.

"Indeed. There's the part you're comfortable with - the command role, the crisis management, working with your people, standing against the darkness. Your experience has turned this into force of habit, almost. You're an excellent officer, unreflectively, almost by default. Then there's the other part - which I don't think you're as comfortable with."

"And what is that?"

"Symbolism."

Tw'eak furrowed her brow. "Symbolism?"

"Remember what I said about meaning. The necessary fictions of service and the need for hopeful meaning. The entire task force derives that from you. Personally. You're a symbol of that hope, you're the one they trust to get them through this. You're the reason some of them are convinced we'll win."

"That's just fiction though. You said it yourself."

"Is it? Is it any less powerful for being true in their minds, despite it being fiction? How many people have to believe it before it becomes powerful enough in its truth? Ten? A hundred? Billions?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "But I can't possibly justify that level of faith being placed in me. You're talking about me like - like some kind of deity."

"Given your broad discretion - within regulations, of course - you may as well be."

"But I'm sure I'm right. Our first point of contact with the Iconians will destroy all of that faith they're placing in me."

Derret nodded, her most disarming smile firmly in place. "And I'm sure you're wrong." She shrugged. "We'll have to agree to disagree, I suppose. Sooner or later, we'll see who's right."

Tw'eak pointed to her left, at the imaginary past. "What you said before, about taking leave... you really recommend that?"

"I only ever recommend that the people I speak to do what's best for themselves."

"Self-determination..." Tw'eak smiled and nodded. "You really are a true believer, aren't you?"

"I like to use a sort of Prime Directive of my own in this office, yes."

"And you think that'd mean I should take some time off."

"No, you do. Remember that, as part of our conversation, you were the one who made that connection."

"That doesn't make it the right answer."

"No, but it does make it an option. The question is simply how comfortable you are with making that option a reality."

Tw'eak clenched her jaw. "But in your professional opinion, is it ...I don't know, is it a good idea?"

"If you believe it is." This led Tw'eak to make a frustrated noise, so Derret clarified. "Ultimately, only you can know for certain."

"Quit mincing words with me - is it my best option?"

"When was the last time you took a period of leave?"

"Voluntarily? For my own self?" Tw'eak asked. Derret nodded. "It's been a couple of years. No, probably longer. My most recent trip to Risa was more to help Dashii, and Spera, and before that, any other time I've been on leave, I was either between commands or relieved of duty - or medical leave."

"If I had to guess, I would imagine that your last leave probably took place some time before you took command of Bonaventure?"

"Before that - I think I was still serving on the Nelson, actually. That's right, it was. I think I went to Risa. Off-season. Kind of pointless. Lonely."

Derret looked down, smiling. "So we won't have you take leave on Risa, then."

"But the Iconians - this could all begin, they could arrive at any moment."

"Certainly they could. In which case, your leave would be over anyway. Any crisis which required your immediate attention would mean the end of your leave no matter what your role."

"But where would I go? What would I even do? Who would command the task force in the meantime?"

"It doesn't have to be a holiday. And the task force would still be under your command regardless. You could simply shift to lighter duties - have them report to you but otherwise let you be."

"That's not going to be necessary."

"You keep saying that - but remember that these officers of yours are very competent, and they know what you expect of them. Things could run smoothly along for weeks so long as no crisis unfolded - and if it did, they'd consult with you regardless if they needed you."

Tw'eak shook her head. "No. It'd... it'd feel like I was hiding."

"Then arrange to go somewhere. Perhaps you could make plans with that special someone of yours, matching leave time."

This idea struck Tw'eak as being a desire worth pursuing. "That... doesn't sound so bad, actually."

Derret smiled - as ever, fondly, setting Tw'eak at ease. "I'm really glad you came by to see me today, Admiral. I'm quite relieved, actually, since I feel like I was able to help."

"You did. I appreciate it. It's... been a while since I did this."

"As with most things we tend to put off, it's always a good idea not to leave so long a time before doing them again. My door is always open."

Tw'eak stood up, nodding towards Derret as she did. "I don't have to ask about confidentiality or anything like that, do I? You're not obligated to report this conversation?"

"Other than for my personal, sealed records? No. If I did have to report anything discussed, you'd find out I'd reported it before long anyway."

Tw'eak gave her a sharp look of disapproval. "That doesn't sound like regulation."

Derret chuckled. "No. But for a minute there-"

The ship catapulted suddenly beneath Tw'eak's feet, causing her to shift sharply into the bulkhead. Derret fell forwards onto the floor.

"All senior officers to the bridge." Tw'eak heard Oulius' voice announce as the red alert warning sounded, recognizing by the subtle shift of the inertial dampening field around her that the ship had fallen out of warp.

Tw'eak helped Derret to her feet. "I know my faults, Counselor - ingratitude isn't one of them. Thank you. We'll talk again soon."

"I am glad to have had the chance to meet you. It sounds like you're needed elsewhere."

The ship bounded again, less severely this time."Nowhere else I'd rather be," Tw'eak joked.

Derret nodded, smiling and leaning against the bulkhead as Tw'eak turned and left.


	84. Part V, Chapter 17

The shaking deck of the turbolift gave Tw'eak the feeling of being forcibly ejected onto the bridge. As the door opened, she careened through, catching her balance against the frame of the entryway. "Report!" she commanded.

Octavia turned the command chair to face her. "We are under attack."

"But who? from where?" Tw'eak came forward and reached for the tactical station as the ship shook again. "That felt like a disruptor bolt."

"A sort of disruptor - a nanite-saturated disruptor," Subcommander Oulius offered from tactical. "It's hammering our forward shields and some of our systems. I'm compensating."

Tw'eak looked at the targeting profile. "Tal Shiar - this is one of their adapted Borg ships."

"Yes, one of the smaller ones. A destroyer."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Why haven't we returned fire?"

"I sought to hail them for explanation," Octavia replied.

The ship rocked again. "I'd say that's your explanation. Fire at will, Subcommander." Tw'eak looked up to see the bald head of Lieutenant Aewon at the conn. "Evasive maneuvers, pattern echo."

"Echo pattern, aye," came the response from the helm. The antiproton beam banks spoke for themselves, their piercing shriek audible through the decks. Out in space, those beams pounded along the dorsal shield of the destroyer despite its best evasive efforts.

"Torpedoes away," Oulius added.

In the space between the scything wings of the Tal Shiar adapted destroyer and the Avenger-class Warspite came a spread of six quantum torpedoes, all bearing down on the Romulan vessel. A deft maneuver sought to evade them, but the torpedoes refused to part from their trajectory to target. Wounded, the Tal Shiar ship turned about, sharply facing back towards Warspite, as though it had blood in its mouth and sought revenge. A full volley of nanite-disruptor beams tore through the intervening vacuum, narrowly missing the nimble Warspite as it jinked sharply, its engineering section passing just above the beam blast.

Tw'eak looked next to engineering. The console was empty. "Aurora?"

"Main engineering," Bianca duBois replied from the science station. "She actually just left before you arrived."

It made sense, Tw'eak figured quickly. This time, whatever happened in her engine room, she would be a part of - and willingly. Nodding with a bit of a frown, Tw'eak looked to Octavia. "How are the power levels?"

"Steady - very effective. We are maintaining our shields and causing them some damage."

"How did they know how to hit us? We were cloaked, were we not?"

Oulius targeted another volley and fired as he spoke. "They decloaked and opened fire... behind us, while we were still under cloak."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow, then looked to Octavia. "The freighter crew."

Octavia nodded. "Commander, review all sensor data and determine if we are currently producing any signal which can be tracked."

"Working on it," Bianca replied, then almost immediately added, "got it. There's a tetryon-based signal coming from deck... it's in the brig."

"Tell Pal to get down there - and jam that signal in the meantime," Tw'eak said, more to Octavia than Bianca. "Get us off their line of fire - their strongest attack will be on the forward arc."

"Indeed," Oulius replied, affirming what he and every other tactical officer would already know to be true of their adversary.

"Helm, get us behind them - see if we can't get a shot at their engines."

"They're losing shield power faster than we are," Oulius noted.

"Keep hitting them - give them all we've got."

The Warspite's forward arc came about to port, thrusters at full, as the Tal Shiar destroyer curled outwards at an opposite angle, facing its aft section towards the Starfleet vessel. Torpedoes from its aft tubes launched, while the powerful forward double-beam bank of Warspite opened fire, tearing through the aft shield of the vessel - which had been partially depleted in order to boost the forward shield.

"They're hit!" Oulius called out. "The damage is minor, but I got their impulse manifold."

"Their shields are compensating," Octavia observed.

"Helm, get us as close as you can to them. Don't let them get away."

"Closing distance," Aewon replied.

"You think they'll try to run?" Oulius asked as he continued firing on the adversary's aft quarter, depleting its shields as their strength was boosted at the expense of other facings.

"Their one hope was to hit us hard enough while we were cloaked," Tw'eak said. "That ship of theirs can't stand up to what we can dish out - and they either know that already or they're dead."

Warspite pushed forward, coming within range of the desperately evasive Tal Shiar vessel's impulse wake. The ship shuddered slightly as it crossed the path of its emissions, an error Tw'eak was willing to forgive - after all, such a ship's impulse emissions were designed to be nearly untraceable. Now the antiproton beams spoke again, as did the quantum torpedoes - but while the beams found their target with ease, by the time the torpedoes crossed the same space, the adapted destroyer had cloaked and altered course.

"Damn," Tw'eak muttered. She looked over to Oulius. "Cloak us."

"Right." Oulius hastily applied the cloaking device.

"Emergency turn to starboard!" Tw'eak called to the helm. Aewon quickly turned the ship sharply, but no further weapons fire was forthcoming. The Tal Shiar ship remained stubbornly committed to its secrecy. "Good work, everyone. Damage report."

"Their initial volley struck the starboard engine and the stardrive," Octavia noted. "Damage was superficial."

Tw'eak turned to Bianca. "Check those damaged areas with our internal sensors - make sure we're not leaking anything or giving them something else to find."

The turbolift doors opened, admitting Pal to the bridge. The scowl of pure disgust on his face drew Tw'eak's attention, but not so much as the arm he carried in his hand. He threw the bio-synthetic device to the deck, its bloodied shoulder clearly indicating a hasty removal. The sight of it made Bianca gasp as she glanced over to see Pal toss it to the deck.

"Remind me never to anger him," Oulius quipped.

"My sincerest of apologies, Admiral," Pal explained. "I have relieved the duty officer responsible for scanning incoming prisoners, as such a lapse in our security is plainly unacceptable."

"It's alright," Tw'eak said with a smile. "At least you... neutralized the source."

"And then some," Bianca added for good measure.

"I believe it to be so." Pal looked up to Bianca. "I would appreciate the science officer verifying that."

"Oh, um... I'd love to." Bianca's faux-pleasantries seemed to only further infuriate Pal. "I mean, um... where's that - anyone have a tricorder?"

"There is a tricorder at the medical duty station in the alcove," Octavia observed. "However, my initial ocular scan can find no further trace of emission from the tetryon pulse generator located within the device."

Tw'eak looked down at the arm on the floor, and her left hand instinctively came up to hold her right elbow. "Looks familiar."

"I believe it to be very similar to yours in its design," Pal replied grimly. "But I assure you, my obedience to you remains unwavering."

"Well, that's good," Tw'eak replied automatically, before resuming her professional tone. "Good work. Let's put that... somewhere else. Now, then." Pal picked up the arm and took it aft, while Tw'eak, happier not to know where the gruesome remnant lay, turned to Oulius. "We don't usually train for cloaked-vs-cloaked engagements at the Academy. Perhaps you could tell me how we're best to proceed."

"Right - it's very simple. Neither of us can see the other. Neither of us can fire under cloak. So if either of us wants to open fire, we have to make ourselves vulnerable. If they do - even just for a moment - and we can track their movement while they resume cloak, for a moment or two, and hope for a lucky hit on their unshielded hull. Any time we drop our cloak, we run that risk as well."

Octavia came to the helm. "One of the options we have is to fluctuate the cloaking device's effectiveness by modulating its power source."

Oulius shook his head. "We do that and we risk shorting it out altogether. Cloaking devices can be very fickle sometimes. We don't want to lose that option completely."

"But if we remain under cloak, with no shields..." Tw'eak brought her two hands up and spun them around as if in a dogfight. "Neither of us can see the other, and then..." She brought her hands together in a collision.

"That's also an option. They could crash right into us. Then again, they could've warped home by now. It's not likely because we would eventually detect their warp signature in-system."

Tw'eak looked up at Bianca, who was just returning to her post. "The captain was right," she advised. "No further tetryon emissions."

"Any sign of a warp signature or evidence of a warp trail?"

"Let me see..." Bianca gave a few inputs to her science console. "Nothing I can see on passive sensors."

Tw'eak looked back to Oulius. "You said you hit them in the impulse manifold..."

"I did, but if those impulse manifolds are based on our newest models, they'll have a ninety-six percent effectiveness rating in buffering wake emissions."

"In their undamaged state, maybe," Tw'eak said with a smile. "But you said you hit them."

"Yeah, and good." Oulius corrected as he turned to his console. He looked over to Bianca. "Can you find anything?"

"Looking," Bianca said. After a few moments, she shook her head. "Wait a minute - we have to filter the results and take our own emissions out of the picture."

"Right," Oulius replied. He put in a few more commands. "There - got 'em!"

Tw'eak nodded. "Plot their path for the helm. Lieutenant, bring us up right behind them."

Aewon turned away from the conn for a moment. "Ma'am?"

"Admiral, we have them." Oulius' tone betrayed surprise. "To destroy two of these ships in the same day-"

"They're after something," Tw'eak said, tapping a finger to her mouth. "They're after something and I intend to find out what." She nodded to Aewon. "Put us two kilometres astern of them."

"Two kilometres?" Aewon asked.

"Close enough to scare them, but far enough back to avoid their engine wash." Tw'eak shrugged. "Plus if they come to a complete halt, we'll have room enough to avoid them that way."

Aewon nodded, satisfied. "Moving into position."

"We're closing," Oulius observed. Tw'eak watched as the edge of the anomaly - presumably the tailpipe of the Tal Shiar vessel - came closer to the Starfleet chevron which indicated Warspite's position on the tactical map. "We're now within a hundred... fifty..."

"Matching speed," Aewon noted.

"Twenty... ten..." Oulius nodded. "We're in position. They're arcing slightly to starboard - clearly trying to see where we are."

"Then let's show them. Lower cloak."

Oulius looked up at Tw'eak sharply. "And the weapons...?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "Open hailing frequencies once the cloak is down."

"May I remind the Admiral that we would be sacrificing a position of complete tactical supremacy by decloaking without also opening fire?"

"I want to talk to them, not kill them."

Bianca took a step back from her console. "They tried to kill us first, y'know."

"They're Tal Shiar," Oulius added, frustrated. "They're not going to talk unless compelled to do so."

"You can't compel a conversation from the dead, either," Tw'eak said dryly. "Lower the cloak."

From her command chair, Octavia rose. "Admiral, I must protest - for you to order my vessel to decloak without returning fire in such tactical conditions, over the objections of my officers-"

"You yourself tried to speak to them before firing on them."

"The situation has been altered since then. They have shown their intentions are indeed hostile, and I fully expect them to open fire regardless of our intentions. I trust the subcommander to be capable of neutralizing their vessel with an eye towards your intentions as stated, but only if we take the advantage we have presently."

"Exactly," Oulius added. "I knock out their engines, we keep our guns on them, and they might talk. But they're not in the neighbourhood for a friendly chat, that's for sure."

Tw'eak realized that she was outnumbered on all sides. "We're still right behind them?"

"Holding speed, course matching target," Aewon replied.

"They're not seeing us," Bianca added, "and we're right on their elbow."

Tw'eak nodded, looking around the room. "Alright. We'll try it your way, Subcommander. Target their engines and weapons, or as close as you can, and pin them in place."

"I'll need to increase distance to target," Oulius noted. "At this range we can't use torpedoes effectively."

"Beams only," Tw'eak replied. "They tend to work better for pinpoint damage anyway."

"I will aim carefully, then." Oulius leaned down and made a few quick targeting solutions on the forward-facing display on his console. "Ready."

"Go," Tw'eak ordered.

The sudden appearance of Warspite was matched by an equally stunning burst of antiproton beams, which struck home against the Tal Shiar ship, still under cloak, devastating its impulse engines and its overall power levels. The ship slid out of control, yawing slightly as it did.

"Good shot!" Tw'eak shouted. "That did them!"

"Hailing frequencies open," Oulius said, his voice beaming with pride.

"Unidentified vessel, this is Vice Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas of the United Federation of Planets. Identify yourself and your purpose or prepare to be destroyed."

The ship spun about on its course for a moment, now visible on the screen, and after a few moments in which Tw'eak gave Oulius a look of confusion, to be met with one from Oulius in turn, the screen snapped to the visual of a damaged interior, a once-proud command deck with a collapsed bulkhead and a small fire in the background. Undaunted in the command chair sat a face shockingly familiar to Tw'eak - that of the Romulan admiral she had defeated and sent to her doom aboard the other adapted warbird they had faced earlier.

"Subadmiral Salina Koval of the Imperial Romulan Navy." Koval's eyes narrowed. "I can see by your face that you're surprised. That does not bode well for you. I am the twin sister of Nerala Koval. Her warbird was reported overdue several hours ago. I presume you are responsible."

"I don't know what you're talking about. What is the meaning of this attack?"

"Your vessel was traveling under cloak, having assumed possession of the rightful property of the Tal Shiar."

"Oh, is that right." Tw'eak sounded incredulous. "How did that happen."

"We detected a signal emanating from your vessel. That signal was associated with cargo my sister was ordered to take into her possession for transfer to its rightful owners."

"Well, if it means that much to you, then you can have it. I'll have it beamed aboard."

Confusion crossed Koval's features. "You will."

"Oh yes. You can have the associated cargo any time you'd like. Not sure you'd really want it, though. It's... a bit of a mess right now."

"You had no authority whatsoever to assume possession of that cargo."

"Oh, I disagree. But never mind that. Just a moment." Tw'eak nudged Oulius, who muted the channel.

"You aren't serious about letting her have the Iconian artifacts," Oulius whispered.

"Of course I'm not. She says she was tracking her cargo. So let's return them what they were tracking - beam it right onto their bridge."

Oulius looked over at Tw'eak, clearly fighting the urge to laugh. "Alright."

"It's one way to dispose of it. The best way, really."

"You've got that right. Setting co-ordinates for transport... won't take a moment."

Tw'eak heard the noise of the transporter aft. Pal came forward. "Admiral!"

"It's alright, Pal," she replied. "We're just giving her what she asked for."

Tw'eak looked up to see Koval turn in her chair and, unpleasantly surprised, give a vicious look of disgust to her Starfleet counterpart. "What is the meaning of this?"

"You wanted the cargo associated with the signal. Well, now you've got it. There's your transmitter, safely returned."

"Insolent Starfleet-"

"Subcommander, lock all weapons on that vessel."

Koval seethed on the screen. Tw'eak, by comparison, was as cool as an Andorian sunset.

"Now, either you explain to me precisely what the Tal Shiar needs with thie rest of our cargo, or I give permission for my very competent and talented tactical officer here to open fire at will. You've already seen what he can do. He's very well-trained. He's from the Romulan Republic. Maybe you've heard of them. They do good work, as you've seen. And they really don't like the Tal Shiar."

"It's true," Oulius said with a slight flourish, his eyes intent on Koval.

Koval snarled. "I'll never co-operate with you."

"Oh, he was hoping you'd say that." Tw'eak looked over at Oulius. "Weren't you."

Oulius shrugged. "Yeah, a little." His face became hard, his eyes steely. "A lot."

Koval took a deep breath. "You wouldn't dare order the destruction of a helpless vessel."

"Helpless," Tw'eak repeated. "That's cute. Coming from you."

Koval raised her arms, indicating the damage. "We have no resistance to offer."

"Like that's ever stopped you - I saw what you and your kind have wrought. I've been to Virinat, I've seen the inside of an Elachi vessel. I know your handiwork, Subadmiral. And I can assure you that the helpless, the unarmed, the refugee, the desperate - I've seen myself what the Tal Shiar make of them. I've seen what the Elachi make of them, too. I've seen much of your handiwork in my time. But that time is at an end."

Koval's eyes were wide. "And suppose instead we self-destruct?"

"Go ahead. Do the universe a favour."

Frowning, Koval turned away, then looked back to Tw'eak. "You should know. The Imperial Navy is no longer affiliated with the Tal Shiar."

"It makes no difference to me - you two have been hand-in-glove for long enough that the crimes of one stain the other - permanently."

"Perhaps. You are unaware of the conflict between our two forces, then."

"Two Deltans fighting over a comb," Tw'eak said, noting Aewon's turn in surprise from the helm at her use of the expression.

"It was our intention to safeguard the property on that freighter from reaching the Tal Shiar. We had hoped to see it safely delivered to the Imperial Navy for ...more appropriate use."

"Appropriate to who, exactly - Sela?"

The mention of the Empress' name caused Koval to wince. "I am under no obligation to answer your questions."

"That's charming. 'Obligation' - I'm not obligated to let you draw another breath. Explain the purpose of your mission - in detail - or we're done here."

Koval took a deep breath. "Very well. But I would request permission to have myself beamed aboard to discuss the matter in person."

Tw'eak stared hard at the admiral for a moment, offering no response.

"The matter is best brought to your attention alone, and not over an open channel."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "No."

"But Admiral-"

"I have no reason to trust you whatsoever. I certainly won't trust you aboard this vessel."

"A position I well understand. However, under the circumstances, I... can hardly offer hospitable conditions aboard this vessel."

"I've been a guest of your people in the past - in the Nopada system. It was... less than hospitable." Tw'eak took a step away from the tactical console. "I offer you a counter-proposal. Stand down and permit your vessel to be boarded."

"By you? Here? We will destroy you - and this ship, if not yours as well."

"Brave talk." Tw'eak looked to Bianca. "Commander, how many people are still alive over there?"

"Seven hundred and forty-three."

Tw'eak blinked in surprise. "And how long would it take for our transporters to beam each of them into the vacuum of space?"

Bianca's eyes locked onto Tw'eak's. "I... I have no idea."

"You wouldn't dare!" The defiance in Koval's voice was mixed with desperation.

Tw'eak looked down her nose at the Romulan. "I don't care what side of the ugly divide you're on - Romulan Imperial vessels have been known to beam entire freighter crews off in order to seize their cargo without resistance. And as the saying goes, turnabout is fair play."

"Admiral-" Oulius attempted to intervene.

"Hush," she said to him quickly before returning to Koval. "I want unsecured, and immediate, access to your data and all materials you have available - along with safe passage for all Starfleet personnel - guaranteed before I so much as consider giving you back another minute's worth of life."

Koval hesitated, looking around.

"Seven hundred trained officers..." Tw'eak made a whistling noise. "All dead - plus how many aboard the vessel your sister was aboard? Those would be grievous losses for an Imperial Navy that's no doubt already short-staffed enough to press Tal Shiar vessels into its service."

Koval shook her head. "You're making a big mistake."

Tw'eak merely smiled. "Is that a 'yes'?"

Koval looked around. "Clear the command deck." There was a murmur of discontent. "You heard me! Clear this deck - NOW!" In the background, several Romulans, at least one of them wounded and leaning for support on another, shuffled towards the exit. "I agree to your terms."

"Good." Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "We'll be over in five minutes. But I warn you - again - that if I get so much as a suggestion of defiance, your lives are forfeit. All of us."

Koval merely nodded and wordlessly ended the communication.

"This is nuts," Bianca muttered.

"You said it," Oulius affirmed. "Admiral, I cannot disagree strongly enough with this course of action."

"Absolutely," Bianca added.

"I agree," Octavia continued. "We have no reason to be assured of their goodwill."

Tw'eak looked at Oulius. "You're coming with us."

"Me?" Oulius' face fell. "What the hell for?"

"I need someone who can read Romulan."

"The screens are translatable." Oulius stood firm.

"You know what I mean - you've been in boarding actions on Tal Shiar ships before, haven't you?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"And you know how their encryption and overall settings work."

"I do."

"Then join the party." Tw'eak turned to face Pal. "I don't need to ask if you're in."

"That is correct," Pal said, his eyes on the distant, burning vessel.

Tw'eak looked over at Bianca. "Ask the ship's counselor to join us in the transporter room - and have Lieutenant Lini join us there as well."

"Admiral," Octavia objected. "I do not believe that Counselor Derret is rated for ground operations. Our ship's intelligence officer, however, is."

"No - I need someone who can read minds - not just a telepath, but psychology. Either she grabs a phaser and joins us or you name me an alternative."

Octavia tilted her head. "There are multiple telepathic crew members aboard, however, none would be as capable with regards to psychology."

"I want a security detail - your best people," Tw'eak said to Pal.

"We will go in first," he said as he went towards the turbolift.

"No, that won't be necessary."

Pal turned sharply. "In permitting this, you will be giving us an opportunity to account for our earlier failings."

"Which also won't be necessary."

"I must insist." Pal's voice was strident, his face anguished.

Tw'eak watched him for a moment. "Alright. Go, secure their command deck. Don't break anything. We'll be over in a minute.."

"Thank you." Pal closed his eyes in relief, then turned and went to the turbolift. Tw'eak and Oulius followed him in.

"Transporter room," Tw'eak ordered. The doors swept shut, and on the bridge, Lieutenant dos Santos moved into position at tactical.

Bianca stepped forward to stand at Octavia's side. "I hope she knows what she's doing," she said.

"You may rest assured that she does," Octavia said, her tone unconvincing, her eye full of concern and intently gazing upon the Tal Shiar vessel.

* * *

The interior of the transporter room was full of the noise of Pal's team beaming out as Tw'eak walked in. They had spotted Lieutenant Lini in the corridor, fresh from the armoury with a pulsewave at the ready, carrying personal shield units for Tw'eak and Oulius. They had taken the moment to update the young tactical officer on the situation.

"So we're not going to kill them," Lini said.

"Not without cause," Tw'eak replied. "This isn't a boarding action. Well, it is, but there's valuable intel over there, and we're best to try to co-operate first."

"If we're allowed to get that close - the crew could purge the core before we get access."

"Not likely," Oulius countered. "Not on this ship. It's all keyed to the person in charge. The Tal Shiar know better than to give just anyone access to the memory banks."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Lini said. "They would have some sort of technician who can flash that core with an EMP or even just blow it up altogether with explosives.

"We'll just have to hope they're a few minutes slower than we are in gaining full access," Tw'eak said. "Once we have the contents, they can do whatever they want to the core."

Oulius patted his tricorder. "I should be able to buffer all the useful information via direct connection - shouldn't take long to transfer their entire core that way, if we have to."

"You work that quickly? I'm impressed."

"Practice makes perfect," Oulius said with a smile. "Disabling Tal Shiar vessels for intel was a mission I undertook for the Republic on a few occasions. They were, let's just say, less accommodating at the time than they've been so far today."

Tw'eak was still nodding appreciatively when the transporter room door opened, admitting Counselor Prin Derret. She stepped inside tentatively. "Is... this where you'd like me to be, Admiral?"

Lini moved to the adjacent weapons locker. "You'll need one of these." She produced a hand phaser and a personal shield belt with holster.

"It's mostly just for appearance's sake," Tw'eak demurred.

Derret's eyes were full of shocked anxiety. "This is... more than I trained for."

"I'm about to have an important conversation with a member of the Romulan Star Empire. I need to be sure I'm getting the whole truth."

"For me to read their minds without their consent would be a grievous breach of ethics."

"Good thing I'm not asking you to," Tw'eak said with a smile. "I just need you there to watch her face, her body language, anything that gives you an impression that I can use to level the playing field."

Derret nodded. "Nothing much to that, I suppose. But if I refuse?"

Tw'eak looked over at Lini. "Hmm. In that case, you'd better put down that pulsewave." She turned to Oulius. "And no tricorder for you, Subcommander."

Lini balked. "No way."

"I can't do the job without this," Oulius protested.

"Exactly." Tw'eak turned back to Derret. "You see my point."

Derret crossed her arms. "I'm compelled to point out that I'm being elevated to the status of inanimate object - just another piece of essential equipment."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Alright, that was a terrible way to make a point." She indicated the shield belt and phaser. "Either put those on, and join us on the pad, or we go without you. Best not to keep them waiting."

Tw'eak and Oulius took their places on the padd. Lini hesitated a moment, inclining her head slightly towards the kit in her hand. Reluctantly, Derret took possession of the items, then slotted the belt into place and activated the personal shield, then joined Lini in moving onto the padd.

Tw'eak looked up at Ensign Weatherby, the transporter duty officer. "Let's do this."

* * *

The command deck of the adapted destroyer was seemingly abandoned, save for two figures. One was a tall, slender female human, in a tactical Starfleet uniform of a scarlet shade to match her shoulder-length red hair. This was Lieutenant MacMillan. She stood near, but not necessarily over, the seated figure of Subadmiral Salina Koval. Clad in a standard Romulan Imperial duty uniform, with its chains of rank and broad shoulders, she had been dispossessed of the disruptor which she otherwise would have kept in a basket-like holster at her side. She sat, glumly leaning her head upon one hand, the elbow resting upon the arm of her command chair, awaiting her fate.

Materializing in a tight quartet, Tw'eak, Lini, Derret and Oulius stepped out from the transporter beam suddenly aware of their closer proximity to each other. Clearly Ensign Weatherby had encountered difficulty grouping them together in such tight quarters, and had brought the confinement beams as close as could be managed. Tw'eak stepped over some battle damage, towards the right side of the command deck and an adjacent access console, while Derret and Lini stepped forward towards its centre.

"Admiral," Koval said to Lini as she turned.

"What? No, that's the Admiral, over there." Lini nodded towards Tw'eak. She then gave Koval a harsh glare. "We don't all look alike, y'know."

"No, I -" Koval tried to reply but her words died away in her throat.

At the access console, Tw'eak waved Oulius over. "How does this work for you?"

"Just fine. Assuming there's no encryptions or lockouts, I'll be ten minutes, tops."

"Good." Tw'eak stepped away, looking to Lieutenant MacMillan. "Are we secure, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, ma'am. The subadmiral is disarmed and waiting to speak to you. The First and his team are present and in position. Everything's secure."

Tw'eak nodded. "Good work." She looked at the subadmiral and extended her hand. "My apologies - our time together may be limited, I wanted to make sure we have what we came for."

Koval shook her head. "What do you think that will be? We don't have anything worthwhile for you to learn here."

"I'll be the judge of that." Tw'eak turned the chair around on a nearby control console and sat down, her legs spread apart, her elbows balanced on her knees. Lini took a position on the opposite side of Koval from where MacMillan stood, pulsewave at the ready, watching the doors. "Your mission... let's start there."

Koval watched Derret cross the command deck and stand behind Tw'eak. "Is this how you always work - all-girl squads?"

"No disrespect intended to the subcommander, I'm sure," Tw'eak retorted.

"None taken," Oulius shot back quickly.

Koval made a disgusted noise. "You don't understand a damn thing. Elements preserve you when the Iconians arrive."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "Well, look at that. You do know something I want to know."

"And what is that?"

"You said 'when'. Starfleet's best projections still have 'if' labeled on them."

"Oh, they will be coming - and right soon. Our time is soon to be at an end, and their reign will be supreme."

"How does that make you feel?" Tw'eak said, channelling Derret.

"It depends. If I live long enough to see the end of your cursed Federation, and the death of the last of the Klingons, then whatever remains for me afterwards... will be that much sweeter."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Nope."

"You don't believe me?"

"Should I?" Tw'eak leaned back, crossing her legs. "I get the sense that you've rehearsed that line often enough, but you don't feel it, do you."

Koval snarled at Tw'eak, then shook her head. "No, I don't."

"I doubt you would've wanted us aboard if you actually felt that way."

"You left us with little choice! Look at the damage you've done!"

"It's one way to start a conversation, I suppose. You think the Tal Shiar would've done any worse?"

Koval shuddered, involuntarily, at the mention of the Tal Shiar. "I know all that they have done. I know their crimes. I have stood by for too long watching as they re-asserted their dominance in the galaxy."

"Well, that's one way to put it," Tw'eak said with a shrug. "I wouldn't exactly call them dominant."

"They will be - in the vanguard of the Iconian advance. You'll see soon enough. They and their allies... theirs will be the glory, and the universe will suffer for it."

"Admiral," Derret whispered quickly, calling Tw'eak away.

"Excuse me," Tw'eak said, then moved to Derret's side near the front of the room. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure, but... you were correct that her defiance is all for show. She's deeply conflicted by the situation she finds herself in - she's hardly a typical Tal Shiar agent. In fact, I sense a deep guilt, even shame, in her words and in her thoughts."

"Something to use, I suppose. Alright, let me know how I do." Tw'eak stepped away from Derret, who lingered a moment before resuming her previous spot. Tw'eak sat back down again. "These 'crimes' of which you speak..." Tw'eak nodded towards Oulius. "Are we going to find any evidence of that in these memory banks?"

"Undoubtedly," Koval replied. "In fact, if I may, I will release encryption on my personal copy of the files which existed in the database before the Imperial Navy wiped it."

Tw'eak gave Koval an uncertain look. "No tricks."

"None." Koval stepped out of her command chair and moved to Oulius' side. The subcommander drew his phaser and watched Koval take position, then input multiple commands into the same console he was using. Both Lini and MacMillan kept their weapons trained on her. "There." Koval turned. "I am loyal to the Star Empire. Not to the Tal Shiar."

"Those two things are inseparable," Oulius corrected.

"No, they are not. We - I... I believed Sela when she promised a return to the martial glories and triumphs of the days of old."

"Sela?" Oulius snickered. "You would've been better off believing a Ferengi salesman about a used freighter."

"Stow it, Subcommander."

"But ma'am-"

Tw'eak raised a hand to Oulius, looking at Koval. "You do know that Sela is in the custody of the Republic."

Koval's face brightened for the first time. "She is? Oh... thank the Elements, she's still alive. She's the last hope of our people," she said with a desultory look to a disagreeing Oulius. "Her leadership is the only way forward. With each new revelation of the wrongdoing of both the Tal Shiar, and your Republican puppets, it becomes clearer that her integrity will guide us to a new dawn."

Tw'eak shook her head. "Why don't you come back and sit down?" Koval did as she was told. "I was there, you know. Brea III, on Hakeev's last day."

"Accursed Reman traitors," Koval said savagely.

"This may come as a surprise to you, but your Empress was there that day. And she abandoned Hakeev to his fate. So did the Iconians. In fact, when they did show up, they seized her flagship, the warbird... Leahval, I believe it was, and carried it off right through a gateway. The whole ship, scooped up by Iconians... gone."

"I remember. It was a black day for the Empire. Ruul is a madman, he knows no discipline. Hakeev was no better, but his sins are his own."

"Between him, Taris and Sela... these are your heroes?" Tw'eak held her empty palms out to Koval. "They're criminals - all of them - and their crimes were committed against the Romulan people. They're the ones who are responsible for Hobus, for the supernova that destroyed Romulus-"

"Liar! Those Reman terrorists are to blame! And now they collude with the Republic!"

Tw'eak shook her head. "You've been fed misinformation for so long, I don't expect you to see my point of view, but we have facts, data - things I've seen when I myself broke out of Hakeev's custody. Things I and my crew fought damn hard to bring to the light of day. We can show you the truth."

"Your truth," Koval derided. "Your truth is hardly truth at all."

Tw'eak shrugged. "You know that it is. You know, deep down, what you're saying, it's false. You've already put together the facts for yourself, seen through the lies. You're not clinging to the truth, you're following old patterns of thinking, the lines of least resistance. But you know. You've figured out the truth. Nobody rises above the rank of Centurion if they don't have a brain in their heads. You earned that rank. And I think you know enough to put this all together yourself."

Koval gave another snarl, seeming to shrink into her chair as she did. "Damn you," she muttered, her voice full of hatred. "Damn you all."

"Don't damn us," Tw'eak said gently. "Forgive yourself."

This response caught Koval off-guard, and she looked up at Tw'eak, her eyes full of tears and doubt. "What?"

"You've known all along - and you've been terrified to admit to anyone you've known. But there was no escape. If you took a shuttle or tried to slip away, they'd find you - because they're as scared as you are of anyone finding out the truth. But the whole universe knows now. What it might've taken a great deal of effort for you to piece together, behind the scenes... we already know the story in full. This whole galaxy is about to pay the price for the sins of Hakeev and others like him."

"But you don't understand - any dissent, any defiance, was punishable by death - not just one death, but whole families dead."

Tw'eak finally came to realize Koval's motivation. "Whole families... your sister."

Koval merely nodded.

"Your sister was a warrior, just as you are."

"No - no. She was far, far greater than I could ever hope to be. She never wavered, never questioned, as I did. When I brought my questions to her - when I asked her if she knew the truth - she told me that if I ever spoke of this, to anyone, ever again, she would kill me herself. Then she had me demoted for some reason that was just a pretense, and assigned me to this vessel, under her direct command."

Tw'eak gritted her teeth - the Romulan admiral she had defeated earlier in the day was altogether too much like herself, through a glass darkly. Yet where Tw'eak had seen to Dashii's assignment to her command as a means of protecting her, Nerala Koval had assigned her twin sister to her squadron as a way to control her every move. "And so here you've been, in command... yet in a sort of prison."

"There were a few, under my command, who believe as I do. We speak, but in whispers, of what we learn. The monitoring devices the Tal Shiar installed still work, and we do not control them. I don't think you can understand the... the horror of it, to know these things are going on, or have happened, while you stood idly by and did absolutely nothing." She shook her head. "Somehow I... somehow I believed that the Empress was above all of that, or that Hakeev simply - maybe didn't let her know what he had done. My faith was misplaced. I can see that now."

Tw'eak nodded, unable to think of what to say. She looked over to Derret, and nodded towards Koval, indicating that the counselor might be a better choice for this conversation.

"What can we offer you, by way of support?" Derret began. "I... my name is Prin. I'm a counselor."

"I was wondering who you were, that you could get an admiral's attention like that." Koval sniffed. "Makes sense."

"I have been listening, of course. And I want you to know that I can understand your dilemma. This cannot have been easy for you. May I ask, how many years has it been for you since you have known?"

"Eight years." Koval shook her head. "Eight long, hopeless years alone. I only went to Nerala with this - maybe a year and a half ago? I have been here ever since."

"I would be more than willing to support you in any way I can, but my means - our means of assisting you will be very, very limited if you remain here."

"There's nothing for me here now. You tell me Nerala is dead."

"It's true," Tw'eak confirmed. "We can prove it."

"I... you have to give me asylum. I'll tell you everything."

"Asylum?" Tw'eak's eyebrows and antennae both went skyward. "You're serious."

"If those doors are opened again, my betrayal will mean my life. You have to take me with you. I'll co-operate - fully."

Tw'eak looked at Derret. "I don't know what to say."

"Her intentions are genuine, Admiral. She's telling us the whole truth."

Tw'eak considered for a moment. It would represent a significant coup - a massive 'get', as the term went - for her to reel in a one-time Imperial Romulan admiral. Yet beyond that, she saw the woman with the oversized shoulder pads and severe haircut that sat before her not as a Romulan, or even as an officer, but as one who had felt the betrayal of a sister, a sister who had placed her loyalties to a hopelessly moribund organization like the Romulan Star Empire come before her relationship with her sibling - her twin sibling, no less. "She said it herself," Tw'eak said to Derret, "we leave her here, she's dead."

Oulius came over with his tricorder in hand. "I'm done here. Seems that we were right - they are trying to build Iconian gateways of their own so that they can get Sela out. It isn't going very well."

"You retrieved all the information available?"

"I've confirmed with the captain back on Warspite - they have everything copied. It's being looked over by our intel people now."

"When we get back, I'm going to need to talk to Captain T'uni about all of this." She looked about. "Pal?"

The First stepped out of his shroud, behind Koval. "I am here, Admiral."

"Get your people together - we're done here." Pal nodded, and moved away, back into shroud. Tw'eak looked at Koval. "I'd appreciate your input on this next point, Subadmiral."

"Please, call me Salina. I never want to be called by rank ever again."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Oulius said with a smile. "The Republic is always looking for good people with experience aboard a warbird. Once you're ready, of course."

Koval smiled softly. "What is your name, Subcommander?"

"Oulius. Jolan tru."

"Jolan tru," Koval replied, her voice cracking faintly. "But what do you need from me?"

"I'm not sure how best to dispose of this vessel."

"Dispose of- no, please. I can set the self-destruct, but give my crew time to abandon ship."

Tw'eak nodded. "That may be the best course of action. Let them think you resisted us, or something."

"Precisely." Koval moved to stand, then nearly collided with Lini's pulsewave as she did. "If I may."

"Certainly." Lini stepped aside, the barrel of her rifle still following Koval as she moved to a console at the back and keyed the internal comms.

"Attention all personnel - this is Subadmiral Koval. The Federation boarders are attempting to seize this vessel. Our further resistance is impossible as they have control of the main computer. I am left with no choice but to initiated the emergency self-destruct - abandon ship! You have two minutes. I will remain sealed within the command deck to ensure the ship is destroyed. For the glory of the Romulan Star Empire, and the hour of her coming triumph!" Koval closed the comms, then a loud, despairing klaxon sounded. "We must go. I've disabled internal communications and sensors. I have no doubt they will try to reach the command deck... to 'verify' my presence."

Tw'eak nodded. "Right." She tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Warspite. Six to beam out."

Ensign Weatherby sounded confused. "Ma'am? I beamed over four of you."

MacMillan stepped back. "I can go back with the First, ma'am - same way I came over."

"Fine - five to beam up, then. The subadmiral will be joining us."

"Alright, stand by." Tw'eak, Lini, Derret and Oulius moved into a rough circle around Koval. "I've got you locked in. Energizing."

The interior of the Tal Shiar adapted destroyer vanished, to be replaced by that of the transporter room. "Sh'abbas to bridge."

"Bridge - Octavia."

"Get us well clear of that warbird."

"We are reading multiple lifepods abandoning ship."

"The self-destruct is active. It'll be a black hole in a minute. We need to get clear."

"Will the lifepods be clear in that time?"

Tw'eak gritted her teeth and looked to Koval. "Yes," Koval said. "They'll each be on their way home at warp speed in just a few moments."

"Seems a bit much, for a lifepod."

"The Tal Shiar look after their own," Koval muttered. "At least, I used to believe that."

Derret placed a hand on Koval's shoulder. "But now you are free. Your life is your own again." She offered one of her warm, comforting smiles. "Take a moment to remember this, Salina. This is the beginning of your new dawn."

Koval laughed, almost in spite of herself, a sob-chuckle that caught in her throat. "May it be," she said softly as she and Derret made their way out the door together.

The transporter activated again, retrieving Lieutenant MacMillan, Pal, and five other Jem'Hadar. From the centre of the transporter pad, Pal stepped down to meet Tw'eak's eye. "A successful retrieval," he said.

"Yes. Well done, all of you. Good work." Tw'eak looked to Oulius. "You especially, Subcommander. That must have been... incredibly difficult for you."

"There's been so much pain for all of my people, ma'am," Oulius replied, "no matter where their loyalties lie." He shrugged. "I've been where she is - I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Tw'eak nodded. "Thank you all again. Dismissed." She removed the shield belt and handed it back to Lini, then, overcome with a sense of complete fatigue, headed to her quarters for a much-needed rest.


	85. Part V, Chapter 18

The weeks since that appointment had gone rather briskly. Nothing new had turned up - the leads which Task Force Silhouette had been given ranged in quality. The best of the bunch was another archaeological dig on a distant world, Aamrar VI, which had yielded an operational gateway. The scene had been secured and turned over to Starfleet Security for immediate quarantine. She had sent Bianca duBois and Khao Manee over to the starship Turing for a couple of days, in order to work with Captain Lee and the 'brain-trust' of the task force, to review everything as if with new eyes, and to bring any leads back to the flagship once they had. If Tw'eak was honest with herself, it gave her a reason not to see Khao Manee for a couple of days, which was fine with her. She found her irritation at his presence difficult to mask, still offended by what he had said.

Yet even that attempt to turn over new ground had proven to be of limited utility, and as things stood, the task force's various ships more or less remained very much disengaged from active pursuit of any new intelligence for far longer than Tw'eak would have liked. To her surprise, Admiral Quinn had been fine with it, admitting that intelligence work followed a schedule foreign to a typical Starfleet officer. But it bothered Tw'eak to no end that further progress had been stymied. It became a sort of watchword in the task force, that "no news was bad news" - the status quo reinforced the Iconians' hand. Captains' meetings, intelligence reviews, the occasional infiltration of information exchanges or library computer networks... nothing new was at hand.

Tw'eak was aware that it had started getting to her. She knew that about herself, had experienced it during any number of medical recovery times. "An idle engine burns itself out", her zhavey used to say on the rare occasion when she was between commands, before she had been killed in action against the Breen during the Dominion War. Tw'eak completely agreed, and at present, even in command, even of a whole task force, she felt unforgivably idle. The hours stretched into days, weeks, without meaningful progress. Word reached the ship that Iphigenia Wren, formerly Silhouette's intelligence officer, had given birth to a baby boy, whom she had named Jason. No news came from Dashii for some time - and then, for a time, neither was any word available from Spera. It all left Tw'eak in a state of mind she did not enjoy - but how bad it had become only became apparent after another restless night in her quarters aboard Warspite.

After a few hours of fitful, uneven sleep, Tw'eak went for an early run on the holodeck - nothing unusual - after a quick breakfast which she barely touched for lack of appetite - another typical situation. She had a quick shower, then turned to the Federation News Service's bulletin for more information about any discoveries at archaeological digs in the past month, or any sign of the Iconians. It seemed unusual to her that no one had paged her, or visited her. She had become accustomed to at least one interruption per hour to her intended routine, usually being interrupted before the first cup of katheka was empty. In fact, the Federation News Service search had largely been something she had done to fill the time, anticipating the arrival of some new officer with a personal crisis or a need to talk. But she had time for a second cup this morning - an opportunity she indulged with equal parts relief and trepidation.

Disappointed, and after finishing a breakfast she found both time and appetite enough to eat, she took herself up to the bridge, where she discovered Lieutenant dos Santos as the officer on duty. This was not of itself unusual - Octavia had to regenerate sometime, and on occasion the senior officers would all otherwise be somewhere else - but it was dos Santos' own manner which tweaked her antennae.

"Admiral," he blurted out at the sight of her. "I - uh... how are you?"

Suspicious, Tw'eak looked across the bridge. None of the command officers were present. Octavia, Aurora, Bianca, Oulius, and Aewon were all absent. Again, dos Santos was rated for command duty, but for all of them to be off the bridge in the middle of a morning's watch - and for none of them to have contacted her or even been seen by her, all day? Something was unquestionably up. "Is everything all right, Lieutenant?"

"Y - yes, ma'am. Five by five. All systems nominal."

"Report course and heading."

"En route to Station Phoenix."

This caught Tw'eak's attention. "Not Station K-7? We were due to meet with a Bolian information broker."

"We concluded our business there with the freighter three hours ago. They didn't have anything for us."

Tw'eak's antennae came forward, almost gun-like from dos Santos' perspective. "And I wasn't informed." She wasn't sure if she was hurt or irate.

Aware of the surging emotions of the Andorian admiral bearing down upon him, dos Santos registered panic. "I - I wasn't advised. I'm sorry I don't have any information regarding that matter."

"Where's the captain?"

At first, dos Santos swallowed hard and refused to answer, looking to the forward viewscreen. Tw'eak took a step towards him - and his eyes darted briefly towards the conference room.

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

"I - I wouldn't go in there, ma'am!"

"I'm sure you wouldn't." Tw'eak came through the door to hear a conversation rapidly die in mid-sentence. "Uzaveh's name."

Seated around a full conference table, Octavia at its head, were the senior officers of the starship Warspite. Down one side sat Aurora, Aewon, Oulius and Doc. To Octavia's left, Bianca, Prin Derret, Kim Hewson and Khao Manee were seated. "Good morning, Admiral," Octavia said calmly. "Please come in."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes and examined the faces at the table. Aurora, Kim and Doc all avoided her eye; Oulius looked rather intently at her; Derret gave a counselor's-standard-issue warm smile; the expressions on Octavia's, Khao's and Aewon's face were inscrutable, though Aewon merely looked bored. She stepped forward and faced her officers and friends, placing her hands at her side. "So who wants to go first," she queried.

"We were just having an important conversation," Derret began.

"Yes, I can imagine." Tw'eak put her hands around the headrest as if she was about to wring it by the neck. "I always imagine that the conversations I'm not invited to attend to be most fascinating. I suppose you'd consider that a complex of mine, Counselor, but it's a well-founded concern of mine not to be invited to a meeting like this."

"Please, won't you sit down?"

"No, thank you. I'd rather face these sorts of things standing up." Her eyes turned to Octavia. "Well?"

"My officers had each, individually, brought questions to my attention which I felt required redress."

"Questions." Tw'eak nodded. "About what?"

"There have been certain... noted discrepancies of late-"

"Please, Octavia. We've known each other - we've all known each other - too long to make this formal. So let's cut to the chase."

It was Bianca who punctured the awkward silence that followed. "Are you ...okay, Admiral?"

"Me?" Tw'eak furrowed her brow, her antennae broadening. "If you don't count the threat of imminent galactic apocalypse looming on the horizon, I've never been better."

"This assignment is a lot to ask of someone," Derret said. "Especially one in command."

"We've had that conversation already, Counselor."

"Maybe you should listen to yourself," Doc interrupted.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"All of it, Tw'eak. Your tone, your body language..." Doc gestured to the table. "These people are concerned. These people are your friends."

"Concerned - about me?"

"Aye," Khao Manee said, drawing Tw'eak's ire away from Doc. "This isn't like you to act this way-"

Tw'eak interrupted. "Sorry, what's not like me, exactly?"

"This, for one thing." Doc raised an empty hand. "You're not listening - you're snapping, for no reason. Sit down and listen."

"There's nothing to listen to - there's nothing to say. We don't have time for this."

"I assure you, we do," Doc retorted. Her tone shifted from friendly to professional. "You either sit down here or I'll relieve you of duty on medical grounds. Then you'll have to sit in your quarters under guard until we reach spacedock."

Tw'eak's eyes locked onto Doc's. In the battle of wits that followed, as Tw'eak's eyes narrowed, Doc's softened, not from weakness but worry. "You wouldn't."

"No, I'd rather not," Doc said, looking away. "But I'm the only one that can. As senior medical officer in the task force, I mean." She paused for a moment. "Officially."

Tw'eak noticed the padd in front of Doc, clearly marked with the caduceus of Starfleet Medical. Sighing, she pulled out the chair and sat down in it, taking up a pouty, haughty posture. "Alright, then. Let's hear it."

Octavia took the first turn. "Our recent action has raised several queries as to its appropriateness and overall tactical disposition."

"There's no way we should've been tailing that Tal Shiar vessel that closely," Aewon added.

"That was weeks ago," Tw'eak shot back.

"We have yet to conduct an adequate tactical review of our maneuvers," Octavia said in Aewon's defense. "Other duties have been more pressing."

"Other duties - yes. More important duties - yes. It was one ship - the Iconians will have far more."

"You can't deny that we should've subdued them from range before we moved into position right behind them," Oulius continued. "We took an awful risk closing range like that before opening fire."

"It was necessary risk," Tw'eak said firmly. "I wanted them to know we were there. If you recall, I didn't want to open fire at all - and as it turns out, I was right; that ship's commander is securely in the hands of Starfleet Intelligence right now, happily volunteering all kinds of information."

"Ends justifying means," Octavia offered as a riposte. "Hardly a satisfactory method of argument."

"But it's true. We could've talked her into beaming over with files in hand, but we had no way of knowing she'd be so kind." She stared at Oulius, her temper rising. "You, of all people, to question whether the Tal Shiar would've played along otherwise."

"You had no idea those files were there," Oulius countered.

"And were damn lucky they were there," Khao added. "If they hadn't been, we'd have a Romulan who needs therapy, nothing more." He looked to his right at Derret. "No offense, o'course."

"None taken," Derret replied. "I would also like to point out that Commander Khao would have been the proper choice for the landing party."

"Right, then," Khao affirmed. "You took the counselor, who, granted, has abilities I don't, but without appropriate armed escort-"

"The First would disagree with your assessment," Tw'eak replied.

"-and more than that, you left me behind, when it's my job to be retrieving intelligence and interpreting its value in such missions."

"The subcommander was the logical choice. He's Romulan. He knows Romulan systems. He's the logical choice."

"Logical choice - maybe. But by regulation? I should've been there. Even just to be there."

"He's right," Bianca said, for good measure. "He's the ranking intelligence officer."

Tw'eak shook her head, looking out the window. They had a point - there wasn't much point gathering intelligence without the ship's intelligence officer onboard. But she refused to be swayed. "This is ridiculous."

"What, exactly, makes it ridiculous in your mind?" Derret inquired.

"He's not the ranking anything - he could barely handle a Ferengi in an interrogation room, and I'm going to bring him along to a possible firefight?"

Khao's ears flicked. "If you think I'm so bloody incompetent, I'll tender my resignation, Admiral - you can have it. Effective immediately."

"That won't be necessary, Commander," Octavia said. "Admiral, please."

Tw'eak could scarcely believe her ears - Octavia reprimanding her? "Please what, Octavia?"

"I believe an apology is in order. It is most contrary to your typical habits for you to speak so coarsely to a subordinate officer."

"Fine," Tw'eak replied, swallowing hard. "My apologies, Commander."

Khao's teeth seemed to remain on edge, but it was Doc who shifted at Tw'eak's other side. "Admiral, I... have to do this, it's also regulation."

The reference to her rank, from Doc, brought Tw'eak into an acute level of anxiety. It escalated further, as Doc stood up, at her observation - not visible to her previously - that Oulius was carrying a phaser at his hip. For him to remain armed after an away mission was unusual in itself; the mission had been concluded hours ago, however. Tw'eak watched as Doc produced a hypospray and a medical tricorder. She shook her head. "The hell is this?"

"I think you know," Doc replied. "Kim?"

Doc handed the tricorder across the table to Kim, who rose to operate it. Doc pressed the hypospray to Tw'eak's upper arm, drawing a sample of blood. While she did, Kim monitored the continued function of her circulatory and immune systems. Tw'eak noticed that Prin Derret was also standing up. "You think I'm an Undine, is that it?"

"We had to rule it out," Doc said softly. "I'm sorry." She looked over to Kim.

At the tricorder, Kim was looking from Tw'eak to the screen, clearly nervous at what was being expected of her. "I think - I mean - Shirley, check this for me. I can't."

She laid the tricorder across the table. "Well..." Doc said after a moment, "if she's an Undine, she's a damn good one. There's nothing to suggest any evidence she's been replaced."

"I don't sense psionic distress, or any other telepathic signals either," Derret added.

"Whose bright idea was that?" Tw'eak asked derisively. She sat with her back and antennae both in a hunch at the end of the table, like a bird of prey.

"Mine, Admiral." Down the table, the voice of Bianca duBois made itself heard. "I've considered it a distinct possibility for a couple of days, in fact."

"You did? But-"

"I did. The fact is, Admiral, we've all noticed that you haven't been the same lately. Your tone, your use of language, even just the way you're sitting right now. You're demonstrating all the classic signs of an individual in distress."

Tw'eak rolled her eyes, with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Come on."

"I must agree," Counselor Derret added. "My sense of your present emotional state is that you're barely holding it all together. The stress, the weight of expectations... it's too much for you. You're driving yourself -"

"Spare me your notions of what you think my limitations are, Counselor."

"Let me finish." The typically pleasant tone of Prin Derret's was clipped with a tension never present before. "Believe me when I tell you that every officer around this table has borne the brunt of your anxieties. Many of them take their direction from you, as I've told you before." Tw'eak scoffed, but Derret persisted. "I know you don't want to hear it, but it's true."

Bianca made an affirming sort of 'mmm' noise, then added, "don't just brush our concerns aside, Admiral - we need you."

"It's true," Aurora said meekly from her seat. "But not like this."

Derret leaned forwards. "I had previously discussed options with you-"

"And I suppose you discussed those options with these people, too."

Derret pursed her lips, looking downwards. "I am more professional than that." She took a deep breath. "If the doctor would confirm with me - I believe the admiral is currently suffering from combat fatigue and post-traumatic stress."

"Yeah, that's a start," Doc quipped. "List is longer than that."

Tw'eak's tone went from defensive to derisive again. "So you're relieving me of duty, is that it?"

"No," Derret said, smiling. "But if there are any particular points of the matter which you would like to discuss, here, I am quite certain these officers would appreciate an explanation of your change in conduct."

"This is the part where you typically rally the troops and make us all feel like heroes in the making," Bianca pointed out.

"Heroes in the making," Tw'eak repeated. "Part of the legend - is that it?" She shook her head. "Am I the only one who's read the intelligence?" She gave a derisive look to Khao Manee. "I suppose you have, but have any of the rest of you actually seen what these things can do? Heralds, they call them. Engines of perfect destruction. And we don't have a useful countermeasure in the whole Alpha Quadrant."

"We all have," Bianca replied. "You know we all have."

"Good. Then I won't be repeating anything you don't already know. We've gotten everything there is out there on the subject of the Iconians - from past, present and future - from the Klingons, from the Federation, from both Republic and Empire. At this point I'd consider knocking on the Dominion's door just to see if they can be any help to us. We've got absolutely nothing to show for it."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Somehow, Bianca had seemingly made herself the group spokesperson. "We know enough to at least be aware of what we're getting into."

"And what is that, exactly? An enemy - more devastating than the Breen, more cunning than the Undine, more fearless than the Jem'Hadar, and more relentless than the Borg. And they're about to be right on top of us, grinding our faces into the dust - a dust that was once our whole way of life - for the rest of eternity."

"We'd sooner die than live like that," Bianca replied. "We all would. You would. You know that."

"Yes, I do. But... just this once, maybe all of our living efforts - even our noble sacrifices - will count for nothing." Tw'eak paused for a moment, for effect. None of her officers dared offer a comment. "If no one's left to remember those sacrifices, well... how noble are they, after all?"

There was a general awkward fumbling around the table. Kim reflexively smoothed the fabric over the unborn baby inside her. Tw'eak felt herself a fool for opening up with her feelings, but her shame turned to despair as Khao Manee nodded, then spoke.

"You're damn right they are," he said. "It doesn't matter if every last man, woman and child in this galaxy are brought to heel - the spirit of resistance must be honoured to the last."

"Resistance," Tw'eak said, chuckling at the term. "Might as well hurl icicles at the lightning."

"It doesn't matter," Khao replied, his whiskers twitching with rage. "If that's all we've got... that's what we do."

Octavia turned her chair to face Tw'eak. "Admiral, I would implore you to remember that those of us who have served with you on previous assignments have always accepted the very real fact of our own expendability."

"Absolutely," Oulius added.

"Moreover, in the event of our... 'sacrifice', to use the present term, regardless of the circumstance or the situation in which we find ourselves at that moment, it would be a more efficient use of our final efforts if we were led and commanded by an admiral who inspired our confidence and reassured our doubts."

Tw'eak didn't know how to respond. She stammered out a reply. "What, after all - after all this, you really feel that's not me?"

"Not like this," Aurora repeated. She looked at Tw'eak, stung, with tears in her eyes. "No."

Octavia continued, relentlessly. "If you capitulate into a state of despair at the odds which we and the Federation face in the forthcoming battle with the Iconians, the psychological effects upon this crew, and indeed our task force, will be profound."

"I agree," Derret affirmed. "You can't be in this kind of state before we've even met the enemy."

" 'An enemy feared is an enemy victorious'," Oulius added. "One of my people's most well-known maxims."

Tw'eak looked up. She knew enough to know when to withdraw from a fight she couldn't hope to win. "Alright." She stood up. "I've embarrassed myself enough for one day." She cleared her throat. "Thank you all for bringing this to my attention." She reached up and removed her commbadge, placing it on the table in front of Doc. "There you go."

There was no reply. Several of the officers present - Oulius, Aurora, Derret and Octavia - leaned forward in surprise. Doc merely closed her eyes in disgust. "You're - you're not resigning, are you?" Kim asked in shock.

It took Tw'eak a long moment to know how to reply. Had she really failed this dismally? How could things have gotten this bad without her notice? Somehow, despite her feelings that everything was coming apart, she was surprised to realize that the structural integrity field was still in place. It wasn't the ship that was falling to pieces... it was her. She felt a deep, abiding disgrace, a tarnishing shame of defeat that made her feel hollow, broken, exhausted. In an instant, she recognized that the entire fabric of her identity was comprised of a Starfleet uniform. "No," she replied, and realized the room had collectively been holding its breath. "Just... taking a little time." She looked around. "Pal?"

"Here, Admiral." The Jem'Hadar stepped out of the shadows of his shroud.

"I'm confined to quarters until we reach Station Phoenix. Place a guard on my door - I'm not to leave."

"Locking yourself in your room isn't going to solve this," Bianca retorted.

"No... not on its own." Tw'eak glanced up, her antennae drooping so far forward they were curved. "But it's probably a good start." She looked up at Derret. "You're welcome to drop by anytime." She looked around the table. "In fact, any of you are. Feel free to stop in, tell me exactly where I let you down."

"Nobody here wants you to be so hard on yourself over this," Derret said, her famous smile resuming its place.

"Yeah, well." She shrugged, then glanced over at Khao with a nod. "You, too. Door's always open." She then looked to Octavia. "Maybe you could send someone down with a box of katheka."

"Of course," the captain replied.

She met Oulius' eyes. "Only personal comm traffic until further notice."

"Right." Oulius closed his eyes, seemingly unhappy.

Her antennae drooping forwards, her heart broken, Tw'eak looked up at the Jem'Hadar in front of her. "Let's go, Pal." She followed Pal out the door, despondent.

* * *

It took a while for Tw'eak to pull herself together. Returning to her quarters, changing into casual clothes, and sobbing herself to a point of nearly throwing up had taken a mere twenty-six minutes of time. It all felt like a waste of time, but suddenly she found that time was something she had far more of than she would like. It would take at least thirty-six hours to reach the Sol system - thirty five minutes and thirty-four minutes, to be precise. That left her with a whole mess of time in which to do ...what? Tw'eak had no idea. The concept of leisure time, of a break from her duties, had vanished months ago. The Iconians would reward such wasted time with pure destruction, after all. She went to her computer terminal and found the library computer and command functions offline - Octavia's doing, no doubt. No access to any outside information, not even the Federation News Service. Maybe it was Derret's doing - who else would be so aware of the psychology of this moment? In a way, Tw'eak was almost grateful to be so abruptly severed from the wider world - in another way, it was like saying 'thank you' for an amputation done without anesthetic.

She sat back in the chair, staring at the neutered terminal, alone, isolated, utterly bereft of hope. None of this would change a damn thing. She could take three minutes, three days, three years off... the Iconians would still arrive, their victory all but assured, and then what? She was highly unlikely to storm to some sort of resilient triumph with or without the benefit of rest. There was nothing that could distract her from the solemn, sobering truth - her entire way of life, her whole career, all of the people she cared about, all of the places she'd ever been... all of them were in utter peril. The projections she had seen predicted total Iconian supremacy in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants within a year to eighteen months. Those were just the ones which had been declassified to her clearance level. The actual projections were bound to be far, far more realistic - and far shorter in duration.

The terminal beeped, and Tw'eak heard the voice of Subcommander Oulius. "Admiral?"

"Go ahead."

"I have Dashichal zh'Abbas on subspace."

Dashii? "I'll take it in here," Tw'eak said, almost chuckling at her idiocy - as if an alternative location was being offered.

The screen blinked on, showing a sort of blue-green lump on the screen - a berry? some variety of planetary model? The lens' perspective changed, revealing it to be Dashii's 'baby bump'. "Look, _shi_!" Dashii's face came into view. "I'm getting so huge! I feel like SUCH a _zabathu_ right now!"

"Congratulations," Tw'eak replied. "How's everything going?"

"Fantastic, if Shorban would just stop poking at me long enough to rest. Honestly, you get one doctor in the bond group and it just ruins everything for everyone. But he does help a little. My ankles hurt and my antennae are throbbing, but I love it!" Dashii made a stoic face. "I mean, y'know, it's... a stimulating new experience. Fascinating."

"You don't have to play Vulcan with me - it's alright, I'm happy for you."

"Everyone is. Everyone! We have, like, what, seventeen other families on board. I never realized how much I love kids before! Their little faces, always so eager to know something, or poke something with something else... it's all going to be so much fun when these little guys are finally here!" She held the camera to her face. "Seriously, though - do I look older to you?"

Tw'eak noticed her sister's hair was different. "You aren't styling your hair like you used to. Does that count?"

"Oh, that - no, I was tempted to cut it all short, like Phollrem does, but you know my rule - no shorter than your antennae or it's a pelt of fur."

"Right," Tw'eak replied.

"You - wow, _shi_ , you look terrible." Dashii seemed to be sizing up the view of her sister. "Are you out of uniform? I'd sooner expect to see you naked. Here. Lean closer."

Tw'eak bristled at the suggestion. "I'd rather not. It's been a long couple days."

"How's that whole... you can't tell me even if I ask, can you?"

"Afraid not," Tw'eak said flatly. "Classified. I'm on a... bit of a break from it all at the moment."

"Oh, good. I was worried you'd be warp-nine off to the next big thing."

"No, not... not really." Tw'eak shrugged. "Just tell me you're underway - well underway."

"We are."

"At warp."

"At warp," Dashii repeated. "Uzaveh's name, you're in a mood."

"I just... had an intervention by my senior officers. They feel I'm taking too many risks, pushing things too hard."

"They don't know you, clearly." Dashii laughed. "It's your default setting. You're worse than zhavey. You better not be pushing THEM too hard. Are you? If I were there, I'd kick your ass."

"You could try." Tw'eak gave a sad laugh. "Like Sassil tried. Heh."

"What are you talking about?" Dashii's face became serious. "Sassil tried to kick your ass? Our _shi_ , the Klingon empress? Like - that Sassil? How long ago was this?"

"I didn't tell you?"

"Uh, NO. What the hell happened?"

"There..." Tw'eak parsed the story into sizeable bits, then edited for content. "There was a dig site. We were securing it when this Klingon crew showed up. Guess who was in charge."

"Oh no - and you had some sort of big tough challenge thing, right?"

"Not at first. Pal wouldn't let me. Actually, how weird is this - she's in Klingon Intelligence. Or working with them, anyway. General Sh'abbas, they call her."

"I know, I was there, remember? Still, she must have loved that - Klingons listening to her."

"No doubt she's earned that rank."

"Yeah, she always did love killing. I could see her doing it, too, standing hip-deep in pink blood, building a throne out of all those - let's just say I can imagine. But why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I... there hasn't been time since then," Tw'eak lied. "That happened at the beginning of a chase that took us all over - there were Orions, Ferengi, Romulans all involved."

Dashii snickered. "It's not like you to have any problems with the Orions, _shi_."

"At least they didn't get a chance to try to kill me this time. But - anyway, I don't know how much I can tell you. Still, for a short time, Sassil was here, onboard Warspite. And... well, I kinda challenged her."

"You what? Like, to _ushaan_?"

"No, to an ion surfing competition," Tw'eak quipped.

But Dashii remained deadly serious. " _Shi_ \- you should've called me. I would've traded a thousand freighters full of babies for the chance to watch."

"Sorry."

Dashii made a disappointed noise. "Could've made popcorn."

"Wouldn't have been worth watching." Tw'eak shrugged, lying. "It was inconclusive either way."

"Did you hug it out?"

"Ew... no." Tw'eak made a face. "Besides, she had one of those Klingon outfits on, you know, with all the pointy metal parts on them-"

"The 'hug me and die' look." Dashii rolled her eyes. "So Klingon."

"That's the one," Tw'eak said with a laugh. "That might be Sassil's whole life distilled into one sentence. 'Hug me and die'."

"Yeah, well, you weren't so different until that little girl of ours showed up. How's she doing, anyway?"

"Spera? She's been reassigned - she's aboard the starship Voyager, and they've been on assignment in the Delta Quadrant."

Dashii's face was completely unimpressed. "She what."

"She's on assignment."

"No, I heard that part - you LET her go?"

"Well, Admiral Tuvok was convinced she could be useful - and she wanted to go-"

" _Shi_. No. Listen to me. Hello. This is Dashii speaking. You're an IDIOT."

Tw'eak furrowed her brow, hurt and confused. "What?"

"That girl is the most precious thing in the universe, you understand me? She is a part of our family and you cannot let her go off to the Delta Quadrant like that just because she wants to!"

"She's a grown adult, _zhi_. You make it sound like I sent her out in the Northern Wastes alone."

"You very well may have! You don't know what they're going up against out there!"

"I do, actually. She's given me several reports, and so has Tuvok. He said she's distinguished herself quite nicely - and fits in well with the crew, too."

"That doesn't matter!" Dashii's apoplexy rose. "We're on the verge of the Final Darkness and you decide - or she decides, or you let some pointy-eared green-blood decide - that the proper place for her is on the far side of the galaxy? What in Uzaveh's name is wrong with you?"

Tw'eak channelled Counselor Derret for a moment. "I can see this is a particularly sensitive issue for you."

"You're damn right I'm sensitive about it!" Dashii gave a soft growl. "You told me that it was too risky for me to have this child of mine anywhere near the front lines - and then you turn around and send your own little girl right into the heart of a battle zone?"

"She's not a little girl anym-"

"And I thought I was mad you didn't even - wait..." Dashii shook her head. "You didn't even get in touch with charan, did you? While Sassil was there?"

"No," Tw'eak replied succinctly.

"I cannot believe you, Twaiheak. I just - I cannot even..." Dashii looked off-screen and whispered to someone out of Tw'eak's sight. "No, I'm all right, Pholl - just - this... I'll tell you later."

"Do say hello to everyone there for me, will you?" Tw'eak tried to conjure one of Derret's smiles, but hers no doubt looked nothing as sincere.

"I swear to you, by the Throne of the Infinite and all before it-"

"Whoa, slow down, _zhi_."

"-that if you ever - ever - make the mistake of thinking that those of us out here don't deserve communicating with, honestly and in complete sincerity, then ...I don't even know what we're doing here."

Tw'eak nodded. "Alright."

"I'm freakin' serious, _shi_. You dropped the _ushaan-tor_ this time - Uzaveh's name. You have to take better care of her! What were you thinking?"

"What I was thinking?" Tw'eak muttered. She felt her emotions rising within herself - probably because Dashii had just asked her a question their shreya had notoriously relied upon during their youth, a question which she had been asking herself over and over again - and her antennae tipped inwards towards each other. "I honestly thought I could handle all of this. And I was wrong... I was so wrong..." She put her elbow on the edge of the desk and rested her face in her palm. "And I'm sorry."

Dashii realized, perhaps too late, that she had offered one provocation too many. "Hey," she said. "Hey, _shi_. Look, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't... I was - I'm just so frustrated, being out here, a billion light-years from anything interesting." Her rage peaked again. "And I swear, Shorban, if that is a medical tricorder in your hand then you won't believe how far up there I can shove it!" Dashii stared daggers off-camera yet again. "Oh. A cup of katheka. Actually, that'd be lovely. Thank you." Dashii stared back at Tw'eak. "Sorry, we were just... everyone seems to be a little out of touch with me lately, even those that should know better by profession!" Her voice rose and her eyes turned off-screen yet again as she spoke.

"Actually, that'd be me, too." Tw'eak lowered her hand. "This... this Iconian stuff, it's really got me scared. I can't for the life of me figure out how we're supposed to turn all this intelligence and information into a fighting chance for the Federation."

"Oh," Dashii replied softly. "Damn, _shi_. If you can't, I don't think anyone can."

"I don't even know where to start."

"You want to know what I think?"

The suddenness of the question almost offended Tw'eak. "What?"

"I know you can't tell me anything - what with me being off-duty and just generally bad with secrets. You know that. I think half of Andoria knew you took off for Vulcan because you told me you were going."

"Right."

"But I can tell you what I do know. As good as Sassil probably thinks she is, you're better."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"Why not? I am. You were probably all nice with her in the _ushaan_. All polite and passive. No, I bet you stayed on the defensive and let her tire herself out, then just sat on her chest or something."

The version Dashii had depicted was closer to the truth than she probably realized. "Nothing of the sort," Tw'eak lied.

"Sure, _shi_ \- tell me another one. Remember, I grew up with you both. I know both your fighting styles better than I know my bond mates."

"Let's get back to what else I'm supposedly better than her at doing."

"Right - I know you can do this. You'll trust your instincts, and you have really good officers. They like you, they want you to be happy, want you to be their leader. You've got so many good people in that task force, and they all want you to be proud of them."

"This sounds like a conversation I had recently," Tw'eak said, remembering Bianca's words on a similar theme.

"Shut up and let me finish, would you?" Dashii replied quickly. "Seriously, _shi_ \- I worked with a lot of those people, I know how they think. And each of them, every last one of them, is probably scared to death of what's coming, same as you are - same as we all are. And you know what? This is something I bet Sassil - it'd just kill her. All those humans, all those Vulcans, all those Tellarites - at least I hope there aren't any Tellarites-"

" _Zhi_ , please." Tw'eak shook her head. "Of course there are Tellarites."

"Is there still that cute Romulan tactical guy with the dark eyes? Damn, he was hot."

"Would you please-?"

"Right - anyway, all those people from all those species, Caitians, Rigelians, Pakleds, Bajorans... they all look up to the one with these." Dashii pointed to her antennae. "Sassil might have them all running scared over on her imperial battlecruiser, or whatever - but you? They follow you. And anyone, I don't care who, that isn't running scared? I don't care if it's Klinks, Borg, Tal Shiar, Breen, Voth, Undine... they're either dead, or will be soon after. Because those same officers... nothing can stand up to them when you're behind them."

Tw'eak nodded. "Thanks, _zhi_."

"Nah, it's true. I saw what you could do - many times. Wish I'd been more help to you, especially that last time against the Borg, but what can you do. Fact is, I need you to win this - for me, for us..." Dashii showed her stomach again on the screen. "For these two."

"Two?" Tw'eak was startled. "Twins?"

"Uzaveh's name. I didn't tell you. There you go - you didn't talk about Sassil, I didn't talk about these two." Dashii made a 'tsk' sound. "Part of the reason Shorban's so worried - we don't usually carry twins to term, y'know. But him and Sh'rimta, what can I say, they do good work..." Dashii looked off-screen for a moment. "Damn good work in that department. Mmmm - I am one lucky girl."

"Thanks for oversharing."

"Hm? Oh - right. Well, I better let you get back to..." Dashii shrugged. "What are you doing?"

"Listening to you." Tw'eak smiled. "Do you have a nursery planned, or something like that?"

"Yeah - Pholl wanted to have them sleep with us to start with, but I didn't like that idea, and Shorban's right against it, so... hey, did you want me to... like, I could - Sh'rim? Be a dear and carry this camera for me, while I have Twaiheak on the line, will you?" Dashii came in close to the camera. "Time to give the admiral the grand tour of the ship. Wait'll you see the play room."

"Hello, Admiral!" Tw'eak overheard the voice of Sh'rimta, offering his greetings.

"Hi Admiral!" This, from Phollrem, albeit at a greater distance.

"Hello, family," Tw'eak replied as she settled down and relaxed into her chair, waiting for the show to begin.


	86. Part VI, Chapter 1

Tw'eak gave over the rest of the day to keeping to herself in the guest quarters aboard Warspite which she had been provided. She knew the ship's heading - the Jouret system - and its intended mission, to rendez-vous with the starship Voyager to discuss their findings in the Vaadwaur system. But she couldn't really focus on that as of yet. The earlier situation on the observation deck had unsettled her - both for how she had been treated by her senior officers, and for how quickly her opinion of the situation had become sour. She had been unpleasantly surprised, to the point of disbelief, at how her attitude had felt out of place despite being one of well-placed cynicism. Nobody could deny the seeming impossibility of the damage that the Iconians would deliver upon their arrival - whether that led to eventual victory or total destruction, there was no point in pretending things would be the same afterwards.

It was part of the reason Tw'eak suspected Starfleet had admitted that the sort of freighter her pregnant sister Dashii was currently aboard served a necessary purpose - continuity of the Andorian people, if the Andorian homeworld were compromised. Still, it had cheered Tw'eak to see that her sister's carefree, easygoing manner had returned, albeit with a sort of sharp, demanding attitude which Tw'eak suspected had something to do with the tensions between the bond group and Dashii's inborn need to dominate any setting in which she found herself. It was clear that Dashii had inherited this from their shreya, who was notorious for engaging in such behaviour in any situation - family get-togethers, fleet reviews, diplomatic functions, even funerals. It was more than a bit awkward to behold, and Tw'eak liked to think that she tended after their zhavey's quieter, more delicate presence. After the earlier meeting with her officers, however, Tw'eak wondered if she was wrong about herself in this regard.

Still, to satisfy her curiosity, she indulged in a lengthy review of any materials available at her clearance level regarding fleet-wide readiness and overall preparation of upcoming retrofit or new-starship programs - just to see if she was right. It made for harrowing reading. Tw'eak discovered, to her chagrin, that her instincts had been correct. Starfleet had deferred non-essential maintenance programs and a variety of upgrade programs - some on the basis of cost to replicate or mine required materials, others on the basis of time taken to completion - in order to try to put the maximum number of ships in the field at the present time. The strategic rationale was not presented, merely the numbers. Fleet surplus yards were stripped to nearly empty, either for parts or for working spaceframes to which skeleton crews could be assigned. And it wasn't just starships which had skeleton crews - a shocking number of task forces were undermanned by as much as 20% on average. Numerous commands and admiralty positions were currently held by those, like herself, who had been promoted within the past five years. These were not experienced hands in which to place such trust. Few indeed were the captains who had not yet been given an introduction to admiralty rank - some of them actually ascending to full Admiral status in less than five years. The exigencies of the war, coupled with the need for qualified bodies in command chairs, making the hard calls, had put Starfleet in a desperate bind.

This led Tw'eak, at random, to survey the overall quality of those qualifications. It wasn't the individuals serving as captains or, indeed, as admirals, that she sought to question, but rather, the mere length of their service and extent of their listed training. Strictly based upon their command specialization and other such indicators of seasoned, experienced officers in their proper roles, Tw'eak queried the results together into a rough spreadsheet with the computer's help. She was underwhelmed by the results of her survey. Fully fifty percent of newly minted captains had served less than ten years in total. Some had been promoted to command almost fresh from Academy graduation day. This tended to be relatively few, however. The vast majority of them held proficiencies that were decent, if not necessarily good, but beyond simply being proficient, few had distinguished themselves by any merits other than simply having survived long enough to get a ship of their own. And of the admirals presiding over task forces in various places across the Federation's borders, a whopping seventy-eight percent of them had held a rank of Lieutenant Commander or lower (or lower!) less than ten years previous. Starfleet was in a situation where it was turning out captains and admirals - once roles that would have beckoned after thirty years' service or more - in an average of eight-point-nine years of total service. To Tw'eak's mind, that length of service befitted at most a promotion to lieutenant commander, not the admiralty.

Tw'eak shook her head and took a long drink from her third cup of katheka of the day. She considered another series of factors - namely, the question of how much training experience and/or non-combat experience was being provided not just to commanders, but crews - and felt her skin begin to crawl. Once again, the necessities of the service outweighed preparation for the service. Training programs were being abbreviated, even left out altogether and considered to have been attained through wartime service in lieu of classroom instruction. Field promotions, once as rare as a pink-skinned Andorian, were increasingly the norm - the senior officer surviving onboard a damaged starship typically promoted directly to captain and put right back into the front lines once the required repairs had taken place (if they had!). No wonder situations such as that Tw'eak had encountered aboard the USS Meitner had happened. It was as though graduating from the Academy was a free ticket to command. All one had to do was be the last man standing.

"We used to criticize the Klingons for doing the same thing," Tw'eak thought aloud.

"Please specify parameters," the computer terminal in front of Tw'eak replied.

"Never mind. Thank you, computer, that'll be all for now."

The computer squawked its compliance and shut down. Alone with her thoughts, Tw'eak mused for a number of minutes on what she would do if, instead of this chair in this place, she sat in Admiral Quinn's place at the hub of the wheel, at the centre of Starfleet Command. Was it really better to have so many hundreds of starships, all desperately crewed and inefficiently manned, some with spaceframes well over a century old and crammed full of dozens of refits and upgrades over the intervening time? Or was it better to prioritize development of the next weapons - and how shocking it was to Tw'eak to think of a starship as a weapon - rather than try to make do with the cudgels of old? Suppose those weapons should prove ineffective against the Iconians and their Heralds in the coming years - what then? And would it matter if these men and women died on thousands of ships, or tens of thousands? She bit her lip in recognition of the futility of it all, either way - or rather, at her own sense of futility.

To be sure, she felt a massive failure. Her years of experience, her supposed qualifications, had done precious little to bring them any closer to a war-winning solution or even a potential advantage to be used against the Iconians. To be sure, they had discovered minor points of detail, or confirmed other details in Spera's account, but as it stood, Spera's arrival from the future had brought about a greater scoop in terms of raw data and intelligence than Tw'eak could hope to match. Some of what had been tested or conjectured for use in Spera's timeline was now being realized (or at least conceptualized for future use, if the future permitted) in the present. Still, if all that Tw'eak had been able to learn were to pale in comparison to what her future self had sent Spera back in time with, did that invalidate her present mission?

This question brought Tw'eak back to the matter of her frustrated sense of not having amounted to a whole hell of a lot as an admiral so far. Sure, there were individual successes, but there was also the heavy damage Warspite had incurred facing the Borg, the minor damage and casualties which the various ships of the task force had additionally been dealt along the way, and the personal difficulties and reversals which Tw'eak had been forced to deal with herself. She wondered if her time might not have been better spent aboard an official, typical task force, with dreadnoughts, carriers and other vessels. The training and experience she would have been able to complete in the meantime - war games, scenario testing, intensive crew development programs - might have been worth a lot more, in the final analysis. Still, these were her orders, and her prerogative was to make the best of what she had been asked to do.

The hardest part of this rank, Tw'eak thought to herself, was never having an official answer as to whether or not she had, in fact, done her best. As tactical officer aboard USS Nelson, or first officer of USS Repulse, she had enjoyed the benefit of an immediate superior's presence (although, in the latter case, this superior was in fact an Undine infiltrator). How that presence of superior rank - someone to advise, to consult, to offer support - had diminished since she had taken command of USS Bonaventure, then been promoted to admiralty rank. Oversight was sporadic at best and questionable in its priorities at worst. She remembered her experience with Admiral Kells, whose opinion of her command ability had stood in stark contrast to his opinion of her, personally. But now she found herself without antagonism from the higher ranks, replaced by... well, no real input whatsoever. She reported to Admiral Quinn directly. Admiral Quinn, in turn, received billions of reports from across three quadrants. The desk of Starfleet Admiral, Commanding, had never been busier. Feedback as to how she was doing was neither effusive nor particularly helpful in guiding her next move. And what, exactly, was that next move to be?

She looked up as the door chime sounded. She put down her empty cup of katheka - surprised, as she hadn't realized she was still holding it - and ventured to the door. From outside, Captain T'uni of Starfleet Intelligence, her old friend, one-time ship's counselor aboard the Bonaventure, and occasional 'bad influence', stepped inside. "Greetings, Admiral."

"T'uni! What are you doing aboard?"

"I requested to be present at the meeting scheduled at Delta Quadrant Command."

"Of course you did." Tw'eak looked over to see Commander Prin Derret, Warspite's counselor, lingering at the door. "Come in, Counselor."

T'uni's eyes remained upon Tw'eak, who was well aware of her gaze. "Thank you," Derret said, stepping inside, her warm smile firmly in place.

Tw'eak looked from Derret to T'uni. Suspicious, she glanced side-eyed at T'uni. "Alright, what's this about?"

"Please, sit down," T'uni said, her unusually professional tone catching Tw'eak off guard. Unwilling to concede any advantages, Tw'eak gestured to the seating area nearest the door, and let Derret and T'uni settle themselves before she moved to a chair herself. Her sitting was interrupted by the door chiming yet again. She moved to the door and admitted Doctor Shirley Ellington into the room.

"Sorry I'm late," Doc offered, more to T'uni and Derret than to Tw'eak.

Now quite certain she was being ambushed, Tw'eak crossed her arms. "Alright," she declared. "Individually, I'd be happy to see any one of you - but all together like this?"

Doc sat down - in the spot Tw'eak had selected for herself, not that Doc would've known - and looked up at Tw'eak. "You have every right to be on your guard," she opened.

"Oh, good," Tw'eak shot back.

Derret and Doc both looked to T'uni, who looked down before beginning. "Concerns have been expressed by members of this task force regarding your stress level and overall performance-"

"Concerns?" Tw'eak crossed her arms. "From who?"

"I do not believe it is necessary to name the members in question."

"Not to you. But you haven't been here."

"Indeed." T'uni pursed her lips. "To my regret."

"But it's sufficient to point out that they're worried about you," Derret continued.

"That's not their job. I worry about them - doesn't go the other way around."

"They would disagree."

"And so would I," Doc interjected. "You can't mean that seriously. You know the influence you have on this ship and its crew - you wrote the book on this ship and its crew."

"Shouldn't matter," Tw'eak responded.

"But it does," Doc insisted.

T'uni took a deep breath. "I would like to pause for a moment to notify you, officially, that our conversation will be taken as confidential."

Tw'eak's eyebrows shot several decks upwards. "I see." She found a chair and sat in it at an awkward angle. "So this is one of those conversations."

"Indeed," T'uni continued. "It had been our intention to conduct a performance review in light of the ...present issues. However, for several reasons, we decided upon a personnel-based approach instead."

"You should've known," Tw'eak joked.

T'uni tilted her head. "I do not follow."

"Anyone who'd take this job would have to be crazy - you should've known that from the outset. Especially given whom you recommended for the post."

T'uni's face turned downwards. "It is not the intention of this meeting to speculate upon whether your command decisions have been logical. In fact, Starfleet Intelligence is of the opinion that your task force has performed its tasks in a competent fashion."

"First piece of good news I've had in weeks," Tw'eak stated.

"You must've known you were doing well," Derret replied.

Tw'eak shook her head. "We've made our reports on a regular basis, but aside from a few dead Tal Shiar... I don't know what we have to show for it." She looked back to her desk. "I was just going over what we've supposedly accomplished out here. I don't know that it's been worth a plasma burn to a first-year ensign, let alone the price we've paid in lives lost since we started. We're no further ahead in understanding the Iconians - and you can forget about preventing them from coming, it seems."

Derret nodded. "A point well taken." She looked back to T'uni. "I have heard several officers inform me that their reports to Intelligence and Command alike are seemingly being given a blind eye."

"No," T'uni replied, flatly. "This is not the case. I can vouch for that personally. Our confirmation notices may be nondescript, but such confirmation notices being nondescript is logical. We cannot know the significance of the contents until further analysis is conducted upon their meaning."

"But you can see how that reluctance to offer any positive reinforcement hurts morale," Derret continued.

"And its effect on Tw'eak," Doc added. "We know she can be... too hard on herself at the best of times."

"I suppose so," Tw'eak said, a bit miffed at being talked about as if absent. "But it's always warranted."

"In your mind, maybe," Doc replied.

" 'In a competent fashion,' " Tw'eak repeated aloud. "Not exactly 'well done', is it?"

"I apologize if you feel I understated your performance," T'uni replied. "Should I rephrase?"

"No, that'll suffice - as you stated it. It's the first word I've had on the subject. Quite literally. And I know what you'll say," she added, turning to Derret, "that I should have a better grasp on this, on my sense of progression or whatever. But I don't. This mission we have is unlike anything I've done before, and I've had limited exposure to intelligence-gathering outside of qualification training and a few courses at the Academy. Half the reason I got this job was because you wanted me for it, T'uni."

"I was hardly the sole determinant."

"Granted, but you were the prime mover."

T'uni nodded. "I had the benefit of considerable influence to support my decision."

"You mean - " Derret looked to T'uni. "She must not know."

Tw'eak looked from Derret to T'uni, confused. "Know what?"

T'uni adjusted her seating in her chair. "Your recommendation for this position... while I admit my part in assembling the short list of candidates, it was ultimately Admiral Chakotay whose decision it was to entrust you with Task Force Silhouette."

"I see."

"But that's not all," Derret continued. "You see, this is part of the reason I was so ...intrigued by you at our first meeting. An admiral being posted to a task force is always expected to have someone who vouches for your candidacy, whether that be a former commander or a patron of high rank who desires you for the position - much like being named first officer depends on your having the captain's confidence and trust."

"Right."

T'uni picked up the thread from there. "Your recommendation for this posting was heartily endorsed, in glowing terms, by Ambassador Picard... and nearly prevented by the influence of Fleet Admiral Slutskaya."

Tw'eak was astonished. "Fleet Admiral Slutskaya? She was my captain aboard the Nelson. The last I had heard, she was an instructor at the Academy. She's a fleet admiral now?"

"She has accepted promotion and currently commands Eleventh Fleet." T'uni shook her head. "She was most insistent that you would be better utilized as a task force commander in her fleet."

Tw'eak's eyes widened, as did her antennae. "Tell me, do you happen to know... is the starship Wichita part of the Eleventh Fleet?"

"I do not." T'uni's eyebrows furrowed. "That is a most peculiar query."

"Sorry. In Spera's timeline - I was aboard Wichita, not sure in what capacity, but that was my flag vessel throughout the Iconian War. Or maybe it was only my command, maybe I wasn't an admiral at all, I don't know. Either way, it wasn't Warspite I was on when the Iconians arrived in that timeline."

"Fascinating," T'uni replied, sounding distinctly unimpressed. "A most intriguing conjecture - impossible to prove or disprove, though."

"I'm not so sure. I'll have to check that shuttle of Spera's later, see if there's a copy of my service record. In fact, I might go do that now."

Tw'eak was prevented from rising by Doc's hand on her leg. "Just sit down," Doc insisted. "I want to hear the rest of it, T'uni - that's one very renowned officer for, and another venerable officer against."

"Indeed. Yet the influence of yet another officer of renown came into the matter, and her voice in the decision was, shall we say, particularly weighty in Admiral Chakotay's mind." T'uni cleared her throat.

Doc leaned forward at T'uni's hesitance. "Who?"

"I'd be curious to know myself," Tw'eak added. She looked to Derret. "Do you know?"

"I do," Derret replied.

"My congratulations, T'uni," Doc declared. "I didn't realize all of you counselors worked for Intelligence." She leaned back, her attitude seemingly peeved.

"Oh, no, nothing of the sort." Derret indicated Tw'eak with a hand. "My interest in the admiral led me to read her personnel file - it's all there in the documentation. I'm surprised neither of you have read it, though I suppose one doesn't read one's own file. Still, Doctor, my only involvement with Starfleet Intelligence has been in conjunction with my service as part of this task force."

Doc nodded impatiently at Derret, waving her explanations away, looking for answers. "So who is it, then?"

"Well," Derret said, looking to Tw'eak. "Few people would have the influence on Admiral Chakotay quite the same as the officer who brought him back into Starfleet in the first place."

Tw'eak and Doc looked at each other before Tw'eak leaned forward, incredulous. "You mean - ?"

"Oh, yes. She's followed your career very carefully since the Bonaventure's action against the Hirogen some years ago. She's been quite impressed by you. There's a line in the recommendation - something to the extent of how she knows a kindred spirit when she sees one?"

T'uni closed her eyes in refutation. "Admiral Janeway's words were, 'I know a shooting star when I see one'."

"That was it." Derret nodded.

Tw'eak blew out her cheeks. "You're kidding me."

Derret laughed. "It's your personnel file, Admiral. Nothing secret in there, if you wanted to review it yourself. But I would take the captain at her word - Vulcans are usually quite accurate with these sorts of things."

"Quite," T'uni repeated, a slight hint of a smile at her lips.

Tw'eak was flabbergasted, and sat in stunned silence for a moment. Doc gave a chuckle. "That's really something," she said after a moment as she watched Tw'eak blush.

After a few moments, well aware that all eyes were on her, Tw'eak looked up and gave an anxious giggle, then shook her head. " 'Shooting star', huh," she said, disbelievingly. "Quite a compliment." Her lip wrinkled. "Wish I'd been able to do something worthwhile with it."

"What do you mean?" Derret asked.

Tw'eak gestured towards the expanse of space out the window. "All of it. Look, we've been out here for, what, six months, almost? I've been sending ships here and there, all across the galaxy, in pursuit of some... some lever we can lean on, to tilt the balance back in our favour. We've known since Spera arrived what we'd be up against - the closest thing to the Final Darkness that's ever been on offer."

"But we've halted some of their efforts," Doc corrected.

"No," Tw'eak insisted. "We've halted the Undine - we hope. But we haven't done a thing about the Iconians."

T'uni raised an eyebrow. "It is irrefutable that the Undine were provoked into their action by the Iconians. That much you discovered yourself in fluidic space."

"Granted - but again, that isn't the main Iconian effort, and even if it was, it wasn't my task force that halted the Undine, it was a last-ditch effort by the entire Alpha Quadrant working together. That won't be enough against the Iconians. We haven't found a way to slow their advance, let alone halt it altogether."

T'uni's lips became pursed. "The newfound support of the Klingon Empire, in a grand alliance with the Romulan Republic and coalition of Delta Quadrant powers, will logically be better positioned to strategically keep the Iconians from total victory in so short a time as in the timeline from which your daughter arrived."

"And you tell me - what part of our mission had anything to do with that?"

"Your entire task force was present in strength at the battle over Qo'noS - and played a pivotal role. Admiral Quinn raised his flag aboard a starship of your task force, and co-ordinated Starfleet's response from your vessel."

"T'uni, please. That's not what I mean and you know it." Tw'eak felt herself becoming exasperated. "Any ship I was onboard would've rushed to Earth in a situation like that, and from there, once the situation changed, we would've gone to Qo'noS. We were simply lucky to have the admiral aboard at the time."

"Admiral Quinn credits you with saving his life that day."

Tw'eak brushed aside these facts to continue her argument. "We were put into space originally, by you and by Starfleet Intelligence, with the mission of investigating the Iconians and trying to find every reasonable advantage over them. We've followed leads from ...from the Gamma Quadrant to the Delta Quadrant and all points in between. We've come up empty handed."

T'uni shook her head. "Once again, I disagree."

"All that goodwill and trust, and the only thing I've been able to do with it is... what, exactly?"

T'uni opened her mouth to answer, but Derret raised a hand. "May I, Captain?"

"You are welcome to try," T'uni replied, with a hint of sarcasm.

Derret nodded, then turned to Tw'eak, welcoming smile set to maximum. "You've just refuted your own point, Admiral. I know it can be hard to see, since you seem to have quite a bit emotionally invested in seeing yourself as having accomplished so little, but there are definite patterns of success present. You're looking at this in broad, philosophical terms - as a battle of ...light against darkness?"

"Not yet, it isn't. But soon enough."

"The admiral's reference to the 'Final Darkness' is a concept in Andorian mythology," T'uni added for good measure.

Derret nodded. "Sort of like the human concept of Ragnarok, or Armageddon?"

"Approximately." T'uni opened her mouth to explain further, but relented.

Derret turned back to Tw'eak. "I understand. You see yourself as standing in the threshold of a gateway, trying to hold back the apocalypse."

Tw'eak winced at the mention of 'gateways', and nodded. "Just about, yeah."

"You're familiar with the concept of a 'rearguard action', probably moreso than any of us from the science or intelligence branches."

"She's practically an expert in those," Doc quipped. She looked over to Tw'eak. "Well, it's true. Show them the work I did on that arm. Some of my best, if I do say so myself."

"I know where this is going," Tw'eak said firmly, trying to anticipate the conversation.

Derret merely smiled broadly again and shook her head. "You always think in such... situational terms, even in conversation. Even now you're trying to position yourself in the dialogue so that no one else has to say a word - you're a step ahead of us."

"Until she isn't," Doc joked.

"Such precise control," Derret said, ignoring Doc. "Is every instance to be that finely tuned, in your opinion?"

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes at Derret, glancing quickly to T'uni as she did. The feeling of a net closing around her was inescapable. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Oh, I think you do. I think that's the root of what's really bothering you, Admiral. This situation with the Iconians, with their war, with whatever is to follow... it's beyond your control."

"Most things are," Tw'eak replied dryly.

"Oh, no, not at all. When I look at the ships you've commanded - directly, I mean, aboard Silhouette and Warspite - there's a different sort of ...esprit de corps which exists there than aboard, for example, Polaris or Turing. Those ships also operate as efficiently, also complete their tasks as you order them to be completed, but there isn't that same sense of awareness, of connection. It's like you captaining a crew of Betazoids might feel - like everyone else is attuned to a frequency you're not. That's a symptom of your influence - a good one, I might add, a very good one. Many of the senior officers on those ships are people you've directly influenced... inspired. And they would follow you to hell and back again."

Tw'eak merely nodded. "The requirements of the service, that's all. Starfleet expects each one of them to do their duty. And it expects me to inspire them by example."

"Ideally - and admittedly, according to regulation - yes. You're absolutely right. But I doubt it works that way... half the time."

"Substantially less," T'uni added.

Derret nodded, then continued. "Starfleet Records must have billions of log entries - trillions, even - on file regarding the clashes of personality between the hierarchies of rank, or even between officers of the same rank who feel competitive towards each other. Some admirals would even encourage a competition between their respective ships, but not you. This whole task force serves as an extension of your intelligence-gathering mission - each ship has a crew that follows your inspiration, your example. It's what sets this task force apart. When called upon, they all followed you, and together, this task force's intervention may have been the decisive moment in that battle, for all we know."

"There's no evidence of that."

"There is," T'uni refuted. "Your own daughter's materials clearly indicate that the Enterprise-F - and Warspite - were both destroyed over Qo'noS during that battle. If your earlier supposition of your absence was correct, then by extension, no other vessels could support Captain Shon's sacrifice of the Aquarius escort in order to cripple and destroy the planet-killer. Logically, it follows that your task force being absent from that final assault, in that universe, was a factor in the final outcome. Perhaps the Aquarius' flight was the decisive moment in that action. Your tactical support made his flight a success, rather than a failed sacrifice."

Tw'eak stared at T'uni for a long moment, astonished both at the factual recounting of her task force's maneuvers during the battle over Qo'noS, and at how persuasive it sounded in such a re-telling. Perhaps their decision to support the Aquarius on its assault run was the decisive - no. Tw'eak gave a dismissive shake of the head. "That's just... conjecture."

"Nevertheless, it does stand to reason. After all, by your own conjecture, your absence led you to survive the destruction of Qo'noS in the alternate timeline."

"Does that matter?" Doc asked. "We survived, in this timeline."

"Indeed," T'uni said with a nod. "So far."

Prin Derret delicately changed the topic. "If I could just get back to where I was going... everything in this task force revolves around you, as admiral. You've inspired your senior officers, who run their ships the best they can, and they all work in conjunction - Intelligence operatives and analysts working side-by-side with Starfleet personnel, with civilian and family units aboard, without major resource conflicts or personality clashes, without any friction at all. I would qualify that as a considerable accomplishment in and of itself, given that it's never been attempted before, and yet is working so very well."

"I would agree," T'uni said, nodding again. "All outside observers with whom I have discussed this task force are continually impressed with its accomplishments. The meshing of Intelligence units with dedicated Starfleet crew members is typically the first question I am asked on the subject."

"But it's not enough," Tw'eak insisted. "You've sent us out here with a mission to... to prevent the fall of the Federation. All I've been able to do is read their schedule and say, 'probably not yet'."

"Isn't that enough?" Doc replied. "If you're going to take that view, then yes, it's a huge undertaking to ask of anyone - but look at it from the way Counselor Derret is framing it. We've made it this far together. You haven't had so much as a single transfer request cross your desk. And I'd know because I'd have to sign off on them if there were any."

"That's not true," Tw'eak countered, recalling that Aurora duBois had taken a liking to an officer whom she had transferred to USS Turing.

"Within the task force - sure. But back to spacedock, out on their ass? Or to another formation because of conflicts? Nobody."

Tw'eak nodded, begrudgingly accepting. "Right."

T'uni nodded yet again. "There are also matters of interstellar relations which have been handled with competence and care. To date, your task force has been principally responsible for either negotiating or otherwise gaining access to intelligence sources from within the Cardassian Union, the Dominion, both the Tal Shiar and Romulan Star Empire as well as the Romulan Republic, and from the Klingon Intelligence Service as well."

"Let's not go into details about just how we got the Tal Shiar's files," Tw'eak quipped, half-grinning.

"I'd also like to point out that we're due to link up with Voyager to talk about what they've learned over the past while in the Delta Quadrant," Derret added. "More information to add to the files."

"The significance of this wealth of intelligence should not be underestimated," T'uni continued. "It is possible that your task force has already discovered or made available some information which, upon further analysis, will yield the essential means of victory. However, I must refute the notion that your orders necessitated the discovery of some... 'wonder weapon' against the Iconians. Such a concept is typical of poorly-written speculative fiction. The human term 'deus ex machina' is typically applied in such instances. Our understanding of the universe runs contrary to such notions being practicable, and I do not believe that a 'wonder weapon' will be sufficient to defeat the Iconian threat."

"Unless one of us asked Q for a little favour or two," Doc said with a smile. "I'm sure he'd listen."

"Yes, but at what cost?" Derret asked, unamused. "Asking an omnipotent being for favours... I'd rather we didn't. The price may be more than we can bear. I'd argue it already was, with the Borg."

"I'd say he did us an enormous service with the Borg, even if it came at a terrible cost - it would've either way." Doc shrugged. "Not trying to argue that the ends justify the means, even if it sounds that way."

"No, I see your point," Derret replied. "I just don't think that we should look to Q for a solution."

"Neither do I." Doc's smile returned. "Believe me."

Tw'eak found herself stricken, emotionally. "That's what's weighing on me - either way, 'wonder weapon' or none, we're in an absolutely horrible position to face anyone right now, let alone the doom of our time. I've read the reports - Starfleet's overall defensive capabilities are poorer than they have been since the second or third year of the war, before we began more extensive mobilization."

"One presumes that this is being done deliberately," T'uni replied. "Starfleet would rotate crews or deactivate starships with the intention of resting those crews."

"But that's not what's happening - we're at nearly full mobilization. But our crews aren't resting, or training - not really in any shape to, either. They're spread too thin, all over."

"Also no doubt intentional," T'uni retorted. "The width of the net is essential in order to ensure an assertive patrol stance, and a strength in numbers when the Iconians arrive."

"To say nothing of the morale benefits of having a starship in-system if you're an isolated colony or potentially-threatened species," Derret added. "People look at our ships as security, as protection, but also as a symbol of stability and a reassurance. That's why we need to be there."

Tw'eak pursed her lips. "But if they do arrive - the Iconians, I mean - any single starship they encounter will be easy pickings."

T'uni raised an eyebrow. "Yet any starship so encountered will also have the opportunity - and no doubt, the directive - to produce a distress signal and mobilize the fleet's response."

"And then what? A task force arrives - then maybe a whole fleet - against... what? We don't know the Iconians' true strength, or the strengths of their servitor races. Plus we know the Iconians can use their gateways to appear and disappear - spreading out may simply mean they can engage us in strength, at will, and vanish before we can reply in kind. How many people are going to die, willingly or otherwise, before we can even begin to fight?"

"I see her point," Doc said in reply. "I'm a doctor, not a general. I don't order others into harm's way, I fix what finding themselves in harm's way has done to them. And she's right. The human cost - forgive the expression - of these sorts of tactics... we're looking at an immense loss of life, regardless of whether we face one Iconian at a time or a billion of them at once."

Derret shrugged. "My mother would say, as I'm sure the captain would agree, that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"Or the one," T'uni stated in completion, before continuing. "I am certain that Starfleet is well aware of the casualty cost involved with planning and preparing our response to the Iconians' arrival. You are correct in that our experience dealing with their gateway-based tactics is merely speculative at the present time. We simply cannot know how effective our response will be until we have been forced to respond - and from there, the matter will proceed as always... from each according to their gifts, coupled with random chance in operation."

Doc raised both eyebrows. "And I thought Tw'eak was cynical. That takes the cake."

"Merely describing the obvious, Doctor. I do not deny that the admiral's doubts are well-founded. Many at Starfleet share them, albeit in private. I can disclose my awareness of reports which indicate that a number of star systems are already being treated as dispensible in certain plans, in a strategy of trading space for time to organize, which has earned the perhaps unfortunate appellation of 'scorched earth'."

Doc smiled. "That's an old Earth expression, I'm sure you know."

"Quite. Its usage as a tactic against an enemy such as the Iconians, an enemy whose advance will likely not follow a linear progression, is questionable - a counterpoint which has already been raised in response at those levels. Still, regardless of the precise sequence of events in this next war, your presumptions are logical, and no doubt correct - the forthcoming conflict will come at a heavy cost, perhaps heavier than the war with the Klingons, though perhaps not as protracted in duration."

"Because they'll beat the pants off of us?" Doc quipped.

"I did not say that." T'uni's face remained as expressionless as the Vulcan could muster, although her eyes betrayed a slight shimmer of grief.

Tw'eak leaned forwards. "Those reports... just out of curiosity, how many of them are projecting victory for us?"

Swallowing, T'uni looked downwards at her hands, and did not respond.

"That's what I was afraid of," Tw'eak replied, and got up from her chair. "Uzaveh's name."

"There's no reason to despair," Derret offered in her warmest tone.

Tw'eak turned around slowly, utterly flabbergasted. "Are you serious? There's every reason to despair! By the Light of the Infinite... really."

Derret shook her head. "But not openly, not... not in a way that disheartens your crew."

Tw'eak bit her lower lip, bouncing in place with anxiety for a moment. "Not like this," she said softly, repeating Aurora duBois' mantra from their last meeting.

"No, not like this at all." Derret adjusted her long hair, a pointed ear peeking out from beyond her tresses. "It's normal, across all species, to feel stressed, even to panic, at a sensation of lost control - it's normal to feel the weight of the expectations that are due to officers of higher rank. But it's also normal - and an expectation of the rank you hold - the burdens of knowing those odds, the burden of the... the truth of what's to come. That burden is something which you and you alone must carry." Derret adjusted herself in her chair. "If you were, say, about to face the Borg in combat, across space - a single sphere, let's say, versus this ship, would you openly address the crew by discussing the horrors of assimilation?"

"Of course I wouldn't."

"But assimilation is a horrible thing, and surely a real possibility facing the Borg."

"From a single sphere? Against Warspite?" Tw'eak scoffed. "We eat spheres for breakfast."

Derret raised a hand, upping the odds. "Make it a cube, then."

"Lunch." Tw'eak raised an eyebrow.

"A tactical cube."

"Three square meals a day," Tw'eak joked.

"No, just two," Doc corrected, smiling. "Spheres are round."

Tw'eak nodded, accepting her error. "My mistake."

Derret ignored the joshing. "Would you lose heart faced with... a whole Borg force, like the one you faced during your last mission as commander of Bonaventure?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "Borg are known threats. We've met them before."

"That enormous Borg vessel you faced was hardly a 'known threat' at the time."

"No, but it was still the Borg. 'Resistance is futile' voice across all frequencies... nothing new." Tw'eak sat back down. "I'm sure that Ambassador Picard, upon first contact with the Borg, didn't just open fire and 'resist' because he was told not to - in fact, I've read the logs and reports from that whole episode in system J25, just last month, for guidance. The jury's still out on whether or not Q did us a favour by introducing us that day." Tw'eak looked to Doc, in remembrance of her earlier reference to the omnipotent pest. "So be careful what you wish for."

Derret took a breath. "So it's the uncertainty of not knowing what the Iconians' combat capabilities are which is depriving you of your ability to treat them objectively?"

"You don't think I'm treating them objectively?" Tw'eak was taken aback. "As a threat?"

"As a threat? No, not particularly. We know what they could represent - but we know the Borg could represent total assimilation, or that the Undine could represent total planetary destruction of all of our homeworlds." Derret offered another winning smile. "Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"You're saying that if Tw'eak oversells the Iconian threat, she'll take the heart out of her crew?" Doc asked, almost on Tw'eak's behalf.

"They know me better than that," Tw'eak replied dismissively.

"Certainly," Derret replied, then added with a flourish, "but let's remember that they don't know the Iconians, either."

Tw'eak blinked in realization. Derret was right. Her cynical approach to the Iconians, her inability to face up to what may very well be a galaxy-wide rearguard action against their onslaught, had only made the challenge the Iconians represented become inflated, even unrealistic, in the minds of her officers and crews. The fact that they had been represented as the Total Darkness personified, the fact that their efforts had succeeded in poisoning the minds of the Undine against all non-fluidic life, and in leading the Tal Shiar to betray their own people and destroy their own beloved homeworld, had become feats of monumental importance - yet, Tw'eak had to acknowledge, the Undine had always been anxious, even fearful, of those from beyond fluidic space, just as the Tal Shiar's own self-destructive tendencies, also bred of anxiety and fear, had been brought to a particularly tragic final outcome in the Hobus supernova and the destruction of Romulus.

"You know, it's funny," she said to the three officers before her after a moment. "There was a time... feels like it was another era. The prospect of encountering new life, new civilizations... it was the sort of thing we used to be out here in order to do. Not a handful of press-boarded cadets pretending to know how to captain a clapped-out Miranda-class rustbucket. That ship has components that are ten times as old as its officers."

"The components are probably more efficient," Doc joked.

Tw'eak continued staring off into the distance. "We're supposed to be excited by the prospect of first contact with alien species. Now here we are talking about how long the Federation will survive first contact with the Iconians. Seeking them out, boldly going... anywhere... just feels like it's no longer an option for us."

T'uni listened patiently, then raised an eyebrow. "We shall see," she said after a moment.

"You really think there's still hope?"

T'uni gave a slight frown. "You and I have known each other for nearly our entire adult lives. In that time, I have... come to expect from you a level of service and duty unparallelled in others. When the counselor spoke of officers whom you have inspired, in your time, I knew precisely of what she spoke, for I must admit that I would be counted among their number. As... illogical as it may sound to hear, my hope for the future resides in you, as ever it has."

Doc looked from T'uni to Tw'eak. "It's the same with me. You know that."

"And with all of us," Derret added. "I can vouch for that on behalf of the crew as a whole."

Tw'eak sat for a moment, completely overwhelmed by what she was hearing. "But I've told you all - I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm going to do, when the moment comes... when this all begins, for real, I don't know that I can do this."

"But you're going to," Doc replied. "And we're all with you."

"And I should add that combat psychology typically considers the 'hours before the dawn' to be the most stressful," Derret said. "Right now, your doubts hold sway because your instincts are dormant. Once the enemy presents itself... you'll know what to do."

"I hope you're right." Tw'eak felt her antennae scrunch tightly.

"The only voice I've heard to the contrary among the hundreds onboard... has been yours, Admiral." Derret gave Tw'eak another slightly angled glance, a flourish, clearly a practiced counseling technique of hers. Despite Tw'eak's desire to scoff in reply, she merely nodded appreciatively.

"Alright, so that's settled, then," Tw'eak said with a smile. "I'll meet with Admiral Tuvok, and Spera - it'll be good to see her again."

"Indeed," T'uni replied. "Admiral Tuvok is most impressed with her contribution to the mission."

"She takes after her mother," Doc joked, then raised a hand. "Or _shreya_ , rather. Sorry."

"It's fine," Tw'eak quipped. "Wouldn't expect the chief medical officer to be able to tell her blue patients apart from each other."

"Hey now," Doc replied sharply, "any other blue patient of mine - maybe - but I've put you back together so many times you're practically a bio-engineering project of mine."

Tw'eak and the others laughed, after which she turned to Derret. "Does that satisfy the purpose of our meeting, then?"

"Very much so, yes," Derret replied, then deferred to T'uni. "If you're satisfied, of course."

"Quite," T'uni said plainly. She looked up at Tw'eak. "I believe we have a meeting aboard Voyager to attend."

"So we do." Tw'eak got up, as did T'uni. "If you two will excuse us, we'll be on our way."

"Just - hold on, Tw'eak," Doc said quickly. "That business earlier, about recommendations... you seriously mean to tell me you had no idea?"

Tw'eak shook her head, sincerely. "Like the counselor said, who reads their own personnel file? I have more than enough to read about the rest of the universe."

"Perhaps it's a topic in which you should take greater interest," Derret added thoughtfully.

"Which topic is that?"

"Your self, Admiral," the counselor replied with her smile. "It's a sincerely fascinating subject. And one to be mindful of, whatever may come."

Tw'eak smiled, nodded, and headed for the transporter room, with T'uni close beside her.


	87. Part VI, Chapter 2

The interior of the transporter room aboard Delta Quadrant Command was cramped, almost caving in upon itself. Arches of mechanical structure were built into its convex shape, and Tw'eak was given the impression of being within a space that was both unwelcoming and strangely familiar. She resisted the urge to hunch over, or lean away from the walls, feeling as if the place were about to collapse upon itself. Perhaps it was the shadowy darkness of the room, by comparison to a Starfleet ship - it was lit almost more like a Klingon, or even Reman, ship might be, save for the lavender illumination. Crates and glowing spheres riddled the interior of the room, and on either side, at identical transporter terminals, were a Caitian ensign and a Klingon technician. Tw'eak nodded to the ensign, then the warrior, as she moved quickly to clear the pad, then stood still, uncomfortable with further progress.

Next to her, T'uni took a few steps towards the exit. "Admiral Tuvok will be waiting for us at the intelligence officers' station."

"I'm sure he will," Tw'eak replied, well aware that Spera would be with him. She followed T'uni to a doorway, which opened. Tw'eak paused for a moment, looking around. "Too bad there aren't any view ports. Quite the view from up here, I'd imagine."

"Indeed. The Dyson spheres are remarkable structures. We are not in sufficient proximity to the outer surface of this spire for there to be... a view."

"Kind of dismal in here without it." Tw'eak looked around. "Even just a painting or two would brighten this place up a bit."

"The considerations of interior decor have not been given priority. Indeed, given our difficulties in securing the Solanae sphere for the Alliance, it is unlikely to achieve priority anytime soon. The discovery of its gateway linkage to a second sphere is... troubling in its implications."

"No reason not to make ourselves at home here." Tw'eak walked through a cog-like doorway and down the turning length of the corridor with T'uni beside her. "Clearly they won't be moving back in anytime soon. Do we know if the Iconians have any more spheres in their possession?" she asked.

"Not at present, although the speculation one derives from having found two of such a unique structure abandoned as these have been is also rather troubling."

"How so?"

"Think of it as though a pre-warp civilization discovered a derelict starship, with transporter functions linking directly to a second starship light-years distant."

"I see your point. Starfleet has thousands of ships. But if you just found the one ship, you'd wonder if it was one-of-a-kind."

"Yet with two present, speculation is possible that such vessels exist in sufficient qualities to fulfil a particular purpose. Precisely." T'uni raised a hand. "We know from the initial scans conducted upon the discovery of this sphere that the star at its centre is not stable - perhaps this is why it was left in place by the Iconians, rather than permitted to continue in function of its mission."

"So this one's just been retired, then. Now that is a scary thought," Tw'eak said, raising her eyebrows. If this Jenolan sphere was, in fact, merely the equivalent of a Miranda class starship with a bad warp core, then that implied that there were greater, more capable Dyson spheres out there... perhaps in, to use T'uni's term, 'sufficient numbers' for the Iconians' purposes.

A second doorway opened onto a truly enormous interior chamber, its overall design also spherical, the purple lighted highlights and overall dim lighting unchanged from the transporter room beyond. In the centre of the upper hemisphere of the sphere floated a sort of control mechanism, like a great laser scalpel hovering without a hand over the interior chamber. Around it hovered a six-sectioned star field projected from within the mechanism, displaying what Tw'eak presumed to be an image of the galaxy itself. Around Tw'eak, on a circular platform, a series of depots and duty stations were present, one of them displaying a wire diagram of the massive Voth city-ship. Smaller spire-shaped fingers raced towards the surface, and creating a sort of inner chamber at the very centre of the circular floor. Tw'eak found herself reminded both of the ice caves of Andoria and the interior of the chamber where she and Ambassador Worf had discovered the awful truth of the Solanae and the woeful power of the Iconians. The memory of a near-dead Va'kel Shon strapped to a Solanae bio-bed, his vascular and circulatory systems in a state of collapse, made her come to a stop, and she looked down - startled at the realization that the walkway before her was translucent. "Whoa," she said, stepping backwards.

"Admiral?" T'uni turned, standing in a seemingly free-floating fashion on the walkway.

"Sorry. The last time I was on one of these spheres, we had to extend the walkways in order to get around. And they weren't made of energy."

"Ah. I see. You need have no such concerns. The structure and overall facility is perfectly safe, as are all walkways and corridors."

Tw'eak looked up, her eyes open for the automated defense drones known as 'swarmers'. "So there won't be any unpleasant surprises?"

"None. I assure you."

"Alright." Tw'eak took a tentative first step, hand on the energy railing, unwilling to trust her own feet. Then she heard Spera's voice.

"Shreya!"

From the innermost chamber of the room, Spera came quickly, crossing the intervening hundred metres in a matter of moments. To Tw'eak's surprise, she was in full Starfleet uniform. She came across the clear walkway and embraced Tw'eak, who returned the hug with one arm, her hand still in a talon-like grip around the railing.

"What's wrong?"

"N - nothing. Uzaveh's name." Tw'eak looked up to see that, above the floating orrery, a half-circle curvature was making a slow revolution around the interior of the room. From its centre came a long diadem of metal with purple light effects, with a further purple-light-and-metal structure like a sideways-facing eye about a third of the way up from where Tw'eak was standing. To Tw'eak's mind, it was certain to knock her into the expansive abyss which stretched below her, and she dodged to one side as it crossed harmlessly through the walkway.

Her eyes wide, Tw'eak watched the dual beams of the metal curvature as its revolution continued apace. "Captain T'uni tells me this place is perfectly safe," she said quickly to Spera. "I almost believe her."

"It is. Why are you so nervous? There's no need."

"You remember my last experience with a Dyson sphere."

"I was there, remember?" Spera smiled at her anxious _shreya_. "It wasn't a good day for either of us, but this sphere is completely different. The automated defenses are disabled and the whole structure is under our direct control."

"Good." Tw'eak finally made her way, with Spera's help, across the transparent bridge. She looked back. "They can't... I don't know, dump a can of paint or two across that?"

"What would be the point? It's an energy field."

Tw'eak sighed. "You're right, it's just... every other energy field in here glows purple, why not that one?" She frowned at the walkway. "I like to know where my feet are going before I step over."

Spera laughed, and looked to where T'uni was standing. "Highly illogical," the Vulcan stated.

"You think so? Are your people regularly in the habit of walking into thin air?"

T'uni arched an eyebrow. "When there are energy handrails and guides in place, the rules are somewhat different from 'thin air'."

"Right." Tw'eak wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Let's just... not stand here any longer." The draft of the room caught Tw'eak the wrong way, and made her shudder. "How have you been?" she asked Spera, in an attempt to shift the discussion.

"Great. We have a lot to talk about. Come on." She crossed through the centre of a lighted archway, across another circular purple-lighted floor, into the middle section, slightly walled, at the heart of the room. Tw'eak followed, noting the presence of Admiral Tuvok, along with three officers, each from a different major power - Republic, Empire and Federation represented. "This is Commander Ethan Burgess," Spera said by way of introduction. "He's been Voyager's primary contact at Starfleet Intelligence during our time in the Delta Quadrant."

"A pleasure to meet you, Admiral," Burgess said, extending a hand.

Tw'eak looked down to shake his hand - and realized there was a massive spinning section beneath the floor, only partially shielded by grating. "I-" She took a step back from where she was about to move towards Burgess. " ' Perfectly safe', you said," she snarled at T'uni.

"Indeed," T'uni replied, sticking a boot into the grate. A lavender energy field prevented her from receiving any injury. "My apologies, the admiral is... taken aback by the surroundings."

"It takes a bit of getting used to," Commander Burgess said with a smile, stepping towards Tw'eak's hand to complete the handshake. "The Starfleet Corps of Engineers would object to a number of these details, if they could figure out what they were there for. But welcome, all the same."

"Thanks." Tw'eak looked up at the other two officers, both of whom, unlike Burgess, wore coloured headpieces that looked like sunglasses.

Spera indicated them in turn. "This is Commander Mena, of Republic Intelligence, and Galera, from Klingon Intelligence."

"Hello," Galera said, speaking first. "It's a pleasure to meet the legendary Admiral Sh'abbas."

Tw'eak realized that Galera was wearing the earring - and the distinctive nose ridges - of a Bajoran. "You'll forgive me for asking, but - "

"Don't worry about it. I get asked all the time. I'm half-Bajoran. Fiercely proud of it, too." She smiled, which Tw'eak hadn't expected. "It's a big part of the reason I'm valuable to Intelligence. K'men relies upon me because I don't think like a typical warrior. What we're doing has a meaning as great as anything the bravest warriors will be sung about for conquering. We make those conquests possible in Intelligence, without asking for recognition."

Tw'eak nodded, then looked to Commander Mena. "And you're from the Republic. We transferred a Tal Shiar officer into your custody earlier."

"Yes, Subadmiral Koval. I must admit, that was... unexpected. I hadn't expected to see Salina again."

Tw'eak furrowed her brows. "You know her?"

"Oh, yes. We worked together for a short time. Both of the Koval sisters and I did, actually." Mena pursed her lips. "I should explain - I've been in the intelligence game since before the destruction of the homeworld... back when that meant something. We weren't just Sela's thugs. We were doing the work needed to keep an empire running."

Tw'eak fought the urge to interrupt and ask for clarification. "I see."

"But I know better. What Hakeev and Sela were doing was wrong. And we're all going to pay the price for it."

"I'm afraid you're right." She looked back towards Galena. "Do you know my sister, Sassil?"

"Oh yes. The General and I have worked together on occasion in the past. I admit, we... never really got along."

"Good," Tw'eak quipped. "I'm not the only one, then."

"Far from it, Admiral." Galena smiled again, adjusting her spiky red-brown hair along the side of her head with a gloved hand as she did. "General Sh'abbas has something of a reputation across the Empire. She gets results, I'll give her that much."

"Family tradition," Tw'eak said, then turned to the tall, dark-skinned Vulcan standing to T'uni's right. "I trust you have been well, Admiral."

"Very well, thank you," Tuvok replied. "It is most agreeable to see you again."

Tw'eak patted Spera on the arm. "I hope she hasn't been too much trouble."

"On the contrary. The commander's insights and knowledge of the Delta Quadrant powers has proven invaluable, her response to more rigourous Starfleet specialization has been exemplary, and I have come to consider her an essential part of Voyager's crew. Her insights and demeanour have proven to be of great use in diplomatic situations where finesse is required."

Burgess spoke up. "I was glad to make her acquaintance as well - the Delta Quadrant's been a pet project of mine since I was in the Academy, so the chance to learn from Commander Spera what her lifetime of experience in these sectors has taught her... it was like finding whole new chapters in a book I knew by heart."

Spera chuckled, a bit embarrassed at being spoken of so highly. "That's one way of putting it..."

Tw'eak nodded, aware of her daughter's discomfort. "We should probably have a look at what you've discovered."

"Indeed," Tuvok concurred. "Our investigation has been... unusual. As such, we have had to take equally unusual precautions."

Tw'eak turned slightly to see a phaser in Spera's hands. "What are you doing?"

Spera took a step back. "Sorry, Shreya. I'm going to need you both to turn and face the other way."

T'uni looked at Spera, astonished. "Perhaps you would be willing to explain."

"After," Spera insisted. She waved the phaser away from herself. "Turn around, please."

Tw'eak raised her hands and turned. "Okay, then," she conceded. "C'mon, T'uni."

"I will comply as requested."

Both turned and looked towards the centre of the room. Spera came up to Tw'eak first, lifting her tied-back hair and glancing down the collar of her uniform. "She's fine," Spera said, continuing to T'uni and turning the collar downwards. "Her, too." Spera gave an audible sigh of relief. "Thank God."

Tw'eak looked over her shoulder. "That's it?"

"Yeah, Shreya. You're both clean."

"Of what, exactly?"

"Bluegills. Neither of you are infested."

Tw'eak turned slowly, her face full of confusion. "I read a few reports on this, but I don't follow why the phaser is necessary."

"Perhaps I can explain," T'uni said. "These are the parasitic creatures which are responsible for the infiltration of Starfleet Command, whose host 'mother' upon Earth was destroyed on stardate 41780, correct?"

"They are, in fact," Tuvok replied. "We recently uncovered their continued existence - and manipulation, specifically of the Vaadwaur - as part of our investigation. Indeed, it would appear that they were intentionally engineered in order to control the Vaadwaur, among other species, to the benefit of the Iconians."

"So how did they make their way to the Federation, then?" Tw'eak asked.

"We don't presently know," Burgess replied. "It's possible that another servitor race introduced them to Starfleet, and they were simply... very successful at their work."

"There isn't anything in Tal Shiar records to suggest Romulan responsibility," Mena added. "I should note that not all Tal Shiar records survived the destruction of our homeworld."

"And there are certain to be some operations which the Tal Shiar wouldn't want a paper trail linking them to having undertaken," Tw'eak observed.

"Certainly," Mena confirmed.

"It is plausible that the Iconians themselves sought to control the Federation through these parasites," T'uni speculated. "That would imply that the undoing of the conspiracy they sought to achieve would have affected the Iconians' plans."

"Then there are the Orions, the Obsidian Order, even the Solanae," Burgess added. "Starfleet has never lacked for threats."

"But then how did the Klingons escape their influence?" Tw'eak wondered, looking to Galena.

"Our power structure in command is so different from that of the Federation's," Galena replied. "It would have been genuinely difficult for a group of infested individuals to assert their authority in a command structure like ours, where a subordinate's challenge can mean the host's life. Even the Chancellor faces challenges from time to time. No one is safe. That's an advantage to us."

Tw'eak nodded. "Makes sense." She looked to Tuvok. "So we need to be on our guard against the influence of anyone infested by bluegills. Seems straightforward enough. But that's a defensive precaution - and we need to be ready to take the fight to them. Do you have any information as to leads or advantages we can use to fight the Iconians?"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "We may."

"You may?"

"Yes." He nodded to Spera, who moved to an adjacent console.

The young commander called up a section of star map whose sector names Tw'eak recognized as belonging in the Delta Quarant. "We've heard stories - rumours, mostly - about a race called the Krenim. We can't find any trace of them left now, but they once had a massive area of territory which they controlled, called the Imperium." This territory, along with the Imperium's emblem, appeared, then rapidly contracted down to non-existence.

"Voyager previously encountered the Krenim," Tuvok added. "At that time, the Imperium was a medium power of distinctively limited aggressive capacity. No meaningful contact beyond that with their border patrol took place during our initial passage towards the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager was able to peacefully transit through their space without any quarrel."

Spera nodded, indicating a star map she had called up on the viewer. "And it certainly wasn't a big space. In fact, their conflict with the Rilnar had been ongoing for two or three hundred years at a virtual stalemate before the return of the Vaadwaur. Now they're both... gone."

"To our regret, it appears now that the return of the Vaadwaur to the Delta Quadrant, a decision which was Voyager's, has culminated in the extinction of the Krenim, and possibly the Rilnar as well." Tuvok made a rueful face.

"Entirely?" Tw'eak was stunned.

"The Delta Alliance has been completely unable to find any living Krenim to contact. Which is too bad, because their technology was... brilliant." Spera pulled up a few diagrams. "We found these in the Vaadwaur's computers - advanced chroniton torpedo designs, way beyond what we have now, along with temporal shielding matrices and a far greater understanding of temporal science than ours. We'll be able to replicate some of these technologies to improve our own designs, but that'll take time."

"In short," Tuvok continued, "they would have proven to be powerful allies in the coming fight against the Iconians, were they still present to stand with us in force." He nodded to Mena.

"Republic Intelligence's debrief of Empress Sela, prior to her escape, was a very informative one, perhaps surprisingly so. There is no love lost between Sela and her Iconian masters - in fact, she provided us with quite a bit of information. She had a thorough understanding of the Iconians."

"If she's to be believed, that is." Tw'eak narrowed her eyes. "This is Sela we're talking about."

"We've been able to corroborate some of her story, or at least rule out the possibility of it being intentional falsehood. One of the most important pieces of information, we feel, deals with the same weapons Commander Spera alluded to from the files on the Krenim. In their present energy-based forms, the Iconians have a particular vulnerability to chroniton weaponry. Their mental and psychological well-being is adversely affected by any efforts at time travel."

"Which explains why they haven't done as the Borg did - travel into our past in order to change the future."

"As in the Battle of Sector 001, for instance," Mena confirmed. "It would also explain why the present Iconians have not acted to prevent their own homeworld's destruction, although we know it's not possible to travel that far back in time with any precision."

"So they can't rely upon time travel. But we can - as you say, at least a few hundred years this way or that. We have a Temporal Prime Directive for a reason, of course, but we've traveled through time before - probably more often than Starfleet would care to admit."

"Interesting conjecture," Burgess said with a slight smile.

"You're telling me I'm right, without saying as much. I appreciate that."

"As I said, Admiral," Burgess added, wry smile in place, "your conjecture is interesting."

Tw'eak smiled in return. "What else do you have in mind?"

Spera checked the list on the display. "Well... we were thinking of approaching the Deferi government, to see if they'll give us access to the Preserver archives."

"The ones on Lae'nas III?" Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "I've spoken to them before. You might as well ask the aliens in the wormhole for their opinion."

Spera looked down, then glanced over towards Burgess. "Actually, Admiral, that was an option we had discussed," Burgess replied.

"The Prophets will not fail us in our hour of need," Galena declared fervently.

"No, of course not," Tw'eak corrected herself. She had dealt with the so-called Prophets in the past. Their response to her urgent need had been a series of riddles, one of which echoed in her head - 'the hand which becomes a fist ceases to be a hand.' It had proven to be a message of great meaning, yet it was one which had not been particularly helpful in the crisis aboard Deep Space Nine. Tw'eak tried to soften her tone a bit. "And what did they have to say?"

"We have yet to approach them," T'uni said flatly. "However, it is worth noting that our request for co-operation from the Dominion has been rejected."

"On what grounds?"

"No grounds were provided." T'uni shrugged. "They simply declined to participate - as, it should be noted, has the Detapa Council."

"The Cardassians have their own problems," Burgess continued. "They've provided us with intelligence, but it's been of limited value."

"They've become dependent upon your Federation for everything," Galena remarked, "even intelligence."

"I do not believe that to be a fair assessment," T'uni responded.

"Doesn't matter," Tw'eak said, cutting the discussion short. "They're as helpless as the rest of us against these things."

"You can't believe that, Shreya," Spera offered as rebuke.

Tw'eak recalled her conversation with Doc. "Has anyone considered asking Q? He snaps his fingers, and we're done here. Or the Undine, perhaps? Maybe they'll stop infiltrating our forces for long enough to help."

"Really, Admiral." T'uni's tone was harsh, for a Vulcan. "You must govern your passions. There is no clear evidence to suggest that the situation is as hopeless as you perceive."

Tw'eak considered for a moment. "I think it's every bit as hopeless as I perceive. We've had the best of our people, the best of the Empire, the Republic, the Delta powers, all working to find an edge for us to use against the Iconians. And all we've got are desperate pleas to those with godlike power and - and the last scraps of an extinct people's technology. So we're going to... what, exactly? Beg the Prophets, or the Preservers, to save us?"

"The Prophets have intervened before," Galena insisted. "They saved Deep Space Nine from the Dominion once."

"Yes, only for us to nearly lose it to them again later. And it was a near-run thing that we managed to re-take the station."

"I know," Galena replied. "I also know that you were there."

Tw'eak found herself once again softening her tone in talking to Galena, remembering her Bajoran heritage. "You're right, though - they displaced the Jem'Hadar and made it so we had a fighting chance of defeating them piecemeal. The Emissary did well to make it possible."

Galena's face eased at the mention of Benjamin Sisko - by his Bajoran title, no less. "Indeed," she said quietly, eyes intent on Tw'eak.

There was a moment of silence between the officers before T'uni spoke up. "Our most promising lead at the moment would likely derive from the Krenim," she noted. "Nevertheless, the integration of their technology into our own will take time in order to accomplish. I reluctantly admit that I share the admiral's doubtful outlook as to our chances of doing so in a manner sufficient to combat the Iconians."

"It is merely one possibility." Tuvok looked to Spera, who closed the file on the Krenim on-screen. "Our separate intelligence services will continue to seek leads on the Krenim, as you have done with the Iconians, in the hopes of uncovering extant ruins, derelict or individual ships, perhaps some surviving Krenim with whom we can ally ourselves. In so doing, we increase the odds of turning the balance of the coming conflict with the Iconians in turn."

"And if that doesn't work," Spera continued, "we can always try to use temporal mechanics to manipulate them - maybe even go after them that way."

"With time travel?" Tw'eak was incredulous. "It'll never work. We know so little about them - we'd be at a loss even knowing where to begin."

Tuvok inclined his head to one side. "Perhaps. It is not certain. There are other methods at our disposal."

"What, besides the desperate? We can't defeat them - certainly not in conventional terms. Even if these Krenim have some wonder-weapons in store for us, it'll take time to get them distributed - and once the Iconians figure out how to blunt our advantage, we're back to bows and arrows against the lightning." She shook her head and looked to Tuvok. "I've reviewed the files Spera provided, Admiral - they've got us beat in terms of damage-dealing capacity in ship-to-ship combat, as well as on the ground. In both they'll have us beat in terms of numbers. Attrition will whittle us down, but they'll keep coming - their Heralds, after all, can appear in force anywhere and take enormous losses without slowing down. We don't have the same advantages. Our interior lines count for nothing against a force that can penetrate our defenses anywhere they like. Never mind the tactical disposition - it doesn't matter if we've concentrated our forces or not."

"We are aware of our shortcomings, Admiral," Burgess said quietly.

"All too aware of them," Galena added.

"Indeed," Tuvok continued. "If we are to prevail in the coming conflict, then we must consider all options available."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I don't think you understand my objection. I get it. You're all trying to... to come up with the less palatable options, in the event that we have to consider them as the only ones we have left. Really, I get it." She turned away, taking a few steps before looking back. "I've done the same thing, for hours, over the course of many sleepless nights, and this is no Academy tactical problem. We may be looking at a total loss."

Silence prevailed for a moment before Spera shook her head. "You don't know that. We've got to try."

"I'm not advocating we offer our surrender. After all, we used to have conversations about the Borg that sounded a lot like this."

"That much is certain," Tuvok said with a nod. "I can recall such discussions taking place with regularity for many years prior to my experience aboard Voyager - in which I myself was briefly assimilated. While the Collective persist, they do so in a far different fashion than previous."

"That's right," Burgess observed. "It's not a peaceful co-existence, but we're managing."

"I doubt the Iconians will be as accommodating," Mena stated dismissively. "And let's not forget that I lost many, many friends to the Collective in the early days - we thought their assimilation of the entire Star Empire to be a matter of time at one point. I can appreciate your concern, but we need to strike them, decisively, even pre-emptively, by any means necessary."

"I agree," Galena said.

"With what, exactly?" Tw'eak queried, incredulous.

Mena looked up at Spera. "Like you said before, Commander. Or maybe it was you, Admiral." Her eyes drifted to Tw'eak's. "They can't defeat us with time travel - but we can use it against them."

"With no real degree of certainty," Burgess observed.

"Indeed," Tuvok affirmed. "The length of time involved would be counted in hundreds of thousands of years, without any certainty of success."

"It's worth a shot," Mena observed. "I've talked to D'Tan about it. Volunteers only - nobody who doesn't want to go. A task force, maybe two task forces of warbirds, all go back together, perhaps with the assistance of the Guardian of Forever-"

"The Guardian?" Tw'eak laughed. "How are you going to fit a warbird through there, exactly?"

Mena furrowed her brow. "If you know of another means of secure, certain time travel, I would welcome the news of it."

"'Secure' and 'certain'," Tw'eak repeated. "Two words I haven't felt in a long time."

"You disagree with the idea?"

"Of course I do. If... suppose our hopes depended upon, I don't know, a newly-discovered civilization. Pre-warp, you understand. But somehow capable of defeating the Iconians, single-handed."

"By what means?" Galena asked.

"I don't know, hand-wavey super-magic or something - just go with me here."

"Would the Iconians not have already neutralized them?" Burgess inquired.

"Again, just go with me here."

"This scenario strains believability," T'uni interjected.

"But suppose it wasn't just believable - but true. Would it be worth violating the Prime Directive, in order to feel certain, and secure?"

"This is not a matter of philosophical debate," Tuvok replied.

"Wouldn't it be? And now - now you're talking about using time itself as a weapon."

Tuvok's eyebrow arched upwards. "That is not what is currently being discussed."

"Not yet, no." Tw'eak shook her head. "But in short order, it will be. My associate from Section 31 tells me that the ends justify the means. 'By any means necessary', as the Commander put it."

"The comparison is inexact," Tuvok said plainly.

"And a bit harsh," Burgess added. "None of us here are with Section 31, or any other rogue agency like it."

"No. And I admit, neither am I. Took some doing to keep it that way, too. Because if I were to admit to my occasional visitor that he was correct - even on the smallest of terms, even on the most basic of factors - then I risk losing sight of what it is that sets me apart from him. We both claim to serve the Federation. One of us can prove to, in actual fact. And as long as I wear this uniform, I'm a Starfleet officer, bound to its guiding principles."

"This is getting us nowhere," Mena exclaimed, her tone frustrated.

"And so it should, Commander. If we safeguard the lives of Federation nationals at the expense of the principles of that same Federation... what then?"

Spera raised a hand. "I don't follow your logic here at all, Shreya."

"I can appreciate the fact that you didn't grow up with a healthy fear of time travel - seems like something I should've taught you, but clearly didn't, because you're here, after all... and I'm really glad you are, don't get me wrong, but all you've got to offer me for all that Delta Quadrant exploration is a last-ditch temporal-warfare scenario."

"That's not all we have!" Spera protested. "We've learned a lot - look, a lot of our people, a lot of Klingons, a lot of Romulans, a lot of good people from Delta Quadrant races... killed in action against the Vaadwaur. We know enough not to try to meet a threat with only force as our weapon. We'll come up with something. But I agree. We're not going to end the Iconian threat with time travel. We know that already."

"We do." Tw'eak was incredulous. "News to me."

"Well, yeah. What are you going to do, go back hundreds of thousands of years, and ...then what? And what are its ramifications?"

"I don't know, but that very plan was what I heard being discussed just a moment ago," Tw'eak said, glaring at Mena.

"We could do it," Mena insisted. "Like I said, a few warbirds, under cloak... infiltrate, neutralizate. It's what we do."

"Falling back on old habits, are we."

Mena's eyes lit up with fury. "That is uncalled for."

Tw'eak closed her eyes, wincing at her misjudged remarks. "I meant as Romulans, not as Tal Shiar. You've - I've worked with the Republic long enough to know D'Tan to be a man of peace."

"So he is."

"And he likely offered scant consideration to your time-travel idea."

It was Mena's turn to wince. "Admittedly, yes."

Tuvok inclined his head. "The consequences of such a mission might be well beyond our ability to truly comprehend. Whether successful or otherwise, the timeline would shift irrevocably at that point in time. The odds against the formation of the Federation - indeed, of the development of the vast majority of civilizations present in the known galaxy, would be substantially reduced with the total extinction of the Iconian Empire. That much is certain. Their apparent survival and withdrawal left a legacy in our galaxy."

"Exactly. And we don't know how they, or their technology, or even perhaps their designs have played out in the meantime." Tw'eak looked up at Spera. "We don't have the resources to even try to understand what they've done, or how it influences what follows. Maybe these Krenim might, but here and now, we can't consider it seriously."

T'uni drew a comparison. "The Iconians' absence would be analogous to Earth development after the extinction event which crippled the planet at the end of the Mesozoic era. At that time, the forerunners of birds were the dominant species of the planet, while the forerunners of humanity seemed unlikely to develop either the means or requisite intelligence of civilization."

"Or they might've turned out like the Voth," Spera hypothesized. "Or something else entirely. We'll never know. Just like we'll never know how the Iconians - or, rather, not having the Iconians in charge - made the galaxy what it is."

Tw'eak lowered her head, and blinked hard. "But that's what I'm saying. Nobody has the knowledge necessary to make the right adjustments to the timeline - and even then, at what cost? We don't know. Tampering with the timeline could inadvertently remove our place within it."

"That's why we need to find the Krenim," Spera insisted. "If they still exist out there somewhere, they might be able to help us - maybe not with time travel, maybe just in the present. It gives us a series of skills we wouldn't otherwise have, or even have the understanding needed to develop. It might make some sort of timeline intervention more plausible."

"Which brings me back to my hypothetical," Tw'eak said, looking at T'uni. "The one you dismissed - in that scenario, our alliance, we're the ones who are being brought above our station. We don't have a better understand of the temporal dynamics involved - nobody here seems to want to challenge me on that point. If we find these Krenim, we open a door to all sorts of temporal mayhem and ... and... I don't even know what. Maybe we shouldn't, is my point."

"Starfleet captains have, in the past, encountered vessels identifying as 'timeships'," Burgess noted. "It would therefore seem we already have - or, rather, will."

"Predestination doesn't make a thing right. But you're right, clearly at some point we do cross that threshold. I can recall having an encounter with a timeship on one occasion in particular. Its captain informed me of very little, other than that he came from the twenty-ninth century. That's a full four hundred years from now."

"Three hundred years," T'uni corrected.

Tw'eak shook her head. "Whatever."

"Well, there you go, then," Spera said hopefully. "Somebody from the future does make it - maybe we don't lose after all."

"That presumes their intervention in the timeline follows a linear recursion," Tuvok observed. "This is not necessarily logical - their intervention could create what would essentially be a new timeline, perhaps one in which they themselves would cease to exist." He took a breath, watching as Spera began to formulate a response, and then raised a hand. "I concede that Vice Admiral Sh'abbas raises a valid point. The consequences of our pursuit of the Krenim may be ones which we are unable to anticipate - and one which may have unforeseen consequences for our future, presuming the Federation survives. This is, admittedly, a risk - however, it is a risk tempered by the knowledge that those who contact the Krenim will be bound by our guidelines. We have secured a pledge from the Klingons and the Republic to acknowledge the Federation's principles, and where possible, to honour them, especially in contact with a civilization such as the Krenim whose advancements could prove dangerous in the wrong hands."

"That's good," Tw'eak said, looking to Galera and Mena. "Thank you both."

"Nevertheless, I must admit that your assumptions, Admiral, are far too simplistic. While your fears are justified, we have no assurances that the Krenim continue to exist, nor that they will be willing to co-operate with us if we should encounter them."

Tw'eak curled a lip in begrudging acceptance. "True."

"Furthermore, their understanding of temporal mechanics may yield developments in weaponry, shielding, or perhaps other systems which our present science has yet to understand which may be of critical importance to the conflict which is to come. It would be remiss of us, despite the wartime exigencies which are to follow, to yield in our duty to seek out and find this civilization."

Tw'eak bit her lip. Tuvok was right. This was Starfleet's mission, after all, in a single phrasing. Still, the implications of pursuing an alliance with a potentially extinct civilization with a speciality in temporal science gave her a funny feeling. Her instincts were screaming for her to offer some sort of protest or further dissent to this idea, but she couldn't phrase the idea any more eloquently than to say she had a bad feeling about it. She merely shook her head. "I hope you're right about this," she muttered.

"We have no real way of knowing, and will not, until the implications are fully considered."

Spera smiled at her mother. "And until we actually find the Krenim. After all, we may be bracing ourselves for a scenario that never comes to pass."

Tw'eak nodded. "Best to confine ourselves to our present nightmare instead of dreaming up new ones. Right."

"May I suggest a short break?" Burgess asked. "It might not be a bad idea for us to take a few minutes to clear our heads and come back at this."

"Indeed," Tuvok noted. "It will give me adequate time to secure the Iconian materials from Voyager and transfer them to Starfleet Intelligence."

"I'm looking forward to seeing what you've learned," Burgess said, smiling.

"As am I," Tw'eak added. "But after."

This was a signal for the group to break up. Tuvok and Burgess moved off together, and Galera tailed Mena and T'uni as they went their way, deep in discussion about some aspect of temporal mechanics or another. Tw'eak smiled at the sight of Spera. "You did a great job," she said to her daughter.

"Thanks," Spera replied unhappily.

"What is it?"

"Well, it just... it took us a long idea to come up with those ideas, and you shot down every one of them."

"That's not your fault," Tw'eak said. "Besides, I've been too hard on everyone lately. I had the crew of the Warspite stage... almost an intervention for me because I've been like this to everyone lately."

"I noticed," Spera replied. "So you've really lost hope, then?"

Tw'eak patted her on the shoulder. "Not as long as I have you," she said, half-smiling. "This uniform really suits you, y'know."

"I know. This has always been a dream of mine - to be in an actual, working Starfleet with 'yes, sir' and rank pips and everything. I used to play dress-up all the time when I was a kid, always Captain Spera."

"I must not have liked that very much."

"I don't know. You always liked to watch me play, but... you were always so sad seeing me on my 'bridge' - it was the couch we had, I stood on the middle cushion and I had toys positioned as my bridge officers..." Spera trailed off, then sighed. "Anyway, Tuvok runs a much better ship than I ever could've dreamed of doing in my imagination. And besides, I really think we're close to a breakthrough, Shreya. I really do."

"I hope you're right."

"Me too. Something big is about to happen, I can feel it." Spera looked excited. "I just hope it's what we've been waiting for."

Tw'eak gritted her teeth, maintaining a semi-positive expression. What Spera hoped for was precisely what she had come to dread - that what they had waited for was about to happen.

Spera's commbadge pipped. "Spera here."

"Commander, I have Lieutenant Commander vanZyl on subspace from the shuttlecraft Tereshkova. She'd like to speak to you."

"Patch her through, Ensign." Spera saw Tw'eak looking at her, impressed. "That was Ensign Raxx. What?"

"You recognized him by just his voice," Tw'eak said softly. "I'm impressed."

Spera smiled. "Maybe you did teach me something after all." She then turned slightly away as her commbadge came to life.

"Commander?" a feminine voice asked.

"Yes, Kyla. I thought you were on leave."

"I am. I was passing near the Hobus system when I picked up some odd energy readings."

"What kind of readings?" Spera asked.

"Energy readings of any kind would be unusual from Hobus, would they not?"

Spera nodded. Tw'eak concurred - the detonation of the Hobus supernova had destroyed the Romulan homeworld and cost the life of Ambassador Spock of Vulcan, aboard the starship known as the Jellyfish. Now all that remained were the remnants of worlds and a black hole where a star had once been.

vanZyl continued. "I took a detour to investigate – you can't be too careful where Hobus is concerned. But I wouldn't mind some help. Can you rendezvous with me? Having a real starship here would be a big help."

Tw'eak tapped Spera on the shoulder and made a 'W' shape with her fingers, indicating Warspite, whose name she mouthed. "I... yes, about that. I'm currently - never mind where I am. I'll have Voyager pass along your co-ordinates to Vice Admiral Sh'abbas. We'll be returning to the Delta Quadrant shortly - one of the starships of Task Force Silhouette will be better positioned to support you. Just try to stay safe in the meantime."

"Will do. Tereshkova out."

Spera tapped her commbadge, then looked up at her mother. "Shreya..."

"Don't tell me," Tw'eak said with a smile. "This is all highly suspicious."

"Which is why I want to come along, yes."

Tw'eak nodded. "We'll have to clear it with Tuvok."

"Oh, definitely. I wouldn't want the Admiral to be without me for very long, though."

"We'll have to see what happens." Tw'eak grimaced. "Was there any reason you can think of for this lieutenant in a shuttlecraft to venture to Hobus, or even near it?"

Spera shook her head. "None. I don't know her particularly well, other than to know who she is. We're not on unfriendly terms or anything like that. She's Commander Burgess' liaison aboard Voyager, so we read a lot of the same reports. Maybe he or even Captain T'uni might know why she's there."

"It's an odd course to take, without orders."

"Well, yeah. She's a Trill - her homeworld is in the opposite direction, almost. Who knows. She might just be following a hunch. Maybe that's what she does for fun - historical research."

"Suppose we'll have to go find out." Tw'eak took a step. "Come on, let's go talk to Tuvok and see what he thinks we should do."

"Right behind you," Spera said with a smile.


	88. Part VI, Chapter 3

**_Author's note:_** I skip around the mission "Uneasy Allies" a bit in this next part - I figure you're likely to have played it, along with the rest of the Iconian war missions. So rather than re-tell the whole thing in exhaustive detail, I'll keep things moving briskly to the best of my ability. I apologize to any of my readers who might be following my story without having played the mission - major bonus for you, though, is that the plot twists are going to REALLY kick it up a notch... :)

* * *

 _Admiral's log, stardate 99515.3 - Our rescue mission in the Hobus system has turned in an unexpected direction. Silhouette and Warspite are currently escorting an armed freighter, or Q-ship, commanded by Sela, the supposed Empress of the Romulans, to the Nopada system. To call this surprise would be an understatement, but if I've learned anything, it's that there are no coincidences in deep space - and certainly none that work out serendipitously._

The command officers of the Silhouette - Denver O'Leary, Edvard Nikau, Khao Manee and Lini - had accompanied their captain, Kit McQueen, to join the Warspite's command crew for an emergency briefing. The five of them came in quickly, seating themselves by rank in the chairs to the right of Tw'eak. McQueen sat nearest Tw'eak, with Khao Manee next in line. To the admiral's left, in order, sat Octavia, Aurora duBois, her sister Bianca, Spera, and Subcommander Oulius. Behind Spera stood Tlhosh, the combat medic otherwise known as Yeoman Gorn to the crew. Behind Tw'eak, for once visible to the others, was Pal.

"Thank you all for coming," Tw'eak said, smiling. "Given the rather unexpected circumstances we find ourselves in, I felt a meeting of all senior officers was appropriate."

"It was a bit of a risk, Admiral," Captain Kit McQueen said. "If those Imperial ships can track transporter activity, they'll have seen us beam over. While we're under cloak."

"We won't just have showed up from nowhere," Lieutenant Lini added.

Tw'eak shook her head. "I'm not all that concerned - in fact, I would suspect that Sela has brought along at least one or two cloaked warbirds of her own for this ride. At least this way, the odds will be even."

"Can I just ask," Bianca inquired, "why Commander vanZyl isn't joining us?"

"I was wondering the same thing," Spera added.

"I believe I answered that, Commander," Tw'eak replied. "This meeting is for senior officers - from Silhouette, and from Warspite. While Commander Spera is not currently assigned to these two ships, she's part of the family. I can't say the same for the lieutenant commander." Tw'eak looked down the table. "She's comfortable enough downstairs, I trust, Subcommander?"

"Oh, yes," Oulius replied. "Captain T'uni had quite a few questions to ask her. Plus, Lieutenant Aewon is helping her make repairs to the _Tereshkova_."

"She said she wanted to get it repaired as soon as possible," Aurora continued, "so that she could get back to Voyager." She looked down to Oulius. "Did she give a reason why she was in the Hobus system? It's not exactly my idea of a vacation spot."

"No," the subcommander replied flatly. "Not even to Captain T'uni."

"I'm sure she had a reason," Spera said. "She's a very effective officer - Tuvok relies on her for quite a bit."

Tw'eak tapped her upper lip. "What was her last assignment?"

"I don't recall," Spera replied. "Wait, yes, I do - because she used the same shuttlecraft. She transported the Iconian devices back from Vaadwaur Prime once they had been fully secured. It took her a couple days."

"By herself?"

"Yes."

Khao Manee leaned forward. "What is it, Admiral?"

Tw'eak's eyes narrowed. "I'd... rather not tip my hand, just yet. Let's say it's in the hopes that I'm wrong."

"You have reason to suspect the lieutenant commander," Octavia deduced. "That much is certain."

"I'm just trying to ascertain if she went to Hobus on orders. I'm sure T'uni can follow the threads and find an answer even if vanZyl doesn't co-operate."

"Why not order vanZyl to tell you?" Spera asked.

"Oh, honey," Kit McQueen said in her softest tone, with a patronizing, 'bless your heart' sort of smile. "You really think she'd give the admiral a straight answer?"

"I don't understand." Spera's tone became slightly indignant. "You don't have any reason for suspicion, other than the fact that she was there - and led us to Sela."

Kit gave Spera the same smile. Her tone, however, became increasingly snarky. "A Federation shuttlecraft - from a starship stationed in the Delta Quadrant - finds its way into what was once Romulan space, while the officer aboard her, a lone Trill, apparently on leave and with no reason on board, finds a mysterious energy source that Admiral Janeway and all of Starfleet Science couldn't detect... you don't think it's a bit suspicious?"

"Of course I do, but - I don't know, maybe it's because I've served with the lieutenant commander for a few months, or maybe she's just... such a good officer, but I don't really - Admiral?"

The tone in Spera's voice as she referred to her by rank rather than by her usual maternal title was searching, almost desperate. Tw'eak smiled at her daughter. "I want you to understand - this is probably a difficult thing for you to learn, but when there's cause for suspicion, we become suspicious. We don't dismiss our suspicions because 'oh, it's the commander, or the captain, or even the admiral'. You were prepared to hit me with a phaser beam a few hours ago on the basis of your suspicions."

"I wouldn't have - I was following Tuvok's orders. We couldn't risk the parasites learning what we know about the Iconians, because if they have a counter-intelligence department, they'll know right away what we know. But you're right, I did point a phaser at you and Captain T'uni, even with the best of intentions - but I was so relieved I didn't have to do anything more."

Tw'eak smiled, but shook her head. "That's reassuring."

"I'm sorry, I guess." Spera shrugged. "But what do you think she is, then - an Undine? Or perhaps she's infested?"

"We'll see," Tw'eak replied. "Like you said, I hope I'm wrong. Whoever she's working for, or whatever she really is, she'll probably do anything to avoid being caught. The truth will out, as they say."

Kit McQueen put up a hand. "Can we just - can we go back to the part where we're working with Sela?"

"We're not," Tw'eak said, finger raised instructively. "Not exactly."

"Really," Kit replied. "Because last time I checked, we were flying in formation with one of her Q-ships, with her in command."

Tw'eak nodded. "That's not intended as a measure of support. She needs a gateway. We need information on the Iconians. Using that gateway gets us the information we seek. But there's more. Sela says she's no longer working for the Iconians."

"Can we substantiate that?" Kit asked. "Are we certain she's not under their control?"

"No," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Look, let's not have any illusions here, people - we're going to find ourselves, very shortly, in a trap. It's just a question of which end is up. Either Commander vanZyl tries to trap us, or Sela will be the one to do it. Maybe both - and let them try. We find ourselves in a trap, and we're aware of it, and guess what, we'll get right back out again - with the intelligence we seek."

"Speaking of intelligence, I wasn't expecting to have to neutralize a Republic Intelligence agent onboard that Q-ship," Lini said with a shake of the head.

"He's a face I recognized," Oulius said. "I don't know him by name, but we were clearly in service with the Republic together at one point. He's lucky we were able to extract him." He nodded at the Admiral. "Thank you for insisting on that."

"Oh, there was no way I was leaving him in her custody." Tw'eak took a deep breath. "No way I would willingly leave anyone in her custody, even my worst enemy. But we were fortunate to be able to defuse the bombs in time."

"I wouldn't be so sure," O'Leary quipped. "One less person calling themselves 'empress' in this universe might be a good thing."

"It would've also meant one less person calling themselves 'vice admiral', Mister O'Leary," Tw'eak said with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, that too - not, y'know, not saying it would've been worth it, but, um, it would've meant getting Sela, y'know," O'Leary said quickly, backtracking. He then quickly added, "Vice Admiral."

"What are the precise details of her intentions?" Octavia asked.

Tw'eak continued glaring at O'Leary for a moment longer, then explained. "She claims that, if we get her to a working Iconian gateway, she can get us to one of their spheres - a different sphere, a working sphere. I'm not sure what she can accomplish from there - in fact, if I had my way, I'd shoot her in the back right then and there and get on with our mission. Which will be snatch-and-grab on whatever intelligence we can glean from the third sphere - the more we learn, the better. With any luck, we find what we've been after all these months. It'd be a culmination of the search, and it'd be a major success for our task force. And if we're really lucky, maybe we might even be able to shut down the Iconians once and for all."

"Wouldn't that be nice," Aurora duBois said with a sigh. "Probably wishful thinking, though."

"Exactly."

"You really think Sela would let that happen," Oulius countered, shaking his head. "You're fooling yourself. She's working with them, against you - she has to be."

"No, I..." Tw'eak tipped her chin forward. "Call me crazy, but I believed her when she said she wanted to turn against the Iconians."

"You 'believed' her." Oulius gave a little laugh. "Right."

"I did."

"I did, too," Spera added. "She came willingly once we cornered her - and she seemed very sincere in her anger at the Iconians. Didn't really explain it, but I believed her, too."

"Forgive me, Spera, but if she shot my brother dead in front of me, and confessed to doing it, I'd start looking for reasonable doubt." Oulius glared at Tw'eak. "The woman is a bane to the entire universe."

O'Leary gave a whistle. "Can I write that one down? I mean - like, I don't have a brother, but that's a great comeback. I wanna remember that."

Oulius continued. "She's a threat - a supreme threat, perhaps a greater threat than anything else we face."

"That seems a bit harsh," Spera replied.

"Indeed," Octavia continued. "The forces of the Collective still remain a threat, for example."

"But they don't seduce you, and make you believe..." Oulius looked at Tw'eak as he spoke that last word. "I'm sorry, Admiral - there was once a time when I wanted to believe her, too. I only wish I had listened to my suspicions then - I wish all of my people had."

"I can appreciate your perspective, Subcommander - as an officer, and as a Romulan citizen. Don't mistake me for not appreciating your insight - but on this one, I have to trust these." She pointed to her antennae.

"I'm not sure that qualifies," Oulius retorted. "Unless you're an Aenar."

"Not as a telepathic insight - a premonition, let's say." She took a breath. "Look, I'm willing to go back to the Nopada system." She looked to O'Leary, then to Aurora, and Bianca. "We all know what happened the last time I was there."

O'Leary's eyes went wide. "Whoa, damn, I forgot about that."

"Wish I could," Tw'eak replied. She looked to Octavia and Aurora. "If it wasn't for the two of you finding me and beaming me out at the exact moment you did, Hakeev would've executed me on the planet's surface."

"You were... a prisoner?" Kit asked.

"Yes, of Hakeev, personally... of the Tal Shiar... and by extension, the Iconians." Tw'eak looked down, the memory vivid and repugnant in her mind. "They - the Iconians, the Solanae - had questions about Andorians. Or about me, I don't know. It probably wasn't personal, judging by the notes I found in Hakeev's office after the fact. They'd already run through quite a few other Federation races by then - Vulcans, Trill, Bajorans..." She swallowed. "And so they used - what was it, some sort of neutralization field to lock the Bonaventure in place."

"The field itself was comprised of a highly -" Octavia began, then came quickly to silence, adding, "Never mind."

"We beamed over, neutralized it - then everyone else beamed back to the ship. But not me - I was taken through a confinement beam, transported to a cell, probably experimented on in ways I don't remember, forced to fight against various beasts, then escaped - with another prisoner whom I never should've trusted, whom Hakeev had planted to slow me down, to catch me attempting to escape at the right moment. That was when I was beamed out - he had just given the order to fire. I was never so glad to hear the sound of a transporter beam."

"Uh, me either!" Aurora exclaimed. "As it was, they opened fire and hit the confinement beam... damn near lost you, then."

"Thankfully, you didn't. And Doc gave me a thorough looking-over after the fact - nothing physically wrong that she couldn't fix. Externally. Took me a few months working with T'uni to stop thinking I'd woken up on Nopada in that cage again." Tw'eak chuckled. "I remember at one point, beaming over to Starbase 39-Sierra, somehow certain I was going to show up in that cell instead of on the starbase. That fear never really goes away."

"It didn't in my time, either," Spera remarked. "I remember you had the occasional nightmare about it, even years from now."

Tw'eak did not confirm Spera's events, merely remaining silent, but her daughter spoke the truth. There were still rare occasions where the rusting smell of the cage, the stomping of the mugato, the clashing of desperate metal against bony aehallh carapace, came back to her in her nightmares. Lately, though, her nightmares had been shapeless forms and growing shadows, more akin to Andorian mythology than Iconian or Herald physiology. The uncertain future outweighed the horrid experiences of her past in the chamber of her fears and anxieties. As such, they were what emerged on the rare occasion when she did dream.

Bianca took a sharp inhalation of breath after a moment. "I'm sorry, I hadn't heard that story before."

"That's my fault," Tw'eak replied. "I... didn't want to talk about it. I don't want to acknowledge that it happened. I still don't. After what became of Hakeev in the end, after what Obisek did for me... I wanted to move forward. I wanted the same thing for the Romulans - the Republic, to me, is the best thing to happen to your people, Subcommander, ever since your people took those first flights away from Vulcan."

"No question," Oulius replied. "Which is why I'm baffled that you're supporting Sela at all."

"I'm not." Tw'eak smiled. "And I'm going to prove it to you." Her smile broadened. "We're going to do this right." She looked to Spera and Bianca. "We're going to give Sela her gateway - and follow her through it. That'll mean taking the two of you along."

"Not me?" Khao asked. "You'll need an intelligence officer down there."

"I know," Tw'eak replied. "But I have one. Spera's rated for ground operations as intelligence officer."

Kit McQueen cleared her throat. "You're not choosing her for, you know..." She looked over at Spera. "No disrespect, but Commander Khao is probably more qualified."

"Not when it comes to the Iconians," Tw'eak replied. "Spera's seen their servitor forces in action - Elachi, Solanae, even Heralds - in her time. She's the only one of us who have." Tw'eak looked at Spera. "And if we're very lucky, she'll remain the only one." She gave a half-nod. "You see anything you don't think we're able to handle, and you say the word - we get out. Right then, right there."

"Why me, though?" Bianca asked.

"I want your tricorder out at all times, once we cross over. Anything you can learn in the meantime represents intelligence we can use, in some form or another. If we take fire, you get into cover - I want everything scanned, even then, the weapons they use, the way they react to our weapons, everything. Not a detail left unscanned. We learn everything we can, and as much as we can, from every moment we're there. That includes the gateway itself - whatever Sela does to get us there, if we end up needing a quick retreat, I'm relying on you to get us home again."

Bianca nodded. "I will be armed. Right?"

"Of course - standard ground combat kit for everyone." Tw'eak looked over to Lini. "That includes you."

Lini's antennae went near-vertical. "I'm coming?"

"Yes. I need you for a specific purpose - to be my alter ego."

"I don't understand," Lini replied.

"While we're down there, I'm going to have to be accommodating, disciplined... diplomatic." Tw'eak pointed to Lini. "That's where you come in. I need you to look as threatening, as dangerous, as... as Andorian as possible."

Lini gave a wry smirk. "You got it."

"I need you to remind Sela just how much it's going to hurt if she doesn't comply with my every demand and requirement when we're down there. And if she so much as glances in the wrong direction, I want you to neutralize her immediately."

"What about Commander vanZyl?" Bianca asked.

"Her, too." Tw'eak looked past Bianca to Tlhosh. "You're along in case of medical emergencies. Hopefully we won't be needing your services."

"Sssso we will hope," Tlhosh replied.

"A Gorn and an angry Andorian as your wingmen," O'Leary said, smiling. "I'll beam down with some popcorn if either of them tries anything, k?"

"No," Tw'eak insisted. "Just us five - Spera, Lini, Bianca, Tlhosh and me."

The imposing feel of Pal's presence, standing on guard as always, had diminished substantially by now, but it returned within a moment as he came forward. "Admiral, I must protest."

Tw'eak half-turned, raising a dismissive hand. "You're coming, too. We're not all beaming down at once."

Pal made a sort of grunting noise. "Good."

"I want you to come down to the planet after us." Tw'eak looked to Octavia. "Have Chief Sandoval ready to beam him down right afterwards."

"Indeed, I shall," Octavia affirmed. "It will be a grave risk if Sela attempts any harm to you prior to the First's arrival."

"She won't try anything until she secures the portal. That's what she wants from us - I doubt she'll turn on us before we've gone through. Assuming we can get into the secret chamber where the portal was located." Tw'eak made a face. "I really don't want to go back in the way I broke out."

"How - how was that?" Lini asked.

"Drainage pipes," Tw'eak replied.

Lini's face showed revulsion. "Oh."

Spera shivered. "Yeah, let's not do that."

"Is there a front door to speak of?" Aurora asked. "I mean, you're beaming down without any qualified engineering support."

"Sela seemed confident she could get in," Tw'eak replied. "Presumably that also means she has access."

"She probably tortured a few thousand dissidents there," Oulius added.

"No doubt." There was an uncomfortable pause, which Tw'eak broke with an assured tone. "I know that we're going to be co-operating with a known war criminal, one whose crimes against her own ...subjects make her an avowed enemy of both the Federation and the Republic. I don't want anyone entertaining the idea that this should make us sympathetic, or indeed even cordial, with her outside of the mission. Our objective is to gather intelligence. And if Sela tries anything, well - this is why I never go anywhere without you, Pal."

"I will be certain to follow as quickly as possible, under shroud," Pal said.

"I know you will. Sela won't be expecting you to appear. Neither will vanZyl. If either of them try anything, I know I can rely on you. Always do."

Pal nodded. "I will do my utmost to bring another glorious victory to our cause."

"Know you will," Tw'eak said with a smile. She turned back to Octavia. "How long until we reach the Nopada system?"

"At present warp speed, we will arrive in forty-seven minutes."

Tw'eak nodded. "Very well. We have preparations to undertake and, from there, we'll see what happens next."

Octavia spoke up. "May I point out, Admiral? Once you have crossed through the Iconian gateway, our sensors will be unable to follow your progress."

"I know. We'll try to be in and out, gather as much as we can, keep Sela from whatever she's after, and keep one eye on vanZyl as well. Worst-case scenario, we come back empty-handed, or maybe even bring the Iconians through that gateway with us."

"What should we do, in that eventuality?" Octavia asked.

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow in consideration. "Lock weapons on our position and open fire. Destroy the whole facility."

"But you'll be killed," Aurora objected.

"I'm more or less relying on all of you to keep that from happening," Tw'eak concluded. "Wouldn't be the first time that's happened on this planet. Are there any other questions?"

"Silhouette - Are we to remain under cloak?" Kit McQueen asked.

"Yes, absolutely. Don't tip our hand that you're here unless the situation demands it. Warspite can handle them if needs be. That being said, I'll see if I can arrange for Turing and maybe two or three of the other escorts to join you in-system under cloak, just in case. I'm sure Captain Lee would be happy to turn his phasers loose on a few Imperial warbirds."

"Right," Kit noted.

"There's one last thing I want you all to be aware of." Tw'eak took a moment to intentionally look at Aurora before she spoke. "I realize that, in the past few months, my... frustrations have led me to conduct myself in a fashion that has been, shall we say, less than typical of me. On occasion, I have been irascible, unprofessional, even defeatist in my attitude. I won't make excuses for my conduct, and I apologize unreservedly if you have had occasion to lose faith in me as your commanding officer. What can I say, I'm Andorian. It's not in my nature to work in the shadows as we have. Intelligence work is the last thing I thought I'd be doing with my career - but then, admiralty rank and crews as capable and as damn good at their jobs as all of you... those weren't in my expectations, either."

"You should never have expected anything less," Octavia said, to Tw'eak's surprise.

"Maybe. But I will say this - whatever Commander vanZyl's intentions or secret agenda that brought her to the Hobus system, she in turn brought us the first real chance to accomplish something meaningful against this Iconian menace since the day our task force set out from spacedock. Not just ruins or relics or long-dead peoples influenced by them - a chance to finally do something in the present tense. What we learn once we've crossed through that gateway has the potential to make the difference we have been expected to make - by Starfleet, by the Federation, by the Republic... hell, even the Klingons might thank us."

"Hope not," O'Leary joked. "Then you'd be subject of an opera - and then we'd all be subject TO it, y'know?"

"Not all of us disapprove of Klingon opera," Bianca countered.

"Sssspeak for yourssself," Tlhosh growled. "Unbearable to have to live with that. Ssstarfleet isss thankfully quieter."

"You just haven't found the right opera," Bianca said. "There's so much beautiful music in the universe just waiting to be discovered."

Tlhosh looked down at Bianca for a moment. "Perhapssss," he said contemplatively, "but not by me."

Tw'eak cleared her throat. "If I may," she said with a smile.

"Sorry," Bianca said quickly.

"No, no, I agree with you fully. I just... this is becoming a speech, clock's ticking, I'd rather be getting ready for action."

"Go ahead," Tlhosh said with a slight nod.

"My point is this - in the coming action, whether you are joining the landing party or remaining aboard, I need each of you to fulfill particular roles. If you're up here, I want you to be ready for anything, and remain at yellow alert until we've cleared the system. Aurora, you've seen what that Nopada station can do previously - whatever they try, be ready for them."

Aurora nodded, then looked to Octavia. "We'll be ready."

"For those of you coming with me - we have no idea what we'll see over there. Spera, you might recognize things - you might not. None of the rest of us will. Keep close, keep in contact with each other, be ready for anything. Whatever comes to pass, I know I can rely upon each of you, not just to do your jobs and come home again, but to work together with me as well as our two 'friends' who are coming along. For once, I'm hoping for the best from this mission. I have the utmost confidence in each of you. With officers like you at my side, I know that we'll all come through in the end. Good luck, and let's do what the galaxy expects of us today." Tw'eak gave a clipped nod. "That'll be all. Landing party - be standing by in Transporter Room One in thirty minutes. You too, Pal. Dismissed."

The room cleared out, Bianca and Spera heading off together, followed closely by Lini and Tlhosh. After a moment, Kit came forward to Tw'eak's side, and shook her hand. "I know this is probably a formality, Admiral, but just in case... I want to say that this experience has been a real privilege for me, and it's been the honour of my career to serve with you."

Tw'eak stood and embraced Kit's hand with her own. "You don't think I'm coming back?"

Kit smiled, a smile not unlike the one she had shown Spera earlier. "I... it's a superstition. Look, it's bad luck to explain it, too - just... ask me again sometime why I did this."

Octavia leaned forward, rising. "That would imply your superstition centers around 'bad luck' - perhaps a sort of negation, where if you wish her farewell prior to the mission, she will therefore be certain to return from it."

Kit closed her eyes, stricken by Octavia's intervention. "And now you don't have to ask me about it later."

"Rest assured, Captain, my exposition will not counter any particular superstition you hold to be true - "

"That's her way of calling you silly for thinking that," Aurora interjected.

It was Octavia's turn to look stricken. "I was about to offer no such comment. I am well aware of the significance of superstition in the minds of certain officers." She raised her chin defiantly. "Including officers who apply proper names to warp engines."

"Oh, that's not fair," Aurora said, turning and walking off.

Kit gave a quick nod and rejoined O'Leary and Nikau, who had remained silent throughout the briefing, at the door. At some point, Oulius had made his way back to the bridge.

Tw'eak turned to the Warspite's captain. "And what about you, Octavia?"

"Admiral?"

"What's your take on all this?"

Octavia contemplated for a moment. "It is a risk, that much is certain. To determine whether such risk is worthwhile, regrettably, would require the benefit of foresight."

"That much is certain," Tw'eak repeated.

"However, I trust your experience and intelligence will make the inherent peril of your mission worth the effort - and doubtless negate the otherwise unnecessary risk of your direct, personal involvement as part of the away team."

"Well," Tw'eak said with a smile, "if I don't go down there, neither would Pal. And he increases our odds of success considerably, wouldn't you think?"

Octavia looked over at Pal, whose impassive Jem'Hadar expression shifted its focus from Tw'eak to meet her eyes. "I will offer you a compliment in the same vein as that which Captain McQueen offered the admiral. I have consistently admired your efficiency and loyalty to the admiral. It is two traits which I feel we share."

"So we do," Pal replied.

"I trust that, in my absence - for, if you recall, Admiral, I once was a routine addition to your landing parties in my role as combat engineer-"

"Best I ever had," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Don't tell Aurora."

"- thank you. However, I trust that you will secure her against all threats and ensure her safe return to this starship in good time."

"The admiral's banner has yielded me victories," Pal replied, "and victory is life. I have reclaimed my life - and my pagh - for the Prophets. But my service is hers, until my death... or, in the unlikely event, hers."

"They don't have a retirement plan in the Jem'Hadar, I suppose," Tw'eak quipped. When this produced nothing more than a quizzical look, she raised a hand. "Alright, point taken. We should talk about that, at some point."

"What?"

"You're not working for the Vorta anymore. You can have all the ketracel-white you want from Doc. You're free to call it a day, any time you'd like."

"That would be insufficient. It is mere survival to accept those terms, therefore I cannot. Victory... is life."

Tw'eak smiled. "Well, let's hope we come back with a big victory at the end of the day. Then we'll talk about your retirement party."

"Admiral," Octavia queried. "I am curious. Why speak of this now, when the First is so critically required for the impending mission - and indeed, presumably, for the War?"

"Oh, you didn't tell her," Tw'eak said to Pal. She turned back to Octavia. "That explains why you didn't get him a present."

"I do not understand."

"It's Pal's birthday today."

"It is?" Pal asked, incredulous.

"No such day exists for a Jem'Hadar," Octavia noted. "The process of - "

Tw'eak waved a hand. "No, no. I went back through the personnel files. Sure enough, the Vorta time-stamped his moment of... delivery, shall we call it. And it was today, twenty years ago."

"This is insignificant," Pal protested.

"Not to our people." Tw'eak smiled. "And not to yours, either - I believe that the age of twenty causes you to be recognized as an Honoured Elder of the Jem'Hadar." Pal bristled, but Tw'eak patted him on the shoulder. "We'll have to see if I can replicate you something nice when we get back. Maybe a teddy bear."

"Now I understand," Octavia stated. "The standard average lifespan of a Jem'Hadar is approximately twelve to fifteen years."

"Exactly. Few Jem'Hadar live to your age, Pal - and I don't think any of you have ever reached thirty. Now, if what Spera tells me is true, you'll live well into your forties, the first Jem'Hadar ever to do so. Based on both those facts, I'd say you're... middle-aged. Time to start thinking about a retirement plan, maybe a little house on Bajor someplace."

Plainly ruffled by such talk, Pal bristled, gritting his teeth. "I must prepare for the impending mission." He glanced briefly at Tw'eak. "As do you, Admiral."

"As you say, birthday boy."

Pal scoffed, then marched triple-time towards the nearest exit. After a moment, Octavia commented. "It may have been unwise to anger him."

"He deserves to be celebrated. It's quite a thing, among Jem'Hadar. I know he's proud of it - he's very proud, you know, and he has reason to be. I just don't think he thought I'd look it up. I know that his team are preparing some sort of ceremony for him right now. That'll follow once we get back, I'm told." Tw'eak chuckled. "They didn't think I'd find out about _that_ , either."

Octavia nodded, then changed the subject. "I said earlier that I fully expect the risks you are taking to prove to be satisfactorily worthwhile. Let me also add that, in the event of your death, it is required that I be aware of how best to dispose of this starship, and the other components of the task force which you indicated are to be present."

"Just... get back to spacedock, I guess. Neutralize any threats between spacedock and here, and bring whatever you find out to Admiral Quinn, directly."

"I shall do so."

"But that sort of thing... won't be necessary." Tw'eak felt her apprehension growing with each passing moment, as though the lessening of the intervening space between her and the Nopada system brought her increasily closer, with each passing light-year, to something inexplicably terrible.

Octavia looked out the window. To Tw'eak's mind, though her Borg friend rarely had or even simulated anything like emotion, the apprehension was one they clearly shared. "Of course," she said, almost automatically, before turning and heading back to the bridge without any further parting word.

Lost in her thoughts as she watched Octavia walk away, Tw'eak stood for a moment longer behind her chair, gripping the headrest with one hand, before she made her way to the turbolift, to prepare for the coming away mission.


	89. Part VI, Chapter 4

_Captain's log, supplemental - We remain on station in the Nopada system. Admiral Sh'abbas and her away team have been absent from our sensors for two hours and fifty-six minutes. While I am concerned, at present my orders are to remain in position and await the admiral's return. If, in sixty-four minutes, we have not received any signal, I will accede to Commander duBois' request and place a security team in position upon the surface. In the meantime, I see no need for worry or excessive caution._

Aurora duBois wasn't one for pacing. She tended to be a nervous talker, impatiently rambling to whoever was nearby enough to listen, usually her sister. But Bianca had been selected for the landing party. And Chief Sandoval had made only limited response to her overtures, watching his sensor screen intently for any sign of the team's return. So Aurora had taken to walking back and forth from one end of the transporter room to the other, past the pattern buffers and Heisenberg compensators and other critical elements that made teleportation a scientific fact in her time. It was a complicated system, one she had been running over in her mind - another trick of hers to keep herself from being consumed by nervous energy - as a diagnostic schematic in her head. Each part of the system was interconnected to the greater whole, and - no, it was working, she was sure of that. Or was she? She had previously resisted the urge to demand that Chief Sandoval run such a diagnostic on the transporter, in order to assure that it would be successful at bringing her admiral, her sister, and her other friends down there back to the Warspite. She trusted that the systems were in order and fully functional. But still, she worried about whether they would work - and she hoped that they would fulfil their function, and retrieve the away team, sooner than later.

"Anything, Chief?" Aurora asked as she reached the furthest extent of her march.

Sandoval shook his head. "Same as last time, Commander. No contact, no signal, no life signs."

"You're sure the sensors are working optimally?"

"Yes, ma'am. I ran a diagnostic twenty minutes ago, just to be sure."

Aurora bit her lip. "Maybe you should check again."

"There's no reason to suggest they've gone that far out of alignment in twenty minutes, ma'am." Sandoval cleared his throat. "Begging your pardon, ma'am."

"It's alright, Chief," Aurora said with a slight smile. "We're all worried."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Sandoval replied. "If anyone can handle a trip through a gateway, it'd be - "

" - duBois to Warspite, come in! Emergency beamout from this location - now!"

Aurora's smile fell away. That was Bianca's voice. And she was panicking.

Sandoval looked down to his console and rapidly began acquiring co-ordinates. "Commander, I'm reading multiple lifesigns in the same co-ordinates - can you move apart a little?"

"No! Get us out of here now, Chief!"

Sandoval looked up at Aurora. She nodded her assent, and stepped around the console. "Let me help." She took the sensor post, while Sandoval moved to the activation portion of the console. "Some of them must be wounded." She tapped her commbadge. "Medical team to transporter room one."

"On our way." Doc's voice sounded over the comms.

Aurora configured a widened confinement beam into place over one pair, then the other. She registered the lifesigns - faint, Andorian - of one of the pairing as being in a more desperate state than in the other pair - one of whom was also faint, and also Andorian. "Let's do this. Come on, energize."

"Energizing," Sandoval affirmed, and he brought two of the members of the away team into the central, larger pad of the transporter room, the beam revealing the monumental build of Yeoman Gorn carrying someone in his arms, her shoulder-length hair and uncoordinated antennae dangling over his elbow.

"Ssssickbay!" the medic growled, displeased to find himself in the transporter room. "Now!"

"Sorry!" Sandoval found the co-ordinates for the Warspite's sickbay and sent the Gorn and his passenger along in another beam, while Aurora worked with the four remaining on the surface. She managed to align the two individual signals, as well as the two close together - another tandem pairing of one wounded with another carrying - and activated the beam-in from her station without waiting for Sandoval.

In the large pad appeared Pal, with the limp form of another Andorian female in his arms. Without acknowledging the presence of Aurora or Sandoval, he bolted past them and through the door, shouting at the medical team, who had just reached the door, to follow him as he went. From the back two transporter pads, both also hurt and in need of medical attention, stepped Bianca and Spera. Both wore tattered, burned uniforms, each leaning on the other for support.

Aurora's eyes began to well up with tears at the sight of her sister's disheveled hair, her arm across her wounded midsection. "I'm okay, 'rora," Bianca said softly.

Two or three members of the medical team - not including Doc - came through the door. Aurora recognized a female Trill nurse named Rininzi as the one who administered to Bianca with a medical tricorder. Another, an emergency medical hologram, came to Spera's side and helped her to walk out of the room, limping as she went. "What happened?" Aurora asked as the nurse tended to Bianca's wounded side with a dermal regenerator.

Bianca took a deep breath and swallowed, her face a rictus of anguish. "Everything," she finally said. She placed an arm around her sister, and closed her eyes. Aurora let Bianca support herself upon her shoulder, and bore up Bianca's weight as Nurse Rininzi completed her work on Bianca's wound. She finished up with a hypospray of stimulant, to bolster Bianca's exhausted nerves and muscles.

"Is there anything else I can help with?" Rininzi asked.

"No," Bianca replied. "Go help the others, please."

"Certainly." Rininzi turned to go, nearly colliding with Octavia, who came in at the same moment. "Oh, Captain!"

"Nurse," Octavia said with a clipped tone, stepping past Rininzi towards Bianca. "Commander duBois," she said to neither of them in particular. "Your report, please."

"We got 'em all back, Captain," Aurora reported. "Not Sela, though."

Bianca shook her head. "No, she didn't... must have used the gateway to run someplace else... or she didn't make it. I don't know."

"I require further information," Octavia said, half-insisting, half-pleading. "Please report what occurred during your mission."

Bianca held up a tricorder and handed it to Octavia. "Here. We got what we went for - probably more intel than we've gotten so far. When we crossed through the gateway, Taris was there, and we pursued her. Sela confronted her, and... Taris is dead, ma'am. She was working with the Iconians, and Sela executed her. That was when we discovered where we were. The Iconians have another sphere - that was where we ended up, and its location was beyond our galaxy, in the Andromeda galaxy. The Iconians had total control of this sphere, though, and it had so many ships within its shell that it obscured the light of the star at its centre."

Aurora gasped. "Oh my God."

"That is ...disconcerting." Octavia frowned.

"That's not all," Bianca continued. "While we were aboard, the sphere... transitioned. I don't know where it ended up. But they didn't like that Sela killed Taris - that seemed to be the trigger for it, so we fell back towards the gateway. A team of Elachi tried to apprehend us, but the Admiral dealt with them fairly quickly. And then ...one of the Heralds appeared. It was like nothing I've ever seen - huge, taller even than Tlhosh, with a cape of pure energy and a power staff... like I said, like nothing I've ever seen. I scanned the Herald on every setting available, then hung back with Spera to secure our exit while the others stayed in close contact - you know the Admiral, get in close and keep turning their flank..."

"Standard ground tactics, yeah," Aurora affirmed.

"But it didn't work. It should've. It was a classic fighting retreat - I mean, we've done those in tactical drills so many times, but... nothing seemed to stop this Herald, or even hurt it. Spera said that was to be expected - they're incredibly powerful. She wasn't kidding. But we couldn't let it follow us back through the gateway, so the Admiral ordered us to try and stop it. We never stood a chance."

"How did the Admiral come to be injured?"

"The Herald was generating these... apertures across the ground. I don't even know how to explain them - they were like small gateways into empty space, another was like a solar flare right there in the room. It was throwing everything it had at the Admiral, but she stood her ground, until a gateway opened right above her. The Herald opened fire, she was hurt, she tried to get away... but there was so little room, it was a tight space." Bianca looked up at Octavia. "That was when it raised its energy staff, aimed it right at the Admiral. Spera screamed, yelled to her to get out of there, and she tried, but..." Bianca closed her eyes. "It opened fire - just as Lieutenant Lini came between them."

Aurora grimaced. "My God."

"She took the brunt of it. Pal tried the same thing - he had been trying to draw its fire from the right flank, but saw the danger and tried to get in front of it. But it struck Lini, almost... went right through her. It hit the Admiral... and the concussion of the blast knocked Pal into the corridor wall. All three of them just... went down like rag dolls, almost at once." Bianca shook her head. "It was horrible. I've... it was like a bad dream..."

Octavia permitted Bianca a moment to let out a sob, then, uncharacteristically, reached out and squeezed her shoulder thoughtfully. "Please continue. I wish to know how you managed to escape."

"We... oh, God, Captain. I thought they were all dead at once. But I ran a quick scan, and there were still life signs - faint, but they were there. The Herald... it was like it hadn't even been scratched. So, I went for them - we went, Spera and I, to retrieve them - or at least, when Spera broke cover, she just ran... right to the Admiral's side. The Herald shot at her, knocked her down. That was when... if I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't believe it, but... Spera just... she just stood up to the Herald's energy, like it was flowing around her, it didn't hurt her - the two of them just stood there, staring at each other for a moment... and she was glowing, with this... with her energy, bright green. That was when the Herald disengaged, and whirled, and... it was gone."

"We have known that the commander is partly Undine. Perhaps she used her psionic ability against the Herald."

"I guess. Either way... she saved us. She and the Herald were just ...intent upon each other for a minute. And then off it went. I've never seen anything like it. But she gave us time - Pal was up by then, he was hurt but he was dealing with it, and he just scooped up the Admiral and went for the gateway. Tlhosh did the same for Lini. And I... I called for Spera, I screamed her name. She was still standing there, staring... down the corridor. I don't know what happened - we got back here somehow. And I - somehow I ended up with Lini's phaser rifle." Bianca reached behind her. "Oh, God, it's still here." She took it off and handed it to her sister. "Here - you have to get this back to her."

"She won't need it now, Bia," Aurora said sadly. "Where she is... they don't need pulsewaves."

"I know, but - damn it!" She let the pulsewave fall to the floor. "How could this have happened?"

"We had no prior experience fighting against these Heralds," Octavia surmised. "That your entire away team was not killed is remarkable in and of itself."

"I'd say so," Aurora added. "Sounds like you gave as good as you got."

"I hope so. God, how I wouldn't love..." She cleared her throat. "Request permission to return to the surface, ma'am."

Octavia was surprised. "For what purpose?"

"Get me - get me the rest of our Jem'Hadar and... and any other volunteers. Maybe Spera too, if she wants to. We need to go back through that gateway and finish the job. Damage that sphere, maybe just kill that big purple bastard, get some payback."

"Unacceptable," Octavia declared.

"But why?"

"I would recommend you report to Counselor Derret if you are physically well enough. I appreciate your... candour with regards to your impulses, but at this point, to commit further forces to ground engagement, especially for 'payback', would incur us further costs in time and possibly in lives lost. It may further provoke the Iconians into aggressive action."

"I'd say they've already been plenty aggressive," Bianca snarled.

"Nevertheless, your report indicates that we cannot hope to engage them in symmetrical combat and expect to prevail."

"That's why we need numbers. If I had more people, we could put what we've learned to good use."

"You'll only bring more Heralds down on yourself if you do," Aurora countered. "The captain's right, Bia. You can't fight them on their terms." She looked back to Sandoval. "Did anything follow them back through the gateway?"

"No, ma'am," Sandoval reported. "I've been watching the scans this whole time - once we beamed out, that was it. The gateway's energy readings have flatlined, looks like it's been remotely shut down."

"So we can't even..." Bianca looked down, and her tears began in earnest. "Sons of bitches!" she cursed.

"It would appear that the Iconian gateways operate entirely at the behest of the Iconians themselves." Octavia pursed her lips. "To attempt to use them otherwise would be futile."

Aurora put her arms around her sister. "Come on." She gently walked her sister out the door. "I'll take her from here," she said as she went out the door.

"I will be in sickbay," Octavia said, shaking her head. She reached down and retrieved the pulsewave from the floor. Marks of its recent use were in evidence in the molecular composition of the barrel, and her Borg ocular implant discerned clearly that the power cell was nearly exhausted.

"I..." Sandoval was still staring intently at his sensor screen. "I wasn't fast enough, Captain. I didn't get them out of there fast enough."

Octavia stepped towards Sandoval, gripping the barrel of the pulsewave. "Under normal circumstances, were this a drill, my verbal feedback would indicate a need for further improvement, and other such commentary. However, given the... gravity of the situation, your response time was impeccable."

"You think so?" Sandoval was relieved to hear an unexpected response.

Octavia gave a slight nod. "It is possible that, should they survive, the Admiral and Lieutenant Lini may consider themselves to owe you their lives."

"Well, when you put it like that - "

"Oulius to Octavia," the comms sounded.

"Go ahead, Subcommander."

"Captain, I have a priority one contact from Starfleet Command. Admiral Quinn for Admiral Sh'abbas."

"The admiral is currently incapacitated. I will answer in her stead. Please put Admiral Quinn through to Transporter Room One."

"Right away."

Octavia nodded to Sandoval, handing him the pulsewave. "If you will excuse us," she requested.

"Sure," Sandoval said. "I'll get this back to the armoury." He left as the symbol of the United Federation of Planets appeared on the large viewscreen at the back of the room, shortly after to be replaced by the bearded face of Admiral Quinn.

"Admiral," Octavia said.

"Captain. Your preliminary report."

Octavia held up Bianca's tricorder. "Our away team was successful in accessing the Iconian databanks. However, the admiral has been wounded, and our presence aboard their active sphere was contested. They were also able to translocate their sphere in space and time while our away team was aboard. Their retrieval was still possible via the gateway, although that gateway is apparently now inactive at the Iconians' input."

"And Sela?"

"She seems to have modified the gateway's exit point, in order to escape."

"Great." Quinn shook his head. "That's not even the worst of it. I need all available ships to rendez-vous in the Iconia system, priority one."

Octavia was alarmed. "On what basis, sir?"

"A Dyson sphere jumped into a position near the Iconia system less than an hour ago. We don't know anything about it, but based on what you just told me, we think it's the same sphere that you discovered with Sela. I hate to admit it, but she was right. The Iconian invasion is here."

"Indeed. How should we proceed with regards to Sela?"

"We'll keep looking, but I have a feeling she won't be found until she wants to be. And as long as she stays away, I'm inclined to let her go. She'll have to answer for her crimes someday, but we have much more immediate concerns."

"So I understand. Warspite will be underway for Iconia momentarily, sir. I will have the entirety of Task Force Silhouette rendez-vous there."

"Good. I know it's probably small consolation under the circumstances, Captain, but I have no doubt that Vice Admiral Sh'abbas did her utmost while over there. Please give her my regards, as I'm definitely going to need her report on what happened over there in the very near future."

"She is currently in sickbay. I will convey your message at first opportunity."

"Good. And good luck to you and the task force. _Enterprise_ and other vessels will be meeting you there within the hour. I want regular reports, Captain. Everything may depend upon the next twenty-four hours. Quinn out."

The screen switched off. The severity of the situation - nominal command of the task force in the face of the beginning of the Iconian invasion - weighed upon Octavia, and she tilted her head in consideration of the most efficient way to meet her expectations as laid out by Admiral Quinn. "Octavia to Aewon."

"Helm here, Captain."

"Set course for Iconia, maximum warp, and engage."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Ask Subcommander Oulius to signal all task force vessels to set course for Iconia and to join us there immediately - priority one."

"Got it. Aewon out."

Aware of her responsibilities, knowing she would be needed upon the bridge, Octavia chose instead to make her way to sickbay and check in on the survivors from the landing party.

* * *

The scene which met Octavia's eyes upon her arrival in sickbay was chaotic. She passed several bio-beds - one of which was currently occupied by a still-unconscious LCdr. Kyla vanZyl - on her way over to where the majority of the sickbay's doctors, nurses and orderlies were tending to the needs of a pair of wounded female Andorian patients. To her immediate left, a group of medical personnel including Dr. Kim Hewson were administering to their unconscious patient, whose identity was hard to discern through the crowd attending her. To Octavia's right, the Gorn medic Tlhosh was tending to Pal, seated on a bio-bed and unwilling to lay down, intently watching the action around the next bio-bed, where Dr. Shirley Ellington and another medical team were at work on another prostrate patient, their ministrations less frantic.

"Fifty cc's, inaproviline," Doc called out. One of her orderlies assembled a hypospray with the stimulant right in front of Octavia, which Doc then gave to the patient.

"She's in neuroleptic shock," Kim hollered. "Synaptizine - and get me the cortical stimulators! Shirley, I may need you over here!"

The orderlies and nurses responded as best as they could. Doc crossed the walkway between the two bio-beds, but only made it far enough to see the unfavourable readouts on the overhead display, her face etched with resignation. Indeed, the cortical stimulator produced no change in the readouts as it was administered. She turned back after a few moments, and as she did, both sides of the entryway seemed to quiet down.

"She's coming around," someone said to Octavia's right.

"Don't sit up," Doc said tenderly, moving to her patient's side. "Just don't... don't move at all."

"Again," Kim said, her tone desperate. "Nothing."

"Her respiratory system's shutting down," one of the nurses observed from the readouts.

"Damn it! One more time." There was a long pause. Tricorders began falling silent to Octavia's left, and someone muttered the word, "no." Kim reached down and pulled the sheet up, leaving just the upper halves of a pair of antennae visible, limp against the pillow.

"Time of death, sixteen-thirty-four," Kim almost whispered.

From across the room, Doc moved to keep her patient down. "It's alright, it's alright," she said, before adding, "just lie still or I'll have to restrain you."

"She's dead?" a voice - the surviving patient's - whimpered from the centre of the swarm of medical personnel.

"I'm afraid so." Doc looked up to Octavia. "Captain."

"Doctor." Octavia nodded to Tlhosh and to Pal as well. She then turned to Kim. "My condolences, Doctor. I know you did your best."

"I'm sorry, too. She was... so young."

Doc moved to console her wife, placing an arm around her shoulder. "Whatever those Heralds use for weapons... powerful stuff. Not much I could do."

"I agree," Tlhosh affirmed. "Their woundsss can be debilitating. Further resssearch will be needed to overcome their effectsss."

"Indeed," Octavia said, moving towards the right-hand bedside. She looked down at the stricken face of Vice Admiral Tw'eak Sh'abbas, a stain of blood still visible from the corner of her mouth. "I am... greatly reassured at your survival."

Tw'eak laid back on the bed, antennae angled inwards, nearly touching the pillow. "I'm not so sure." She nodded across the room. "I'd rather we'd all survived. Lini... she was a fine officer."

"Lieutenant Commander duBois reported that the lieutenant attempted to intervene when the Herald targeted you with its primary method of attack."

"Yes, that's true. She leapt in front of the energy staff ...she told you about its staff."

"She did." Octavia held up the tricorder Bianca had given her. "I intend to provide this material to Commander Khao, for immediate analysis. Once we have met with the other ships, I will convene a meeting of all intelligence personnel in the task force for a preliminary briefing."

"No," Tw'eak said. "No. There isn't time."

"On the contrary, Admiral. Our orders are to bring the task force to the Iconia system. Admiral Quinn himself directed me to do so immediately, and to provide constant reports of what we find there."

Tw'eak's eyes closed tight. "Uzaveh's name. The sphere moved while we were - it's there now, isn't it. Iconia."

"So it would appear. In Admiral Quinn's own words, the invasion has commenced."

Tw'eak looked over, down her left side, to where Lini's body lay. "The first one we lose," she said, more to herself than anyone else, "and it has to be you."

Doc pursed her lips. "Tlhosh, could you... we should move the lieutenant down the way a bit. Say, medical suite number one?"

"I will arrange it," Tlhosh said in reply.

"No, no," Tw'eak insisted. "Please, just... let me say goodbye."

"There'll be time," Doc replied. She turned aside to Tlhosh as he passed, and whispered, "prep her for autopsy - Kim and I will be right in." The Gorn nodded and placed Lini on an adjacent anti-grav gurney which one of the nurses had provided, then took her away. Doc stepped in front, she and Kim blocking Tw'eak's view of the body being removed from her sight.

"I will also notify Captain McQueen of the lieutenant's passing," Octavia observed, causing Tw'eak to look upwards to her, losing sight of Lini as she did.

"Tell her not to send a letter to Lini's next of kin until I've had a chance to write one to accompany it," Tw'eak instructed. "It's important."

"Of course," Octavia said with a nod.

"It's my fault, you know," Tw'eak continued, her voice quavering. "I sought her out for a posting under my command. She was just like me, as you know, Doc."

"Yeah," Doc replied. "Same syndrome."

"And she was doing so well with everything," Tw'eak said, shaking her head. "She was a natural for ground combat - she... she was an interesting character - so young, but so... so sharp. I was never that with it, at her age." Tw'eak frowned. "Would've liked to see her in command someday."

From the next bio-bed over, Pal rose to attention. "Admiral," he said sharply, barely able to remain standing.

"Easy, big guy," Doc said, trying to place a hand on his shoulder.

Pal gave the doctor's hand a sharp look, one he then conveyed into a fierce eye contact.

"Okay, you do your thing, then," Doc said with a chuckle, retreating with hands up.

Still bristling at the doctor, Pal stood ready. "What are your orders?"

Tw'eak turned slightly to try to get onto her other side, but the motion made her head swim. "I... Pal - what the..." She finally focused on the Jem'Hadar's visibly distraught expression. "You're okay?"

"I am well enough to return to duty. I greatly regret that my actions did not bring further glory to the banner of our task force today."

"There was nothing you or a whole phalanx of you could've done against that Herald. We were lucky we didn't lose you, too - or Tlhosh, for that matter." She pointed towards the medical suites, and looked at Doc. "I want you to tell him that he did everything he could for that girl. I don't want him blaming himself. They're all heroes." She looked back up to Pal. "You, too - you might not believe it, but what we found over there... you brought us victory today, Pal. You've earned a rest."

"But I do not desire rest. I desire the defeat of the Heralds - not just one, but all of them."

"That would presently be impossible," Octavia advised. "Chief Sandoval has advised me that the gateway on Nopada has been deactivated by remote signal. It is no longer possible to use it to send further teams to the interior of the sphere."

"This angers me," Pal replied. "I will not be satisfied until all their machines lie shattered at my feet."

"First let's make it so you're back in one piece again," Doc quipped. She took out a medical tricorder. "That's remarkable," she said, looking at her scan. "You've... your armour has some sort of combat medical interface?"

"Yes - such triage subroutines are commonplace for my people."

"Now that's the kind of thing we need more of," Doc said. "Not just shields and armour, but the kind that offer regenerative health benefits. Could make field medics obsolete that way."

"Unlikely," Pal noted. "The suit is only proof against minor or common wounds. It would be ineffective against the sort of power those Heralds command."

Kim nodded in the medical suite's direction. "I'm just going to go..."

"Sure. Be right over." Doc looked at Tw'eak. "You stay put and rest until I tell you otherwise." She then looked to Pal. "You, too - and you better obey."

Pal bore his teeth, insulted. "It's a joke, Pal," Tw'eak said quickly. "No need to worry. She's like that with everyone."

"And you'd be the one to know it, too." Doc turned and headed away.

"Hey, Doc, before you go - my arm doesn't feel right."

Doc returned, tricorder out, to scan Tw'eak's right arm. "Some of the responsiveness of your bio-synthetic arm is going to be slow in returning - a few components are fused and it'll take a few hours for the self-replicating mechanism to get to them all." She scanned further. "Your join point is also quite inflamed - actually, there's a lot more inflammation at the points of your injuries than there should be. I wonder why that is?"

Tw'eak shook her head. "No idea."

She scanned further. "There's antiproton residue..." She reached for an instrument. "Here, the protodynoplaser should boost your immune system enough to get that all flushed out through your lymph nodes. I'll check and see how that's going in a little bit." She completed her scan, and turned and walked away.

Tw'eak used the opportunity to try and get up. While Pal attempted to help her up, Octavia placed an arm across her on the bed. "It would be unwise for you to attempt to move," the captain insisted.

"Nonsense," Tw'eak insisted. "I need to get to the bridge."

"On what basis?"

"I need to file reports, need to... know what's going on." Tw'eak lifted Octavia's arm out of the way and, with Pal's help, sat up on the edge of the bio-bed... face-to-chest with the massive form of Tlhosh. She looked up. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"The carpetssss aboard thissss sssstarssship make it much easssier for me to move quietly," Tlhosh said intently. He then looked down at Pal. "Return to your bed, pleassse."

For a moment, Pal bristled, and it looked like something was about to transpire between the two. Still bristling, Pal sat back up onto his bio-bed as directed, gritting his teeth.

"Lay down like the doctor hasss directed, Admiral," Tlhosh said in a surprisingly gentle tone. "Thisss way you prevent further injuriesss."

"But I feel well enough to get back to duty."

"Thossse were not the injuriesss I had in mind," Tlhosh replied, with what Tw'eak almost believed to be a wild grin crossing the Gorn's face. "If you follow my meaning."

"Perfectly," Tw'eak answered, laying back down, looking upwards at Octavia. "I don't suppose you'd mind getting me a fresh uniform?"

"Of course," Octavia replied. "Anything further?"

"Maybe a cup of katheka," Tw'eak said, then thinking better of it. "No, maybe not." She looked around. "Spera?"

"I last saw the commander in the transporter room."

"If you see her, I'd like to talk to her."

"I will endeavour to locate her."

"No, no - just, if you see her." Tw'eak frowned. "I'd imagine this is hard for her to accept. She worked so hard to prevent this from happening, and now, here come the Iconians, all the same."

"Indeed. May I ask... Lieutenant Commander duBois reported that Spera stood up to the Iconian Herald, in single combat. Utilizing some form of psionic energy?"

"I don't remember," Tw'eak said. "Must have happened after I blacked out."

"That is precisely what occurred," Pal confirmed. "I witnessed her absorbing a series of energy attacks from the Herald, in sufficient strength to drive it backwards from our position."

"Thisss isss true," Tlhosh added. "I witnessssed it myssself. The commander ssssaturated the Herald with itssss own energy, and made it possssible to evacuate to the gateway."

Pal was astounded. "I had not realized the commander could call such power to her command."

"I don't think she realized it either," Tw'eak replied. "That's what I'm afraid of."

"You fear she might have a regression, as she did while aboard the _Enterprise_?" Octavia asked.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Tw'eak said. She looked up. "Computer, locate Esperanza de Salaberry, please."

"Commander Spera is in Counselor Derret's office."

Tw'eak breathed a sigh of relief. "That - good."

"May I asssk," Tlhosh inquired, "what you are concerned about?"

"Just found it a little odd to come around, here, and not see my daughter at my side." Tw'eak smiled. "Nothing to worry about, then." Her eyes moved from Tlhosh to Octavia. "How long until we reach the Iconia system?"

"At current speed, four hours, sixteen minutes."

Tw'eak clenched her jaw. "Then I suppose I have little choice," she admitted, laying back on the bio-bed. "We've got time enough for me to rest, as our good friend Yeoman Gorn insists."

"I mussst insssist," Tlhosh replied, "as the doctor would."

Tw'eak laughed. "She'd turn you into a Gorn-skin purse if I left the room - right, I get it."

Tlhosh frowned. "Ah - you merely jessst. I... alssso get it."

Tw'eak smiled up at Octavia. "Let me know if I'm needed."

"I assure you, Admiral, I will do no such thing." Octavia gave a slight nod to Tw'eak and to Pal, and turned to leave.

Tw'eak looked over to Pal. "Thank you, for everything you did today."

"My duty, Admiral. Obedience brings victory."

Tw'eak reached out a hand to Pal. Pal did not respond. "You see, this is the part where - In the Federation, this is as a way of reaffirming emotional connection after hardships or even in the good times."

"Laughable," Pal replied. "Would such emotional connections not remain unchanged as a result of events?"

"Yes, usually. But we don't trust that to be the case." She held her hand out a moment longer. "We're not as... secure in our sense of selves as you Jem'Hadar."

Pal grunted, and clapped Tw'eak's hand, a sort of high five. "There. All is well."

Tw'eak pulled back her arm to rest on the bio-bed. "I suppose that'll do." She looked over at Tlhosh, who was pretending to be calibrating a medical tricorder, his reptilian eyes fixed on his two would-be fugitives. "I don't suppose I could trouble you for a blanket? Maybe even help me get my boots off."

"I will assist," Pal said, rising to his feet, albeit a bit woozily.

"You will not," Tlhosh replied, pointing angrily at the bio-bed. "Return to your bed."

"Boys, please," Tw'eak said with a smile. "No use fighting over me. I'll get my own boots." She raised her leg, bent, and slid off one boot, then repeated the process for the other. "Just get me that blanket, maybe lower the lights a bit, and let me try to forget today for a little while."

"Do you require a ssssedative?"

"No, thanks. I doubt very much that I'll actually sleep. Would be nice to feel a bit warmer, though."

"Very well," Tlhosh said, turning to the replicator to produce a blanket. He then turned back. "Do not even contemplate the ussse of your ssshroud in ssssickbay," he snarled at Pal.

Pal leered back at Tlhosh, unaware that Tw'eak had seen him do so as she had closed her eyes a split-second before he saw they were closed. Tlhosh placed the blanket tightly around a still smiling Tw'eak, then worked the lighting console over her bed to a dimmer setting. He then handed a second blanket to Pal, which Pal begrudgingly accepted, placing it - still folded - at the foot of the bed. After a few minutes, wounded, tired and sore, Tw'eak faded into sleep. For his part, requiring no sleep, Pal sat resentfully, if obediently, in the same position midway down his bio-bed, his eyes firmly upon the sickbay exit. He would remain in this position, only moving as directed by medical personnel, until his admiral awoke several hours later.


	90. Part VI, Chapter 5

It took a few minutes for Tw'eak to come around. The sensation of the medicine she'd received, the disorientation of seeing the internal arrangement of sickbay, so different from typical quarters, and the precious few seconds before she remembered how she had gotten there all combined to give her a moment to revive unencumbered by stress and concern. That, however, did not last long. She saw Pal right away, as he had called over Tlhosh to scan Tw'eak.

"You ssseem to be recovering quite well," the Gorn advised her. "I've alwaysss admired how well Andoriansss can ressstore themsssselves after being injured."

Tw'eak swallowed, the inside of her throat feeling like the surface of Nimbus III - all desert and deadly sand scorpions. "How long?" she rasped.

"Three hours, forty-seven minutes," Pal advised. The typically surly Jem'Hadar hovered near her head in an almost paternal fashion. "Shall I retrieve a glass of water?"

"Please," Tw'eak replied. Pal moved past Tlhosh to the nearest replicator. "Doc?"

"Ah, yesss..." Tlhosh gave a glance to the medical suite. "There was a ssslight complication during the autopsssy... Doctor Hewssson has gone into labour."

Tw'eak's eyes opened in surprise. "Isn't that a little early?"

"Her due date was in two weeksss' time," Tlhosh said, shaking his head. "First-time pregnanciesss can be sssomewhat unpredictable in humansss, I am told."

"Right. Doc's attending, then?"

"No," Tlhosh said with a smile. "Doctor Hewssson insssisssted that the Emergency Medical Hologram be brought online."

"She doesn't trust Doc?"

"I believe she sssaid, 'today, you're my partner, not a doctor.' Or wordsss to that effect."

Tw'eak smiled, sitting up. She faltered a bit, and Tlhosh reached out a scaly hand, helping her to a seated position. At that instant, Pal returned, glass of water in hand, and extended it to Tw'eak. "Thank you," she said.

"It was the doctor'sss requessst that you consssider a medical leave on Ssstarbase 234. I believe she and Counssselor Derret are intending to dissscuss that prossspect with you at another time."

"No, that won't be necessary."

"I would wish to accompany you at all times," Pal declared.

"I appreciate that, as you know I always do, but it's not for security reasons that I'm saying 'no'. There simply isn't time for me to be hurt anymore."

"I don't agree with that." A female voice came from the doctor's office, and Tw'eak turned to see who it was - it wasn't Spera's, that much she knew. "Hello, Admiral," Prin Derret said from the doorway, her long red-brown hair bouncing as she came into sight, smile firmly in place. "Good to see you're up."

"You weren't spying on me and my boyfriends, were you?"

"Not in the slightest. I came to ask the First to advise me when you were up. It was... fortuitous timing, shall we say."

"You're sending me off on medical leave, now?" Tw'eak stretched out. "But I'm fine."

"Your physical state might be fully recovered, but the impact of post-traumatic stress and combat fatigue need to be given their full merit. You wouldn't tolerate anyone joining an away team were they in your state of mind."

Tw'eak shrugged. "I don't know. Well, I more or less do - I know you're right. But any other crew member-"

"-isn't a vice admiral in Starfleet, yes, I know. However, this is the perfect time for you to take the leave we discussed. Starbase 234 is the perfect spot - close to the action so that, if you're needed, we know where to find you."

"And it's not a planet," Tw'eak noted. "Spera will appreciate that."

"Yes, I'd imagine she would," Derret said with a small laugh.

Tw'eak considered for a moment. "Let me think about it." Derret began to protest, but Tw'eak cut her off. "I'm not saying no, Counselor. I'm just... not certain. Not yet."

Derret relented. "Alright," she said with a subtle nod. "Let me know when you've decided."

"Sure," Tw'eak said with a smile, intended to be as disarming and as broad as Derret's. After a second, she considered it probably made her look deranged - more proof of combat stress - so she frowned suddenly, then gave a curt nod. It didn't help, and the urge to put her face in the palm of her hand was one she narrowly resisted.

The entry door from the far end of the room opened, and into the sickbay stepped Captain Va'kel Shon of the USS _Enterprise_ -F. Dressed in an immaculate uniform, with his usual broad step, Tw'eak recognized him instantly - a little thrill ran through her at the sight of the man she desired - followed immediately by a clear sense that she had become delusional or was hallucinating. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Shon said with a smile. "I read a report that said you'd been wounded by the Iconians, so I wanted to see how you were. All I had to do was find the right Jem'Hadar. And a Gorn. Hello."

"Yeoman Gorn, as he's known," Tw'eak said, by way of introduction. "He'd probably prefer you called him Medic Tlhosh." She looked back at Shon, then turned to Tlhosh. "He's - I'm not hallucinating, am I, Tlhosh?"

"No, Admiral. Greetingsss, Captain," Tlhosh acknowledged. "I am honoured to meet you."

For once, the rather tall Shon found himself looking up to someone. "Pleasure meeting you as well. Hope you don't mind me visiting."

"The admiral is well enough for company, ssso long as she remainsss in bed."

"Very well," Shon confirmed. "Don't worry."

"I should also introduce Counselor Prin Derret," Tw'eak said, pointing to the office doorway.

"Hello, Captain." Derret's smile remained unchanged, broad and welcoming.

Shon looked to Derret, nodded, his face professional, then his eyes fell upon the Jem'Hadar at Tw'eak's side. "Pal. Good to see you again, my friend."

Pal nodded. "Captain Shon."

"Good work on the other side of the gateway. I was just upstairs with Octavia, reviewing Lieutenant Commander duBois' report. Well done."

"I only sought to fulfil the mission we were given," Pal said, inclining his head once again. "As directed by my admiral."

"And you brought her back in one piece," Shon said with a sincere grin. "Thanks."

"That is my primary duty, as always." Pal did not smile, nor take any particular stance that would clarify to a casual observer his feelings, but Tw'eak could tell that the First was intensely proud to have fulfilled that duty. Shon's praise merely enhanced his assessment of his performance.

Tw'eak patted Pal on the shoulder, then finished off her glass of water and stood up. Woozily, she tottered for a brief moment. "I think the captain and I will make use of that office, if you don't mind, Counselor."

"You're in no condition for anything like that," Shon observed. "As the yeoman - sorry, the medic - just said."

"I would agree," Derret affirmed.

"No, but..." Tw'eak gave Shon a hint with her raised eyebrows that she wanted nothing more than to be alone with him. "What we have to ...discuss is probably not suited to a vast sickbay." Tw'eak looked over her shoulder. "Wait," she said. "Where's Commander vanZyl?"

"She has been moved to guessst quartersss," Tlhosh advised.

"Under guard," Pal added. "I saw to that myself."

"Very well. Have you had a chance to question her, Counselor?"

"Not personally," Derret replied, "Captain T'uni handled that personally. vanZyl recalls nothing of how she came to be under the Bluegills' control, and she wished to extend an apology to you and the away team for her conduct - along with her condolences about the death of the lieutenant."

Tw'eak nodded. She looked to Shon. "Lieutenant Lini - do you remember her? Tactical officer aboard the Silhouette."

"Yes, I do," Shon replied. "The only fatality, correct?"

Tw'eak nodded, unwilling to react emotionally with the counselor within line of sight. "Seriously, Pal," she chided, "help me into that office. I'd like to have a few minutes to talk to Captain Shon, in private."

"Very well," Pal said, extending an arm across Tw'eak's back, under her left shoulder. She took a few steps, largely under her own power, before it felt as though one of her hips betrayed her. She leaned on Pal, then continued past Tlhosh, who followed at her right side, and Derret, who nodded cordially to both her and Captain Shon. Tw'eak took a seat across from the desk - it felt inappropriate for her to sit at Doc's desk - and placed her empty glass on its surface. Shon waited patiently for Pal and Tlhosh to cross back out of the doorway before he settled into one of the chairs. "I will remain at the door," Pal informed Tw'eak.

"Does it close?"

"Yes, it does," Derret said with a smile. "I'll be out here, too."

Tw'eak looked up at Tlhosh. "You, too, I take it."

"Thisss is my duty ssstation," Tlhosh snarled. "I have work here to complete."

"No doubt. Alright, we won't trouble you further. Pal, seal us in, if you would."

Pal gave a nod, then tapped the door console. After a moment, a whooshing noise brought the door to a close. Through the stretched, tinted window which took up two-thirds of the exterior wall, Tw'eak could see the silhouettes - one tall and broad-shouldered, another shorter and petite - of her crew. "Nosy," she said with a snicker.

"They're just concerned for you. My crew are hardly much better. Although I will say I prefer Phillipa's approach, compared to your counselor's."

"Why's that?"

"The humans have a phrase - 'cat with a canary' - that comes to mind when I see her."

Tw'eak laughed. "With the smile and the-" Shon nodded. "Yeah. She does that." Tw'eak gave a sigh as she exhaled. "She wants me to take stress leave."

"I can think of no one more qualified for a little time off, even if this might not be the moment for it."

"See, that's what I said. After everything that's happened, for me to just... leave... it'd be disastrous for the task force."

"But your mission's completed. I spoke to Admiral Quinn on the way here, I got the sense that he intended to reassign you now that the Iconian invasion has begun."

"Really," Tw'eak said, sliding back in the chair.

Shon raised a cautionary hand. "Just - call it an impression, nothing more."

"You're probably right. Still, I just... don't feel like I've 'completed' anything."

"You did better than most would've, Tw'eak. Give yourself a little credit."

Tw'eak squinted at an invisible spot on the wall. "Credit - what for? I got people killed - good people, too."

"I know. I'm... sorry about Lini. She was a damn fine officer."

"It was my fault she was there," Tw'eak said, a slight faltering in her voice.

"In what sense? She was doing her duty."

"I hand-picked her for the Silhouette, y'know - right out of the Academy. I wanted a... properly Andorian presence aboard that ship. That sounds horribly speciesist of me but I needed someone that was qualified for ground operations and who... I don't know, who had the right kind of presence, the right attitude. The way our people are supposed to. Maybe for Spera, maybe just for myself. She was so much like me - no." Tw'eak raised a finger. "No, she was the kind of officer I wanted to be, wished I'd been, out of the Academy."

"I think you were," Shon said with a smile. "Why do you think you got the _Enterprise_ right away? Still, I don't know. You were a lot more fun back then."

"Don't start," Tw'eak muttered.

"No, it's true. Whatever it was that Captain Picard said to you, it put the fear of Uzaveh into your heart - started a fire."

Tw'eak gave a snicker, and a shrug. "Yeah. Funny thing about fire... it sort of burns itself out."

"I don't think it has. It's hard to tell if it's the rank, or the years, or maybe even Spera, but you're a lot more serious now, intense... in a way I've never known you to be."

"Is that such a bad thing? I'd say it's called for. We're facing the Final Darkness here."

"Oh, I... see," Shon said with a nod.

"What - what'd I say?" Panicking, Tw'eak tried to sort through what she had said, looking for what had caused his reaction.

"Hold on, hear me out. Don't jump all over me right away."

"I'm not going-" Tw'eak caught herself. "Go ahead," she said after a moment's pause, and a guilty smirk.

"I realize you've had a much sharper perspective on the Iconians than I have, probably more than any other Starfleet officer has, to be honest. And maybe that's given you justified cause for looking at this as an apocalyptic event. But I... I really don't."

"You don't?"

"No. I can't, really. Because it won't be."

Tw'eak scoffed. "Hope you're right."

"I don't think I'm wrong. I look at this as being the beginning of, well... just another conflict. It's cyclical - Starfleet has always had some conflict or another that needs to be settled, and not always with force. Think of it this way - we both started our careers just a few years after the end of the Dominion War. Before that, we had wars intermittently since our ancestors were killing Vulcans for fun. But even over the course of my career - and yours - the Federation's faced threats from... well, everyone. The Tal Shiar. The Klingons and their allies. Those Hirogen you took down a while back. The Undine. The Borg. The Vaadwaur. And those are just the military conflicts - not every conflict we're involved in is settled in battle."

"You think the Iconians are going to negotiate?" Tw'eak looked at Shon's ears. "Have you turned Ferengi on me since I last saw you?"

"I said 'hear me out', didn't I?" Tw'eak was silent, and after a moment, Shon continued. "Every time there's a conflict, we've come through - changed, to be sure, but not all that much. The Federation is still the Federation. And eventually those adversaries become friends."

"I appreciate your optimism," Tw'eak said. "Wish I shared it. But how many kids like Lini are going to die because we couldn't stop the Iconians?"

"No, you're right but it's worth remembering that, well... the same ideals and principles that you and I, all of us in Starfleet, uphold and defend... sometimes they mean casualties. The Iconians... will probably cost us a lot of lives, I'm not going to deny it. It'll be a fight unlike we've ever seen before, to be sure. And a lot of good people will go down fighting, but they'll continue to uphold those ideals and principles, and defend them to the death."

"You really think we'll make it through this?"

"I'm fairly certain of it. And I understand your point - this does seem a lot like the Final Darkness. But I'm sure our ancestors who fought alongside United Earth in the Romulan War felt that was the Final Darkness - the same way I know I thought of that last Borg invasion as the coming of the Final Darkness."

"Well, sure," Tw'eak observed, "after what they took from you."

"I wouldn't think of it that way." Shon smiled, sort of awkwardly. "My family - it took me a long time, and a lot of work with Phillipa, to realize that my limitations, the Collective's invasion... it came about the way it did, perhaps the way it was always going to happen, I don't know. But I stopped believing in any greater fate or pattern to the universe a long time before what happened to Vega colony." He leaned forward in his chair, tracing an invisible line through the air with a finger. "We know that this is just one possible timeline. Whatever happens along this timeline, others exist. Some seem better, but at some cost or another. When the Borg assimilated Vega colony, I lost everyone that mattered to me - but that meant others came to matter more than they may have otherwise. It made me a different captain, a different person. Not better, not worse, just... different."

Tw'eak nodded. She noted that Shon had drifted into an abstract silence. "Different," she repeated.

"I'm sorry." Shon cleared his throat. "It still hurts to know that they're gone. I have to acknowledge it."

"No, of course."

"I've had a lot of time to think about this, about... about you." Shon smiled and glanced briefly at Tw'eak before his eyes settled upon the same trajectory they had previously held. "There never would've been an opportunity to share myself with you, as we did, without that loss."

"The same way that Spera turning up changed my relationship with Leo," Tw'eak acknowledged.

"Exactly. Spera's a good example of that. Her coming back in time probably saved our whole timeline, you know."

"I know. I've - you're not the only one who's had a lot of time to think. I wish you'd call more often."

"I didn't know if I'd be bothering you."

Tw'eak laughed. "That was why I didn't want to bother you. Uzaveh's name, how I longed for the sound of your voice. I didn't want to admit it, but... it's still hard for me to stop looking at this in terms of rank."

"So set it aside." Shon smiled. "It didn't exactly stop you before."

"Hey now," Tw'eak said, smiling in turn. "But you're right. Spera's involvement in my life - as a full-grown, capable woman with intel and stories to share - changed everything. It's probably why I got this task force and ...everything after."

"I'd bet you're right. I remember you telling me about it... something to do with another command? My death on the Aquarius?"

"That's right," Tw'eak acknowledged. "And right now, over in one of those medical suites, two of this ship's doctors are witnessing the birth of... well, Spera."

"You think they'll name her Spera, just the same?"

"Not my place to insist on anything," Tw'eak said. "I didn't even feel right sitting in Doc's chair when we came in."

"I wondered about that. So it was intentional."

"Very. I didn't want her to walk in and think I'd been going through the drawers of her desk."

Shon straightened up. "Want me to do it?"

"No - hell no." Tw'eak motioned for him to return to his seat. "I mean it, Va'kel. I'd rather send you up against a Herald."

"Alright, fine." Shon sat back down. "It's just like I said - you used to be more fun."

But it was Tw'eak's turn to stare off into the distance. "I take it back," she said quickly. "About the Herald."

"Tell me about it." Shon waited a moment for Tw'eak to reply. "I might find myself up against one eventually."

"No-" Tw'eak shook her head abruptly, mentally finding herself returning to the cramped interior of the Iconian-controlled Dyson sphere, the coruscating energy of the Herald, the implacable advance of its motion despite no discernible legs, the expressionless face, the energy staff - held aloft, then lowered, its length aiming directly into her eyes- "No!"

Shon reached out and squeezed Tw'eak's knee. "Hey. Tw'eak. You're on the Warspite. With me."

"Oh, Va'kel..." She felt the tears begin to come, and a hot wave of embarrassment flushed over her features. "Everything you said - I believed it. All my life, I believed it. We're supposed to win. We're the Federation. We're the good guys. That's why - that's why I could stand up to Section 31, that's why I could... could tell myself that working with Sela would work out alright."

"And didn't it?"

"No," Tw'eak said, her eyes distant, streaming tears. "Lini's dead. We didn't prevent - we couldn't stop them. We didn't change any of it."

Shon shook his head. "Let me see if I have this straight. I mean, don't get me wrong, you're - you're incredible. I don't think you realize just how much I admire you, and I'm not just saying that."

Tw'eak looked over at Shon. "Shut up," she snarled, only half-sarcastically.

"No, I mean it. I'm not the only one, either. There are whole decks of this ship fully crewed with your admirers. I'm surprised they haven't taken to building little shrines to you on every deck."

"They know I'd tear them down, is why."

"Still... my point is this. You realistically believed that you would be able to... I can't even imagine what you'd do - but it'd single-handedly forestall the Iconians' return?"

"Yup," Tw'eak confirmed.

Shon stared at her for a moment. "Really."

"Yup."

"That's... I'm sorry." Shon laughed.

"That was our mission." Tw'eak stared at Shon, enraged. "That was the whole purpose of our task force."

Shon shook his head. "No, it wasn't."

"It was so."

"I've seen your task force's mission brief," Shon stated. "It was very clear - your purpose was intelligence-gathering. Exclusively."

"Intelligence for that purpose, regardless."

"No. Even with the best intelligence there's only so much that we can do. If we... if we had the intel, ahead of time, clearly stating that Hobus was the work of a few Romulan idiots, would that countenance their assassination to prevent it?"

Tw'eak's eyes darted to Shon's. "You're talking about the ends justifying the means."

"They never do." Shon softened his facial expression a bit. "Granted - Hobus was a catastrophe, and an avoidable one. Work had to be done by sentient beings to make it happen. But from the ashes of Romulus... we got the Republic. No amount of intel could've prevented it. Common sense should've been sufficient."

"What does Hobus have to do with me, aside from having just been there?"

"What you've been able to learn - through Spera, through going through... to another galaxy, if I read correctly - congratulations, by the way. One of the first Starfleet personnel ever to set foot in the Andromeda galaxy, however briefly."

"Right." Tw'eak grew impatient for Shon to make his point. Yet in her aggravation, she felt her heart swell with a yearning for his arms around her. The more practical his argument, the more irrationally she wanted his warmth, the security and the comfort of a lovers' embrace.

"Nobody expected you to do anything more than learn what you could about the Iconians. We know far, far more now because you fulfilled your mission. But that was the official brief. You gave yourself another mission - and frankly, that mission was impossible for anyone to fulfill."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because if there's any Starfleet officer in commission today who's capable of doing the impossible, it's the woman I love."

Tw'eak found herself shocked at Shon's admission. " 'The woman you-'?"

"Yeah. You heard me. That's the other reason I've been afraid to talk to you lately. I should've just come out and said it months ago, on Qo'noS. Somehow, saying it for the first time over subspace just felt... out of place."

"Oh, Va'kel..." Tw'eak found herself at a loss for words. "Just shut up and kiss me, would you?"

"In here?" Shon looked around at the windows. "You know your whole crew is probably out there watching us. Especially the counselor- she's Betazoid, isn't she."

"Half-Vulcan," Tw'eak said as she extended her arms to him. "I don't care who knows how much I love you."

"You - you mean-?"

"Oh yeah. Always have. And you knew it, all along."

Shon gave his hands to Tw'eak, helping her to her feet, then embracing her in a rather tentative kiss. Reckless abandon came over Tw'eak, and she leaned in further, putting her full weight into Shon's body, and the embrace finally took on the passion it deserved. She felt the tip of her right antenna briefly touch against his, and she tilted her head slightly, mouth open, pressed against his. After a moment, she leaned back, more or less dependent upon his help.

"You know, this reminds me of the first time I kissed you," Shon said with a smile. "On the _Bonaventure_."

"What, with me weak in the knees? You made a pretty hasty retreat then," Tw'eak joked.

"I know. I wasn't ready then. Truthfully, I don't think I was even when we talked to Admiral Quinn."

"And now?"

Shon nodded, his face contemplative. "Well, as it happens, _Enterprise_ and _Warspite_ are going to be monitoring this sphere for activity over the next couple days... it might be good for us to spend some time together."

"How romantic - just you, me, and the Iconians."

"I'll try to keep them out of things. I'll let you talk to Pal, though."

"Oh, he's usually very understanding about personal privacy. I think he likes you."

"I'd hate to find out he didn't."

"Yeah, me too, now that you mention it." Tw'eak gave an impish grin. "But he's never been the jealous type."

"So..." Shon gave a momentary look of distress, as he considered his words. Tw'eak worried her joke about Pal had thrown him off, or caused him concern, but it was only a moment before Shon continued. "Presuming you're well enough, of course... I'd love nothing more than to have you for dinner sometime."

Tw'eak arched an eyebrow, with a slight smile. "Well now... that does sound interesting."

"Over. For dinner. Aboard the _Enterprise_ , I mean." Shon shook his head, closing his eyes tightly. "That came out all wrong."

"No, not at all." Tw'eak's smile gave way to a rational shake of the head.

"Yes, it did."

"Mmmm, no." Tw'eak was matter of fact. "It's a common misconception." She paused for effect before continuing.

"What is?"

"The order of events. We can always have dinner... after." Her impish grin returned.

Shon laughed, surprised at her candour. "You're really something."

"Aren't I?" Tw'eak said, her eyes sparkling, her smile bright. "Sometimes I can still be a lot more fun, like you remember. But only in limited company."

"Wouldn't want it any other way."

"Good." Tw'eak pulled Shon closer again for another kiss.


	91. Part VI, Chapter 6

The next few hours were quite fun for Tw'eak. She had found a dress she'd been saving for the next time she saw Va'kel Shon. A lovely iridescent shade of indigo, it now shimmered like a radiant pool upon the ground next to the bed, one of the low-heeled shoes she had worn tangled in its straps. She and Shon rested on their backs beneath the sheets in his quarters. Dinner had yet to be served. It was probably for the best - things would've turned out differently on a full stomach. As it was, Tw'eak could still feel her heart racing, and closed her eyes to catch her breath.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Tw'eak asked with a sort of gasp.

Shon, who had only recently come to rest next to her, laughed. "You really want me to tell you?"

"No, I want you to do it again," she said, rolling over on one hip. "Seriously, it wasn't like that last time. Wow."

Shon spoke in a casual tone, as if he were addressing a briefing. "We've had some time apart. It wasn't always easy for me. And I thought of you often, sometimes like this, other times, in other ways. I suppose it was just... a fantasy of mine to try that."

"Well, thank you for making that fantasy into reality." Tw'eak let her eyebrows rise, accordingly, then a sarcastic look came in her eyes. "Seriously, admit it. You practiced that on the holodeck, didn't you."

"Not a chance. There are technicians who work on those systems - my crew. I get one that brings a tricorder to work and that rumour's all over the ship!"

Tw'eak laughed. "That can't be such a bad thing for them to know - after all, how many pretty young officers on this ship go and press the buttons on their consoles a little faster at the sight of the dashing Captain Shon?"

Shon scoffed. "I don't know about that."

"Well, this one does for sure." Tw'eak gave him a kiss on the cheek, and was almost immediately taken aback by the stiffness of his jaw, his faraway stare. "So, we seem to be in completely different states of mind at the moment."

"I should probably check in with the bridge, see if they've had any luck with the sensor scans. They must have found something by now - I'm surprised not to have heard from them."

Tw'eak gave a slight sigh. "Here I was thinking they were giving us time together. Damn. But you're right - nobody's contacted me either. Which leads me to believe that Enterprise and Warspite and Lleiset and Bortasqu' all discovered - big surprise - that the sphere's impenetrable, and hostile."

Shon frowned at Tw'eak. "And so, that's it, then. We just sit and wait for them to make the first move."

"We could launch a full attack - even get the Lleiset to bring a full thalaron assault - and maybe we scratch the paint." Tw'eak curled a lip. "Even if we made a dent, how deep a dent is it really worth making? A hole through to the other side brings Iconians out - Aurora called it a 'hornet's nest'."

"True. But that's another thing - they're actually doing us a favour taking their time making that first move. We have more time to get ready to fight them."

"Not sure it'll help - the tactical data which we received from Spera was very helpful in planning simulations. They fight a lot like Jem'Hadar - each new rank of ships seems to be an order of magnitude bigger, and the little ones ram into you for fun. So, we treat them like we're fighting the Dominion again. This time, we don't have any Cardassians switching sides to join us."

Shon considered it for a moment. "That would be welcome, actually."

"If they fought like Jem'Hadar? I agree. Herald ships use rad-spiked antiproton rather than phased polaron. Hurts more. And Jem'Hadar get hurt. Heralds don't"

"So the Iconians can hurt us more than we can hurt them, and there are more of them than us."

"Not the Iconians - I think they're fairly few in number. But the Heralds could number in the tens of trillions." Tw'eak scoffed. "No big deal. They're just machines. And any machine can be broken."

"Powerful machines, though."

Tw'eak winced in remembrance that the monstrous Herald she had faced had only been one such creature. Presumably there were others like it - perhaps some even bigger. "That's for certain," she observed.

"I don't know how we're going to do this, Twaiheak. I mean, I know we'll prevail eventually. It's just a question of when... and how many lives it costs."

"Always losing people. Anyone would be too many - but how many?"

"More than I care to admit. _Enterprise_ is a fine ship, with an amazing crew. I'd hate to lose a single one of them."

"That's what makes you such a good captain, Va'kel. I'm... the other woman in your life. She's the one you really love."

"Who? I don't understand."

"The _Enterprise_ , silly." Tw'eak closed her eyes in amused disbelief. "I can't believe you've never heard of it spoken of like that before - like you're married to your ship."

"I'm not - but I get it now. For a moment, I thought you meant a specific member of my crew."

"Oh, trying to make me jealous, are you? So who is she? Kyona, I'd bet."

"That's hardly appropriate."

"Explains those claw marks down your back. Or wait, maybe that was me."

"Twaiheak - "

Tw'eak grinned and nudged Shon's bare shoulder with her own. "Serves you right for bringing up work at a time like this." She pulled herself close to him, throwing one leg over his. "Let's just keep our ships and crews out of bed with us, please, Captain."

"Is that an order?" Shon said with a smile.

"Out of bed," she repeated, smiling back. "Them out there, and you and I... right here."

"I like the sound of that."

"You're about to like it a whole lot more." She kissed him along his jawline, and came up onto her knees. "It's about time I lived out a little fantasy of my own." Pulling herself over to sit fully atop Shon, she brought her arms and legs around him tightly, renewing their most intimate of embraces.

* * *

It was sometime after - not long after, but asking the computer for the exact time they'd taken felt inappropriate - that Tw'eak found herself lying beside Shon, eyes closed, trying to envision the galactic map. She'd made a good attempt to shut out her duty from her own thoughts, but it had come charging back shortly after their lovemaking had ceased. In her mind, the grid was awash with a red shade of light, emanating from the Iconian sphere. From there, they could begin the war any place they liked - the brighter the red, the more endangered by their advance. Where, she wondered, would it be likely to begin? She had rounded off a few places - Bajor, for instance, since it seemed likely the intervention of Prophets and Dominion alike would be enough to make the Iconians hesitate - and both Earth and Qo'noS, for example. The latter two she considered would be most heavily defended. The Iconians were no doubt aware of their reputation among the sentient species of the galaxy, that their omnipresent ability to strike in force meant no place was truly safe. Still, to exhaust their forces in a single assault - or, as the Undine had recently done, striking one as a diversion before striking at the other - seemed tactically unsound. However, the Iconians were confident enough, and the Alliance insecure enough, in their abilities that it might work.

New Romulus also occurred to her as being a fairly obvious striking point. It was the Achilles heel of the Klingons and the Federation, as both had ships committed to its defense at the expense of their own member worlds. It also had orbital defenses and a fleet which was fractional in its strength relative to the KDF or Starfleet, and lay closer to their present position than either Qo'noS or Earth. There also was an Iconian gateway present on the planet, one which was secured and (hopefully) controlled by the Republic. But as an opening move, striking mol'Rihan was the wrong one. It would galvanize those who might be considering their neutrality - the Ferengi, for instance, or the Cardassians - and bring about their eventual joining of the Alliance. This was the same mistake the Xindi had made, and paid for, centuries earlier. Striking another race's homeworld as a prelude to all-out war strengthened their adversaries by providing them with sympathetic allies.

Better, then, to choose a target that was of high value, perhaps not to all but at least to one of the powers, and strike it in force as a demonstration of power. Then from there it would be a straightforward matter to cow them into submission - after all, if we did this to Backwater Nowhere Station, imagine us over your homeworld next - and those left fighting would be required to compensate for the anxious allies whose support was now much more tenuous indeed. The Iconians fielded a force of automatons. This meant they would never break, never yield, never be routed, never consider their own interests ahead of their orders. Implacable, unrelenting, indefatigable... not unlike the Borg. Yet even Borg needed time to regenerate - in fact, that very system had been key in manipulating the Collective into its own self-destruction in their first near-victory over Earth. A last-ditch series of commands input through Captain Picard's assimilated form brought down the cube which threatened Earth's absorption into the hive.

"If only..." Tw'eak murmured to herself. It would never be that easy to infiltrate the Herald command system.

"What is it?" Shon asked, raising his head and opening his eyes. He smirked. "Having another fantasy, are you?"

"I- what? Oh." Tw'eak pretended to rouse from sleep, yawning exaggeratedly. "No. I was... dreaming. That we'd put the Iconians to 'sleep', once and for all."

"Like what Picard and Data did to the Borg?"

Tw'eak masked her expression of surprise - Shon, after all, was no telepath, yet had precisely deduced her meaning. "Exactly. If only we had some sort of way of doing something similar to their Heralds."

"I seem to recall you saying something about not bringing work to bed," Shon chided.

"I deserve that," Tw'eak said, raising her eyebrows and tapping her head. "But it followed me here."

"I know what you mean. I won't deny I was thinking about them, too. They can really open gateways big enough for whole fleets?"

"I think each ship over a certain size more or less creates its own gateway, yeah. The rest can launch the smaller ones once they get through."

"Makes sense. It's terrifying to imagine being on station at, say, Vulcan or Sierra, or Sherman's Planet, and going from being the only ships idling about in-system to being outnumbered and at red alert in a fraction of a second - no warning, no advantages."

"That's exactly how they operate." Tw'eak took a deep breath. "That's why they don't need a hatch on the sphere. They can use their gateways to get out, and no one else can get in."

"That we know of," Shon noted by way of correction. "I mean, thing's gotta have an escape hatch. Or even an exhaust port. Something we can use."

"We're still looking. It's a huge area to survey. Maybe we'll find something soon."

"Exactly. I'm sure we will." The serious, pensive look on Shon's face had returned.

"I'm sorry, I pretty much killed the mood, didn't I?"

"Not really. I was just happy we could both put it behind us for a few hours."

"Me too. Was it that long?" Tw'eak felt her arms grip Shon a little more tightly. "Wow, you're really something."

Shon replied with a scoffing noise.

After a few moments, not letting go even slightly, Tw'eak took another deep breath. "I gotta admit, Va'kel, these guys really, really scare me."

"I know. I think they're supposed to. But it's like we talked about before - every threat seems like the Final Darkness until we've gone a few rounds with them, and learned how they fight. That's one of Starfleet's greatest strengths. We take the unknown, the exotic, the alien... and make it part of the everyday."

"Right. Still, it just feels like we don't have a plan that works - or time for the learning curve you mentioned. Could be a knockout in the first round."

"I don't know about that. After all, 'there are always possibilities'. You're right about one thing. In a straight fight, even Enterprise could only take so much from a committed Herald attack. I've had Chief O'Brien working on some solutions from a strictly engineering perspective, but so far, nothing revolutionary."

"The chief science officer aboard Warspite, Bianca duBois, came to me a few weeks ago with a plan to integrate an onboard real-time backup for our computer core."

"I read about that - Jirelle brought it to my attention; there was an article about it in the Journal of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers."

Tw'eak blushed slightly. "I didn't realize Bianca had written about it."

"She was a co-author. I think it was her captain who did the write-up. Very technical." This made Tw'eak feel even more embarrassed - Octavia and Bianca had said nothing to her of this. Shon didn't notice her expression shift to a shameful frown. "I let the chief handle it once Jirelle gave me an overview. It should reduce downtime to under a minute in the event we find the Iconians are attacking us with a virus."

"I'm glad to hear that - and proud of my officers, too. They deserve that sort of recognition." Tw'eak allowed herself a sigh. "Your description makes it sound like I might be better off just talking to Octavia about it rather than trying to read the article. She's incredible. I sometimes feel awful just looking at her."

"Why is that?"

"Well, honestly, Va'kel? She was a botanist before she was assimilated. Unless there's some sort of herbal sedative we can use to knock out the Iconians, I don't think she would be as essential to Starfleet as she is right now unless the Borg had taken her. Warspite is so much better under her command than it was under mine - she just... gets it. She handles things so much better than I did."

"I wouldn't sell yourself short."

"But that's what bothers me. It's like... She's a better officer because of what she's become, even if that's horrible to say."

"They took everything from her, Twaiheak - her identity, her whole way of life."

"It might've been partly down to errors in her reclamation, that we only got the drone and not the woman she was. We don't know for sure. I keep hoping that someday we might be able to bring her old self back, but between you and me? I'd be okay if we didn't."

"You're right, that does sound horrible to say." Shon smirked at Tw'eak. "But I see your point."

"I've trusted Octavia in battle, on ground missions, in ways I don't even trust myself. She's probably a better captain than I ever was, too. That's why she works so well with Bianca's sister, Aurora. While Aurora's probably a little more creative as an engineer, more likely to come up with that unexpected solution, for anything that's rooted in protocol or strict logic, I turn to Octavia. I think that's why they work so well as a senior staff. Bianca's a big part of that as well, she sort of... sits right in the middle of them on that spectrum. She balances them both out."

"Hard to believe they won't be together much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't hear? Rumour has it that they offered the _Wyvern_ to Aurora."

"The _Wyvern_? Chimaera class, right?"

"Upgraded version, yeah - one of the first. They're calling them the Manticore class, but the design is essentially the same. I thought for sure she would've brought it up with you, if anyone."

Tw'eak's sense of shame returned. "I don't know. We... haven't been as close lately. That's been my fault. I've been so damn convinced that we're facing the end times that I've been pushing everyone away, like I'm determined to die alone out there."

"Don't go doing that, now. Especially not on a starship. You'll take them all with you, whether or not they like you."

"No, I know how hard it is to die alone on a starship. Still... I was such a cynical ass about it, and when that ass of mine was in harm's way, my crew rallied around me - Lini laid down her life to protect me. As Pal would've, if he'd been a few milliseconds faster."

"It's funny, you know. It's like you said, about Octavia. How her being assimilated was a long-term improvement. I owe the lieutenant quite a great deal of thanks for what she did on that sphere. It brought you back to me, alive. It's just too bad I'll never get the chance to thank her." Shon shook his head. "That's probably horrible of me to say, too."

"No - well, yeah, but..." Tw'eak looked into Shon's eyes. "You mean it?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, look at what you accomplished with your task force - a huge trove of intelligence, including the fact that Taris is dead, and a chance to hit the Iconians where they live. I'd say that's a pretty good trade for the life of an Andorian lieutenant who died in the line of duty. It's the best way to go - she belongs in the Wall of Heroes for what she did."

"I'll be sure to bring her blood home, that's for certain."

"Not to mention the possibility that Lini and your team showing up when they did forced the Iconians' hand. For all we know, they jumped that sphere into place before they were ready. That may not mean much now, but in the long term, who knows? This could be that 'timeline-changing' moment. Plus now, because of that infiltration, they'll have every last gateway under their command under heavy guard - that's more Heralds who they won't have available to harm anyone." Shon raised a hand from beneath the blankets, towards the nearest viewport. "No, your team did an incredible thing. Lini was part of that team, but you might all have been killed if she hadn't sacrificed herself. It helps to attach meaning to the people you lose - but you can't stop to grieve under fire."

"I think that's what I was doing. Attaching meaning, I mean. I remember there was a meeting in the conference room, and I looked around... and all I could see, honestly, were the faces of the people I couldn't stand to lose. Denver O'Leary has a son now. I know that most of the rest of them aren't married, but I honestly don't like having married people among my senior officers. You remember Shepard Clark?"

Shon gave a curt shake of the head. "You remember him, that's what matters."

"He was my tactical officer on the Bonaventure. Killed in action... stupid death. He tried sneaking up on an Orion matriarch. I feel like we've talked about this before."

"Probably. I'm sorry I don't remember. He was married, I take it."

"Yeah. I had a hell of a time writing that letter home. I'd met his wife, his kids..." Tw'eak took a breath. "I think of having to do the same for, just as an example, Subcommander Oulius, and it breaks my heart."

"They wouldn't let you go without them, you know. Even if you tried sending them home."

Tw'eak was too far into her own narrative to hear Shon's words. "Even Pal. Pal's just become an Honoured Elder. That means a lot to a Jem'Hadar."

"Oh, I know. I've worked with some of them, tactical exercises and so forth, since Kar'ukan tried to seize Deep Space Nine. Very impressive, what those Elders can do. The expertise, the forthrightness... they're formidable warriors."

"That's Pal. 'Formidable'. On every level."

Shon sat up a bit, leaning his upper back and shoulders against the headboard. "They were so disciplined, so... so effective in combat. Yet they had so few among them who were more than toddlers, by our standards." He shook his head. "But Pal's life isn't worth any less to you for being childless - Jem'Hadar can't even have children."

"Neither can I," Tw'eak noted.

"Don't go thinking that it makes you expendable." He pointed at Tw'eak. "You're nothing of the sort."

"Oh, I'm so used to that idea by now, that even Spera coming along didn't change it. It's strange to think of now - part of what brought me to Lini's attention was that I was forthright, came right out and said it to her Academy class, I have this syndrome, I don't get to - I'll never be Whole." Tw'eak shook her head at her own wistfulness. "I didn't quite put it like that."

"At least the Andorians in the room would've understood what you meant."

"Yeah. She did. That's why she came to my attention." Tw'eak pulled the covers around herself, suddenly cold, and sat cross-legged within a small mound of blankets. "But you have been Whole. I envy you that."

"I know. It's always a part of me - but...so is having lost my family to the Borg."

"Would you want to be again? In the future, I mean."

"Is that a trick question?" Shon chuckled. "No, in seriousness, I really would. With the right people, of course. A bond group is such a particular thing."

"Do you... this is going to sound incredibly presumptuous of me, thinking you'd want to be a part of-"

Shon cut off Tw'eak in mid-sentence. "I would."

"You would, what?"

"Any new bond group I was a part of... would have to include you. We could find two compatible others, if we looked. I suppose it's possible that there's another half of a surviving bond group out there somewhere. We'd just have to find them. Chances are they'd be waiting for us. The Infinite works in its ways like that."

Tw'eak couldn't resist a bit of snark. "It's not as simple as posting a want ad on the Academy bulletin board, Va'kel."

"I know that. But-" Shon crossed his arms for a moment, frowning. "I didn't say it would be easy for us to find, just... a possibility. But maybe... after this war is over, you and I can take some time in order to find our way to being Whole."

Tw'eak's antennae rose in sincere appreciation, while her mind turned in upon itself. "There's no way that I can fully bond - not really. There would be no children from our bond. It's part of how the syndrome works."

"You already have one daughter, Twaiheak. She might have been conceived through the power of Starfleet Medical, but she's alive, today, and she calls you Shreya. Doesn't she?"

"She does." Tw'eak suddenly felt incredibly selfish. "Uzaveh's name. I was so intent on spending time with you that I didn't even check to see how she was."

"It's alright. I have to get back to the bridge, you have to get back to her."

"We should get dressed." Tw'eak felt herself growing frantic. "And we didn't even have dinner yet."

Shon raised a hand. "Let me finish what I was saying, though. This is important."

The urge to strip the sheets off the bed, forge a rough gown, and run to the transporter room to get back to Spera slowly drained from Tw'eak's conscious thought. "Okay." She laid back down, uncomfortable despite the bed beneath her.

"We might not always be able to watch out for each other in the coming war. The thought that I might never see you again is always at the back of my mind... and it's unbearable."

"Yeah, I know. It is for me, too." Tw'eak noted that, for her, such a thought was always far further forward than she'd like - if only there was a way to force it to the back of her mind.

"But I get through it by picturing a day, a cold day, sometime after the Iconians go back to... wherever they've been all this time. Andromeda or beyond - I don't care. They're gone." Shon closed his eyes. "And I'm... home. Standing in the snow, someplace on Andoria - near the mountains. Not quite the Northern Wastes. But cold enough to be. The wind is brisk, but not strong, and the air has that sweet smell, like it does after the dry season."

Tw'eak felt her nose inhale, and her lungs expand. "I can picture it. I spent so many seasons out there. Tracking, hunting... so many memories."

"Close your eyes with me," Shon said, peeping beneath one half-closed at Tw'eak.

"Alright," she said, closing her eyes.

"There I am, out in the cold, just... hiking, nothing more, just enjoying the walk along the crests of the foothills, in snow that's not deeper than my ankle or so." Tw'eak was surprised by the feeling of Shon's hand upon hers. "And the warmest thing on all Andoria to me is the feeling of your hand in mine, as we walk together for as long as we like."

Tw'eak inhaled sharply, completely astonished at this unexpected romantic vision. "Ohhh," she said slowly. "Wonderful."

"Don't open your eyes yet - just... just picture it." She felt Shon's hand slip into an embrace of hers. "Any time you feel worried about me, any time you're scared or afraid... just close your hand around mine, and walk with me."

Tw'eak felt herself tearing up. "Va'kel," she whispered, squeezing his hand in hers.

"And some day, I promise you, I'll make this fantasy a reality, too."

That was all it took. Tw'eak dissolved into tears - this time, happy, expectant tears. She sprang forth from her chrysalis of sheets and blankets, and, still partly covered, threw her arms around Shon, resting her head upon his shoulder. Her left antenna brushed along the side of his head, their sensitivity to touch making Tw'eak's left eye open briefly in pain, but without any trouble at all, she returned to the image Shon had presented her, picturing the two of them, together on their homeworld, in each others' arms just the same.

* * *

Roughly an hour later, the senior officers of Task Force Silhouette had gathered in the conference room aboard the _Warspite_. Tw'eak had brought them together for special purpose. During her absence aboard Enterprise, new orders had been received from Starfleet Command. Impatient for news, the captains of the starships _Polaris, Scorpion, Skarbek, Turing, Salamander, Spirit, Partisan, Silhouette_ and _Swiftsure_ joined Octavia and Captain T'uni of Starfleet Intelligence around the table. Standing behind her were Aurora and Bianca duBois, both of whom were growing nervous. The captains had been gathered for ten or so minutes without any sign of Tw'eak.

"What's taking so long?" Aurora said from where she stood, behind Octavia's left shoulder.

"Keep your voice down," Bianca whispered, leaning over from where she stood behind Octavia's right.

"Sorry," Aurora said, lowering her tone. "It's not like her to be late."

"She must have some reason."

"What reason?" Aurora shook her head. "Those orders were confirmed - and sealed."

"You just want to know what they say."

"What, and you don't? I'm the first officer, I get to be here."

Bianca gave her sister a dirty look. "The captain asked me to come, too."

"I know. I wish I understood why."

A moment passed, then a moment longer.

Aurora whispered again. "I don't get-"

"Babysitting, okay?"

"What?" Aurora looked stunned.

"She asked me here to 'baby-sit'." Bianca looked down while raising her eyebrows.

Burned, Aurora swallowed indignantly. "Is that what she said?"

The door at the far end of the conference room opened, admitting Tw'eak to the room, followed closely behind by Spera. "Admiral on deck!" came the call from Octavia, and the assembled officers rose in sequence, as one. Yet Tw'eak's passage to the front of the room was slower than usual. This was partly due to her arms being fully enclosed around a tiny bundle of blankets.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," Tw'eak began, as she came to Octavia's side. Spera moved over to stand just behind. "She wouldn't stop fussing until she'd had a few minutes with her mom. But she was someone I really wanted you to meet." Tw'eak turned the bundle in her arms to face the room. From within a swaddling cloth was visible a greenish-blue face with bright pink cheeks. "This is Nadezhda Hewson-Ellington. She was born just yesterday." After a moment's applause and adoring approval from the assembled captains, Tw'eak looked up at Spera. "Or was it Ellington-Hewson?"

"I think they put Kim first," Spera replied.

"Doctor Ellington would no doubt prefer it as such," Octavia added.

"So she would. She always does." Tw'eak noticed that Aurora and Bianca were trying their hardest to retain their places, without moving, and in so doing were craning their necks, wavering about. "If you'd like to take a closer look, come on over."

There was a brief sort of foot race, as the ancient competitive streak between duBois sisters re-asserted itself. Aurora came out ahead, if only slightly. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "Look at her little antennae!" Indeed, the baby's tuft of saffron-coloured hair wore a pair of antennae like a halo, still matted to the skull.

"They won't express themselves like normal for a couple months," Spera noted. "Just like... her other latent abilities."

"My God," Bianca concluded. "She's you, isn't she?"

"Genetically, yes. We're a very close match."

"She's our timeline's version of Spera, if that's what you mean." Tw'eak looked down at Nadezhda. "If you were this cute once," she said to Spera, "I don't believe it."

"This is so amazing," Aurora said. "Can I see her little feet?"

"Perhaps in a minute, Commander," Tw'eak replied firmly. She turned towards Bianca. "Now you see why I asked for you to baby-sit."

"I get to-?"

"You're alright to?" Tw'eak smiled at the assembled company. "It took me a little practice."

"Oh, I've held babies before, ma'am. I won't let you down."

"Maybe it's the baby you should be saying that to?" This joke, from Kit McQueen, who was seated next to Octavia, caused a ripple of laughter from the assembled captains.

"Right," Bianca replied, and took Nadezhda into her arms. "Come here, sweetheart." She instantly looked up to her sister, who was just as quick in reaching her side. " 'rora, look."

"Oh, she's just the sweetest thing!" Aurora reached in to touch Nadezhda's cheek, but Bianca smacked her hand. "Ouch! What's that for?"

"Don't go touching her with your hands yet. You'll get her sick."

"She's right," Spera said. "Doc was clear on that - not for a couple more hours yet, just to make sure she's had time for her little immune system to kick in."

Aurora's expression clearly communicated her displeasure. "Fine."

"We'll take her back down to sickbay?" Bianca asked the admiral.

"Maybe not just yet."

"Yeah - the orders," Aurora protested.

"That," Tw'eak acknowledged. "I brought our newest crew member up here for a reason. I wanted you all to meet the first person you'll ever know for whom life didn't exist before the Iconian arrival. I say that because, in the days and weeks ahead, you and I will be up against yet another in a long line of existential threats to Starfleet, the Federation, and everything we stand for. Our entire civilization stands in the balance. This isn't just another 'fundamental shift of power' that will change things in this quadrant or the next." Tw'eak nodded to her daughter. "Due to Spera's efforts and adventures through time, we've learned more about these Iconians than her timeline's counterparts of ourselves could ever have known. Those efforts have been appreciated and acknowledged at the highest levels of the Federation."

There was a brief moment of applause for Spera, save from Bianca, whose hands were full. For her part, Spera looked as though she was about to bolt into the nearest turbolift rather than be given such appreciation.

"We hold other advantages as well, thanks to the service of this very task force, and its successful hybrid approach as being adjunct to both Starfleet Command and Starfleet Intelligence. Those advantages will bring us that much closer to the final victory we desperately wish was today. I have every confidence that the service of every one of you, and in every crew member you command, will earn us that victory - at what price, we don't know. We only know that price will be too high."

There was a long pause in the room, as Tw'eak turned to Spera, who produced a padd she had been holding.

"But I'm afraid that Task Force Silhouette is no more. That means that, once you have your orders, you'll want to return to your ships - Starfleet expects each of us to report to our new stations as of stardate 99518.6, which is tomorrow evening. There isn't a lot of time, which is why I wanted to take a moment now to thank each of you, on behalf of your crews and officers, for efficient and loyal service. Well done." Tw'eak took a moment to lean back and smile, while the officers applauded. "Let's start with... the starships _Turing_ , _Polaris_ and _Paladin_ will return to Station Phoenix to join a new task force, Task Force Phoenix. Your mission will take you to the Delta Quadrant, where you will join Admiral Drapmal in an extensive search for any remaining sign of the Krenim civilization." She looked up from the padd. "You'll be retaining your personnel and analysts. It's... just a different puzzle for you to solve. I understand that Rear Admiral T'uni of Starfleet Intelligence is to serve as your task force commander. Congratulations, Admiral."

In the midst of the table, Captains Nazza of the _Polaris_ , Glav of the _Paladin_ , and Lee of the _Turing_ stood up, offered salutes of varying lengths to Tw'eak, and then turned, each one at a time, to move to the exit. Captain Lee continued standing still for a moment, bowing towards Tw'eak as he took his leave. This left Captain T'uni - soon to be Rear Admiral T'uni - who gave the slightest hint of a smirk as she nodded to her old friend Tw'eak and departed the room. Between such old friends as Tw'eak and T'uni were, that was all that needed to be said by way of parting.

"Thank you all for your service," Tw'eak noted as she watched them depart. "And good luck." She then turned her attentions back to the padd. "Now, then. The starships - can I just say all the ones that start with 'S'?" There was a chuckle among the six captains of the escorts. "You crazy bunch are to be placed - oh, I'm jealous. You're to be designated the Beta and Gamma Attack Wings of the Eleventh Fleet, under the command of my old boss, Admiral Slutskaya. Beta Wing will be comprised of _Silhouette_ , _Salamander_ and _Skarbek_ , while Gamma Wing has _Swiftsure_ , _Scorpion_ and _Spirit_." She looked at Captain McQueen and Captain Piminigorod, who was sitting to her immediate right. "Captain McQueen, you'll be senior captain of Beta Wing, and Captain Pim, you'll be senior, Gamma Wing. Good luck, people. There's no finer group of captains in Starfleet today than you. My thanks again to you all."

Almost as one, six captains stood at attention, turned to Tw'eak, and saluted crisply. Tw'eak stood, returned the salute, and sat back down. There were some soft mutterings about the room afterwards, congratulatory and upbeat as they tended to be, and the escort captains turned to each other in soft murmured conversation as they left the room. Captain Pim called over the commanders of _Swiftsure_ and _Scorpion_ , and they left together hastily. Last of the group, seemingly on purpose, Kit McQueen turned back near the door, mouthed an inaudible 'thank you' to Tw'eak, and departed. A silence hung in the air before Tw'eak turned to Octavia. "That leaves me, and you."

"Of course," Octavia noted.

" _Warspite_ is - well, look at that, we'll all still be working together. _Warspite_ will become flagship of the Forty-Seventh Independent Cruiser Squadron, under the overall command of the Eleventh Fleet. There will be three other ships alongside us, looks like another _Avenger_ -class starship, the _Temeraire_ , under the command of Captain Ethan Caliburn, and two _Guardian_ -class starships, the _Mikasa_ , commander by Captain Nima Salah, and - look at this." Tw'eak smiled and let herself laugh. "The _Armstrong_ , Captain Birmal Dazz commanding."

"Dazz?" Aurora said, smiling. "Seriously?"

"Looks like we'll need another chair at our next get-together," Bianca said with a smile. "She served with you aboard _Bonaventure_ , did she not?"

"She did. One of those brilliant officers I'm lucky enough to have along and make my life easier... you'll see." Tw'eak raised a hand. "Last bit on here is personnel movement - most of it has to do with intel officers being transferred from the escorts, but your name came up." Tw'eak looked up at Spera.

"I know. I'm going back to _Voyager_."

"Actually... no." The admission from Tw'eak surprised Spera, and she looked up in amazement. But Tw'eak's eyes were on Aurora. "Let's talk about the starship _Wyvern_."

"Ohhh..." Aurora looked as if her stomach had turned.

"I told you," Bianca whispered, bouncing a sleeping Nadezhda back and forth. "I told you, I told you, I told you."

Octavia inclined her head slightly. "It may be preferable not to discuss the starship _Wyvern_ , Admiral."

"No, Octavia, I think it preferable. I think it quite preferable indeed." Tw'eak looked at Bianca. "Let's talk about technical journals, too."

"Yeah," Bianca conceded.

Octavia arched an eyebrow. "That discussion may also be better avoided."

Tw'eak looked back at Spera, who was quite uncertain what was going on. "Let me explain. See, I have to find out second-hand these days that my officers are being commended for their published works, being recommended for positions in command, just... being very busy indeed."

"Really?" Spera's eyes darted around the other three. "That's... who - Aurora?"

"Yes. You were a co-author on the paper as well, weren't you?"

"I was..." Aurora winced.

"I believe the citation was, 'Eight of Twelve, duBois and duBois'. Was it not?"

"You got it, Admiral," Bianca replied, her face taking on a wince of its own.

"Look. I know I've been incredibly unbearable lately - and I fully deserved the upbraiding you all gave me a little while ago for being that way. But... my greatest regret from that period of time will be the misconception the three of you received... to think that I don't care."

"Oh, Admiral." Bianca took the opportunity to speak. "We never felt like that."

"Maybe that's not the right wording. One thing is clear. This went from being a relationship of trust to a relationship of fear. I desired exactly the opposite, no matter how I behaved or what I believed. But I realize now that I became so convinced that our Iconian friends would be the death of us all that I... I convinced myself that the best thing for me was to sever myself behind security bulkheads of anxiety, and just muddle through." Tw'eak shook her head. "It was a mistake I regret."

"We really just didn't wanna bother you," Aurora explained.

"Yeah," Bianca added. "You had enough to worry about."

"I myself oversaw numerous tasks within the task force which were technically beyond my authority as captain, in the hope of alleviating your stress level," Octavia admitted.

"Why did you do that?" This, from Spera, though the question was one Tw'eak knew well enough not to ask.

"That's how bad it was," Tw'eak answered on Octavia's behalf. "I was worried about you." She turned from Spera to three of the senior officers aboard _Warspite_. "And worried about you three, as well. And Pal, strange as it sounds. Don't know why I'd be worried about a Jem'Hadar, but there I was doing it. But my concern was mostly for the four of you."

"What about-?" Spera stopped herself short of spilling the beans.

"No, it's alright." Tw'eak looked to Octavia. "I might as well let them in, on the condition it not be discussed outside of our confidence - including with the ship's counselor."

"Of course," Octavia said. Bianca assented with a nod.

"I love secrets," Aurora said with a thin smile. She received a sharp look from Tw'eak, and her face changed. "Secrets that I keep - really, I won't tell!"

"God, 'rora..." Bianca laughed to herself.

Tw'eak's tone became matter-of-fact. "For some months now... I could tell you exactly when, actually - ever since the discovery of the gateway in the Jouret system... I've been involved in a relationship with Captain Shon of the Enterprise."

Octavia merely raised an eyebrow, her expression pleased. Bianca smiled brightly, still bouncing the baby in her arms. "Good catch," she said. Aurora put a hand over her mouth in surprise.

"I - I know that, strictly according to regulations, Va'kel and I shouldn't be together, since he might be placed under my command at any time. And we've sorted that out with Admiral Quinn - it'll be a serious emergency that sees that happen. But there are a lot of things we haven't sorted out yet, though I'm sure we will, in time."

"I hope so," Bianca said.

"As do I," Octavia agreed.

"Oh, me too!" Aurora let out a giggle. "I've never been to an Andorian wedding before!"

"We don't 'get married'. It's for the best," Tw'eak stated. "There are maybe six reception halls on Andoria big enough for a four-family wedding reception."

Bianca stared at her sister. "Seriously, 'rora. 'Andorian wedding'?" She shook her head.

"What? You know what I meant. Bonding, wedding... same thing to me!"

"Just so there's no false impressions," Spera added, "I'm happy, too."

"We all are," Bianca said, looking down at Nadezhda.

Aurora turned to the baby, ecstatic. "Can I see her little feet now? I bet they're so cute!"

"It would be inadvisable to attempt any action which would rouse a sleeping newborn, Commander."

"The captain's right," Bianca admonished, taking a few steps towards the turbolift, her sister close behind. "You'll get your turn. Come on, Doc's probably ready to beam us to sickbay by now. Thank you, Admiral."

"Okay. But if she wakes up in the turbolift..." Aurora and Bianca left together.

This left Octavia seated at the head of the table. Tw'eak took a chair that had been occupied previously by Captain McQueen, and took a breath. "I suppose these orders mean you'll be my flag captain."

"I am honoured to be so entrusted by Starfleet."

"Not by Starfleet - that one's my call. And I want the best. That's you."

"I will continue to strive to deserve the confidence you place in me," Octavia replied.

"You do," Tw'eak replied. "You always will - even without striving for it." Tw'eak noticed Spera move to the adjacent viewport. "You can sit down, if you'd like."

"Sorry," Spera said, "I don't - didn't want anyone to be nervous. I just... thought I could see the sphere."

" _Warspite_ is currently stationary, facing directly towards the sphere," Octavia observed. "Your chances of observing it visually would be greatly improved on the bridge."

"I know." Spera returned to staring out the window. "Never mind."

Tw'eak waited a moment, until Octavia's eyes met hers. "If there are any ...bad feelings between us, I'd like to know."

"I am capable of relatively little in the way of emotion, as you know. That which I do experience, I rarely discuss."

"I'm asking for your feelings about this assignment."

"I am well aware of the risks, and will carry out my orders to my utmost ability."

"That's not what I asked."

"I will also endeavour to keep you informed of all strategic, operational and tactical developments as befits an independent cruiser squadron."

Tw'eak smiled. "Didn't ask that, either."

Octavia gave a slight frown, then tilted her head slightly. "My loyalties remain steadfastly with you, and with Starfleet - "

"Damn it, Octavia. Is it really that bad between us, that you can't answer me?"

"What would you have me say?"

"Maybe I'm doing this wrong." Tw'eak looked down for a moment, rephrasing her approach. "Look, I'm sorry for being so pessimistic. If you felt I lost faith in you, I'm sorry for that as well."

"Your apology has been previously accepted, though I appreciate your clarification. However, the commander and I recognized that your behaviour was merely your response to task-related stress, and thus we sought to support you in ways accorded to us by regulation, and within the norms of civility."

"Well, when you put it like that..."

"You should be aware that the commander and I deemed it necessary to involve Captain T'uni, as well as Counselor Derret and the doctor."

"I figured as much." Tw'eak shook her head. "Rear Admiral T'uni. Now that one - I don't know what she cooked up to get two ranks ahead in such a hurry but it must be impressive."

"Our successes, as a task force, have been due in no small part to her timely planning and co-ordination of personnel. Starfleet Intelligence intends for her to become a potential successor to Admiral Chakotay, should he seek retirement."

"And your source on that is-"

Spera did a half-turn. "That'd be me, Shreya. Admiral Tuvok told me."

"I'm very happy for her. I always knew she'd be a special one." Tw'eak smiled, then her attention returned to her liberated Borg friend and captain. "But back to us. We're okay?"

"I believe our friendship to have restored itself to its original parameters."

Tw'eak chuckled. "So that's a 'yes'."

"Of course," Octavia affirmed. "We are... 'okay'."

"Good. Because I was wrong. And I really, really cannot do this without you." Tw'eak reached out and took Octavia's hand. "Thank you."

Touched - or confused - by the gesture, Octavia merely returned the squeeze, and nodded. "I will be needed on the bridge. Shall I advise Admiral Slutskaya of our impending arrival?"

"Yes. According to these orders her flagship, the _Olympia_ , will meet us at Galorndon Core tomorrow afternoon. We'd best not be late for our new job."

"I look forward to meeting Admiral Slutskaya. You have frequently spoken highly of her."

"She was my captain aboard the _Nelson_ , I was her tactical officer for eight years. She's known Doc and I for almost twenty. And she'll get to meet Nadezhda - she'll like that. It's a good Russian name."

"I agree. Like ' _esperanza_ ', another linguistic cognate for the word, 'hope'."

"Really." Tw'eak looked up at Spera. "That explains it."

"Hey, I had nothing to do with naming her," Spera said, stepping over to the table. "Though I did get to help change the first diaper. That was messy."

"You have no idea how glad I am that you came along so far after the diaper years," Tw'eak quipped.

"No, I get it, completely," Spera replied, squeezing her eyes shut. "What a mess."

Octavia stood up and moved around her chair. "I will be on the bridge if required further."

"Thank you, Captain." Tw'eak smiled brightly at her friend. Mother and daughter watched together as Octavia left the room. "What about you?"

"What about me? You haven't given me my orders yet."

"I know. That's because there aren't any."

"There - what? I need to sit down." Spera took the chair opposite Tw'eak, not feeling brave enough to sit where Octavia had been seated, at the head of the table.

"With the conclusion of the task force, Starfleet has rescinded your temporary rank of Commander. Technically, you shouldn't be in uniform."

"Why, though? I haven't done anything wrong!"

"I know that. So does Admiral Tuvok. It's why he supported your application to the Academy as a mature student. It's also why he spoke to Admiral Slutskaya about having her continue your Academy training - aboard the _Olympia_."

"Seriously?" Spera was excited. "That's amazing!"

"The downside is, until you've completed your final examinations - which, I believe, the admiral will personally oversee - you'll be technically demoted to the rank of cadet. Once that's completed, and assuming you pass ...which you'd better... then you'll return to commander rank, with all responsibilities and privileges, blah blah blah."

"Oh, wow." Spera shook her head, stars in her eyes. "This is so amazing. Thank you."

"Don't thank me. Tuvok set the whole thing up. He has total confidence in you. I had no involvement - nobody can accuse you of nepotism this way, you've earned it. Also, you'll notice that this seamlessly passed from his hands to our new admiral's. I think you're really going to like her. She's the kind of officer I always wanted to be - stern to all outward appearances, but with a real love of duty and a passion for the people she's closest to. She personally oversaw certain aspects of my medical transfers to ensure I was given the best care available, and probably pulled more than a few strings to get me the first officer's position aboard the Repulse even though I was just a lieutenant commander."

"She sounds great."

"But you'll have to earn her respect, just as you did with Tuvok. She doesn't let anyone curry favour on the basis of family." Tw'eak smiled fondly, remembering that Ekaterina Slutskaya was one of only two officers she'd known who had put her own shreya - formerly of the Judge Advocate General and leading contender for galaxy's biggest pain in the ass - in her place. The other was none other than Kathryn Janeway.

"Actually, I was kind of expecting to have to work harder than anyone else. Y'know, because you're my shreya. They'll expect the best from me, and I'll do my best to give it to them."

"That's the right attitude to have. Keep that up, and she'll love you in no time. You'll know you're on the right track when you get asked to join her for Saturday breakfast. It's a tradition with her. The closest we come to it is coffee and katheka."

"We should do that again sometime, now that... y'know, everyone's here again."

"We will. In fact, I think I will now." Tw'eak looked over to the replicator in the conference room. She opened a cupboard on its lower side and produced a cubic box which Spera recognized right away as part of the katheka she had bought in the first days of Task Force Silhouette. "I knew Octavia wouldn't throw this stuff away."

"Oh, good - you're making two, right?"

"Only if you want me to," Tw'eak replied. She pressed a button on the replicator, and it whirred to life with the appropriate ingredients. "Aurora didn't move the button, either." Tw'eak pointed to a bright blue signal in the right-hand column of replicator console buttons. "Everything but the katheka in one push. I insisted."

"I know, she calls that 'the admiral button'." Spera laughed.

"She would." Tw'eak placed the box on the tray which the replicator had produced, then brought the tray with its ingredients to the table. "So, tell me all about the Delta Quadrant."

"Oh, not yet."

"Why not?"

"I want to hear what's been going on with you. Admiral's prerogative."

"Seems fair. Let me think of where to begin."

"Why don't you pick up last time I saw you, on Qo'noS?"

"Right. Well, we had just seen you off, Va'kel and I. And we said a quick goodbye - "

"A quick goodbye, or a quick romantic goodbye?" Spera gave Tw'eak a sideways glance.

"Admiral's prerogative," Tw'eak replied, as she mixed together a cup of katheka. The two of them enjoyed several more before they had fully caught up.


	92. Part VI, Chapter 7

_Admiral's log, stardate 99518.5 - We have arrived in-system at Galorndon Core, as ordered. There are several starships already here. The_ Temeraire _, the_ Mikasa _, and the_ Armstrong _comprise my new squadron, while the Olympia is the flag vessel of Fleet Admiral Slutskaya, commander of the Eleventh Fleet and my new superior officer. There's another cruiser in-system, the Odyssey-class_ Australia _, but we're not entirely certain why. This new posting, as a standard-issue admiral commanding cruisers in a formation, is a lot more traditional than the work we did with Task Force Silhouette. I find it a relief to be back in a typical role, under the command of one of the finest officers I've ever served. I wish I'd had this posting months ago._

"You realize you did, right?"

Tw'eak's conversation with Spera, on their way to the Warspite's transporter room, had followed much the same narrative as her last log entry. "What do you mean?"

"In my time. You were posted to the _Wichita_. You were... I don't remember if you were an admiral or what the story was with your rank, but the last Starfleet vessel you served aboard was the _Wichita_. We lost _Warspite_ during the battle for Qo'noS."

"I remember you telling me that."

"Right. But one of our mess halls had a flag in it you'd had brought over, or replicated, or something. I never really asked you about it, but it meant a lot to you. And it was blue, bright blue, with a Federation symbol in the centre - and over top of that was a big white number - eleven."

"The Eleventh Fleet."

"Yeah."

Tw'eak stepped through the doorway into the transporter room. "So you're telling me that history is repeating itself."

"Not exactly. I mean, there are a lot of differences, but it helps me understand things I never realized before about my _shreya_ , in my time."

"She must have missed Starfleet. I would, if it came to that."

"She did. But she never really talked about it. Not with me, anyway."

Tw'eak shrugged, then turned to Chief Sandoval at the transporter console. "We'll beam over to the _Olympia_ as soon as the captain and Doc Ellington arrive."

"No problem, Admiral." Sandoval gave a curt nod.

"You've known the fleet admiral a long time," Spera noted.

"I have. She was my captain aboard the starship _Nelson_. Doc and I were both posted aboard that ship - it's how she came to know me, why I picked her when I needed a chief medical officer aboard _Warspite_. But Captain Slutskaya - as I knew her then - was an incredible woman. Whatever I've managed in the meantime... she was a major influence."

"Wow. I never got to meet her, at least, not that I remember. If she's an inspiration to you... she must be someone special."

"Don't get your hopes up. She can take some getting used to - especially if she likes you."

This confused Spera. "I don't understand."

"You'll see."

The transporter room doors opened, and Doc stepped inside. "Well, I'm glad I didn't go to the trouble of putting on a dress uniform." Doc then looked more closely at Spera's blue-on-blue outfit. "Are we dressing up for Hallowe'en?"

Tw'eak smiled. "Allow me to introduce Cadet First Class Esperanza de Salaberry."

"It's just temporary, I hope," Spera said, her face blushing with embarrassment. "Admiral's orders."

"I see. She's going to make you earn that commander's rank. Some things never change. Well, good, I say." Doc leaned in towards Spera. "That way nobody can question that you deserve it, kid."

"I... okay." Spera seemed a bit unnerved. "Thank you."

"How's the baby?" Tw'eak asked.

"Standard issue. Loud, cranky, very particular about who holds her, what she's fed." Doc looked at Spera. "Fortunately I have it on good authority that she grows out of that."

Spera smiled. "I'm sure she will."

"She's giving Kim no end of trouble, though. Serves her right for wearing her hair down. Rookie mistake - I had to replicate a few dozen hair ties at two in the morning." Doc looked up at her own short fringe of hair, then ran a hand through its thick, tight curls. "I don't even know why we have this stuff."

"Just to get in the way," Tw'eak quipped. "Try not to brush the antennae."

"Oh, we know. It'll be a few weeks yet before they fully begin to express themselves. Right around the time I suppose we'll have the furniture start to re-arrange itself."

"I think it took a little longer before I started to do that," Spera said. "But I don't really remember."

"No, and that's a good thing - it'll be a while until Nadya starts forming lasting memories. Otherwise she'd remember her birth trauma, and we're all better off forgetting that."

"Nadya," Tw'eak repeated. "Short form?"

"Yeah. Kim's idea. You could hardly imagine a more natural mother. Which is good. She can do the mothering, and I can do the doctoring." Doc shrugged. "Good team, I'd say."

"If she ever needs a sitter, let me know," Spera replied.

"Twin sister twenty years removed, and babysitter, all in one," Doc joked. "Hopefully unlike two other sisters I know. Do you know that Bianca has a replicator program for modified milk that is a ninety-six percent match for human breast milk? It doesn't quite match up, without the antibodies, but... and then Aurora showed up at oh-seven-hundred this morning just to see if she could help. I told her if she wanted to help, let them sleep!"

"They're just excited," Tw'eak observed. "They don't encounter many babies in their lines of work."

"Probably for the best," Doc replied. "Honestly, the two of them..."

The transporter room door opened again, admitting Octavia, who was followed closely behind by Aurora, reading from a padd. "-and I can probably have the starboard EPS manifold online again in... three hours?"

Octavia nodded. "Acceptable. I suspect the fleet admiral will require less time from us than that."

"I don't know," Tw'eak said with a smile. "You get her going on a topic and three hours might be one thread of the conversation."

"Do you know anything about why that other starship's here?" Aurora asked. "The _Olympic_ , I think it was?"

" _Olympia_ ," Octavia corrected.

"No, but I suspect it's at the fleet admiral's discretion. We'll find out soon enough. Are we ready?" Tw'eak stepped onto the transporter pad, followed by Spera, Octavia and Doc.

Aurora watched them move into position for beam-out. "So we'll get those maintenance items taken care of while you're gone, 'kay, Captain?"

"You may proceed, Commander. Please advise of any updates as they happen."

"Sure."

"And if anyone else is in touch," Tw'eak added, "let me know."

"You mean like a certain tall, handsome starship captain?" Aurora gave Tw'eak a wide grin. Spera giggled.

Tw'eak merely looked unimpressed. "That is need-to-know information only, Commander." She took a breath. "But yes, if he makes contact, let me know."

Aurora squeezed her padd. "I just think it's so amazing that you and-"

"Aurora." Tw'eak's eyebrows rose, her eyes darting to Chief Sandoval. "Need. To. Know."

"Right, sorry!"

"It's alright, Admiral," Chief Sandoval said. "Most of the ship knows about you and Captain Shon by now."

Tw'eak closed her eyes and sighed. "Uzaveh's name."

"Sorry, Shreya," Spera said softly.

A look of betrayal shot between mother and daughter. "You didn't!"

"No! No, I knew they knew - that was what I meant!" Spera looked hurt. "I didn't tell anyone!"

"Nor did I," Octavia added.

"Kind of figured you wouldn't." Tw'eak then looked to Doc.

"It's not me," Doc replied. "Don't give me that look."

"Should be obvious who it was, Shreya." Spera gave a sort of nonchalant shrug.

"Who?"

"You'd never guess, but he's a real gossip hound."

"Who?" Tw'eak repeated. Her eyes settled upon Chief Sandoval. For his part, the chief raised his hands in surrender and shook his head in a vigorous not-me fashion.

"Not something you'd expect, y'know." Spera hesitated for just a moment, then she added, "...from a Jem'Hadar."

The joke made Doc burst into laughter, and Aurora dissolved into giggles, hiding her face behind her padd.

"...Pal?" Tw'eak said, not following that Spera was joking.

Spera kept a straight face, nodding. "It would be the most... reasonable source of information," Octavia added, playing along. "Strictly by process of elimination."

Tw'eak looked from Octavia to Spera, who could no longer contain her laughter. As she began to laugh, so did Tw'eak, realizing she'd been had. "You- ooh," she said, narrowing her eyes in mock-threatening fashion.

"Starship _Olympia_ reports ready for transport," Sandoval advised, chuckling.

"Energize, Chief." The four officers of the _Warspite_ disintegrated into the transporter beam, their laughter still echoing in the room as they beamed out.

* * *

The conference room onboard the starship _Olympia_ was enormous, even by the standards of _Warspite_ 's already spacious observation lounge. Tw'eak stepped in, ushered through the doorway from the bridge by a nervous-looking yeoman who had escorted her party here. Inside, seated at the table were four human flag officers. At the head of the table sat the unmistakeable profile of Fleet Admiral Ekaterina Slutskaya, seated with a cup of tea in front of her. Next to her was a raven-haired female vice-admiral, her rank equivalent to Tw'eak's, whom Tw'eak did not recognize. The remaining two individuals were both captains, one a dashing male whose facial expression as he turned to meet Tw'eak held a mild disdain. The other wore an elaborate scarlet head scarf, concealing her head save for a circle tightly constrained about her face. It was as Tw'eak moved into the room that she recognized a third captain, a Bolian female recognizable immediately by her broad smile and bright eyes - Captain Birmal Dazz of the starship _Armstrong_. This, Tw'eak reasoned, was her task force assembled.

"Ah, wonderful," came the full-throated, sultry tones of the fleet admiral. Tw'eak had not heard her voice in years. There were few like it - deep, for a human female, yet also full of tonal subtlety that gave it a sort of constantly bemused sort of sound. "Is good to see you again," Slutskaya said as she rose and moved to greet Tw'eak with a full embrace. She then looked past Tw'eak to see Octavia, Spera and Doc. "Shirley! You come too! Happy to see you."

"Good to see you, Admiral," Doc replied before receiving a fond embrace of her own.

"Has been many years," Slutskaya said. "Too many years. Tw'eak - is good to see you again." Her eyes, ice blue, and her graying hair were as welcoming to Tw'eak as if the fleet admiral were her own _zhavey_. "Wait - Shirley. You call me Admiral, yes?"

"I certainly did."

" _Nyet_." The fleet admiral gave a curt shake of the head. "For you - is Katya. Both of you."

"You're sure?" The informality seemed to embarrass Doc. "I don't want to run afoul of regulations."

"Regulations - here? We are old friends, much to talk about. You, Tw'eak and I. And these - hello." Slutskaya extended her hand to Octavia. "You are Octavia. Yes?"

Octavia hesitated, then returned the handshake. "Admiral. It is an honour."

"So it is for me. But you." She looked to Spera, her eyes narrowing. "I am onboard shuttlecraft, and am one million kilometres from a star's corona. I need to reach the corona in two minutes, forty seven seconds - no sooner - in order to dispose of a faulty driver coil. What speed must I attain to do this?"

Spera looked at Tw'eak, surprised. In response, Tw'eak nodded, as if to encourage Spera to reply. "Um, one million - full impulse?" Spera shook her head. "No, you said 'no sooner', so three-quarters?"

Slutskaya's face remained impassive, but after a moment, her eyes met Tw'eak's. "Not bad. Takes after mother, yes?"

"Perhaps knowing the class of star would be appropriate to answering the question correctly," Octavia chimed in. "Different coronae have differing intensities."

Slutskaya gave a quick laugh. "Good point. I had not thought of this."

"Furthermore, disposing of a malfunctioning driver coil within a star's corona would leave the shuttlecraft vulnerable to - "

"Thank you, Octavia." Tw'eak smiled, intervening to spare the fleet admiral - or perhaps the watching audience - from a full dissection of the question's stem. "It's nice to meet all of you," she said to the waiting others. "Not you, though," she added, looking at Dazz.

"Hello, Admiral," Dazz replied. "It's so good to be here."

"Glad to have you on the team." She looked back to the table, making eye contact with the male captain. "And you must be Captain Caliburn."

The male captain stood, his light-blonde hair perfectly coiffed to one side, his uniform immaculate. Tw'eak's eyes beheld him not as attractive, but as youthful - almost like a child dressed in a costume rather than a full captain in her presence. "Lance Caliburn, starship _Temeraire_ , commanding." Caliburn took a sort of bow. "It's an honour to meet the hero of the Battle of Qo'noS."

"That'd be Va'kel Shon you have in mind, not me," Tw'eak replied.

"R - right," Caliburn replied with a half-smile. "Still, it's great to meet you."

Tw'eak turned to the female captain. "Captain Salah."

Captain Nima Salah stood a full head and shoulders shorter than Caliburn. "Admiral. As Captain Caliburn said, it's truly an honour." She gave a brief nod, smiling, then resumed her seat, returning to a padd.

"And," Slutskaya said, "here we have the admiral commanding the Fifty-First Independent Cruiser Squadron, Vice Admiral Emlyn Downey."

"G'day, Admiral," Downey replied, her accent distinctly Australian. Her eyes went to Octavia, almost as if studying her face. While Octavia was accustomed to the attentions of strangers, she found herself slightly unnerved and avoided eye contact with the vice-admiral.

"A pleasure." Tw'eak crossed the room to shake Downey's hand, but saw her eyes looking past, at Octavia. "May I introduce the commanding officer of the _Warspite_ , Captain Eight of Twelve, along with _Warspite_ 's chief medical officer, Doctor Shirley Ellington, and my daughter Esperanza."

"Call me Spera, please," Spera added.

"You'll forgive me for staring," Downey said as much to Tw'eak as to Octavia. "Y'see, you and I knew each other well many years ago."

Surprised, Octavia met Downey's gaze at last. "You will forgive me if I cannot recall," she replied.

"Perhaps not as you are, but... well." Downey shrugged. "I was a good friend of Mallory Jermyn."

"Oh, really," Tw'eak and Doc said, almost simultaneously.

"Who?" Spera asked.

"Her," Downey replied. "As she was, I mean. We were mates once, grew up together in Melbourne, were right battlers through the Academy together. And now... it's... well, it's not as it once were, that's right."

"Prior to my assimilation into the Borg, my human identity was known to you."

"You're not wrong." Downey gritted her teeth. "It's... when I heard you'd been assigned to the Eleventh, I had to see you again. I've wanted to, for years, but I didn't know if it'd be proper. We... We'd left you for dead, Mally."

Octavia tilted her head. "Mally. Diminutive form of Mallory. Indicative of... intimacy." She nodded. "I understand."

"That's right. 'Mally me pally', I used to call you. And I was 'Em your chum'." The disappointment in Downey's tone was unmistakable. "We were best mates - for right ages. I'm sorry you don't remember."

"Please understand," Doc interjected. "The captain was a captive of the Borg for nineteen years. The damage to her neural pathways, the Borg infiltration... it was very thorough."

"No, no, I follow. I've seen what the Collective does to people, too often for my liking." Downey's shoulders fell. "I just... somehow hoped you'd remember."

Octavia struggled for the right words to say. "I am sorry that I cannot provide you with a greater reciprocation of your sentiments, Admiral. Yet, if I may, I would like to say that the sound of your voice is... strikingly familiar to me."

"We've been working with her, from time to time, trying to break through to her former self," Doc added. "It's a bit unusual for a liberated drone to be so completely isolated from her prior identity, but we've had some progress. Tell her about your roses, Octavia."

"Ah yes. I have had considerable success in breeding roses of various designs aboard my vessel's arboretum."

"Roses? Really." This brought a wistful smile to Downey's face. "You used to love... I mean, my Mally used to love some roses. Best xenobotanist the Academy had ever produced."

"Am I to understand that your branch of service is in the sciences as well?"

"That's right," Downey replied. "Astrometrics, originally - moved over to command almost right away. But we shipped out together, on the starship _Catalina_."

"Indeed," Octavia replied. "The ship from which I was assimilated."

"That's the one, yeah. I wish I'd known you were out there." She gave a fierce grin. "Wouldn't have sat through the funeral."

"Starfleet policy for assimilated crew members is to declare them killed in action." Tw'eak added. "You don't have to feel guilty."

"If you have the time, Admiral," Octavia said to Downey, before turning to Tw'eak, "and with your permission as well, Admiral, I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this further at another juncture in time. I recognize that this is of sufficient import to bring you here, and wish to give it an appropriate level of appreciation."

"I'd be glad of it," Downey said quickly. "Get a billy boiling when we do."

Octavia offered one of her scant half-smiles in recognition of the expression - an invitation to tea, in Australian parlance. "I understand."

"So," Slutskaya said, interrupting the scene. "We all have much to discuss, yes? Tw'eak, you and Emlyn should co-ordinate, work together - she's commanded the Fifty-First for the past year and a half. She can help you much - you will see, you will see."

"Of course. I'd appreciate your support," Tw'eak replied.

"One nice thing about rank," Downey replied. "They let you pick your flagship."

"The starship _Australia_ ," Tw'eak noted. "Intentional?"

"Fair go," Downey said with a proud smile. "Didn't think I'd like an Odyssey-class ship. But this one's proper science. Hard to argue."

"It would be for me. I've always been more comfortable on escorts. Even _Warspite_ feels too big for me, most days." Tw'eak smiled at Captain Salah. "I hope you and Captain Dazz aren't offended - I realize your Guardian-class starships are both... larger, perhaps more suited to flagship status."

"Oh, there's no way we'd want to separate you from the _Warspite_ ," Dazz replied with a smile. "That ship's your baby. You and your crew put that thing together."

"And you helped," Tw'eak said with a smile. "But yeah, that ship... We've been to hell and back with her." Tw'eak smiled at Octavia, who merely nodded. "And plus, let's not - let's not forget my actual ...she's not a baby at all." Tw'eak looked back to Spera. "Have you met - ?"

"We did," Dazz replied, "aboard the _Enterprise_. It's good to see you again."

"Thanks. Sorry about that," Spera replied. "I... wasn't myself."

"What'd she get herself into?" Caliburn asked, a twinkle in his eye. "Some kind of trouble?"

Tw'eak's eyes momentarily widened before she shrugged and ducked the question. There was no way that she intended to have a frank discussion of her daughter's previous mental condition when Spera had barely been introduced. "Just a minor issue - anyway. That was a while ago now."

"Yeah. I was very glad that they assigned me to your squadron, though," Dazz said. "How's Aurora been?"

"She has been very much herself," Octavia responded, almost wearily.

"That bad, huh," Dazz said, her face contorting into a sour expression.

Octavia's head inclined once again. "Was I not clear? I was attempting to make a joke."

"She does that now," Doc added, raising her eyebrows.

"Right. Good one." Dazz forced a smile. "I heard that you had O'Leary in your last task force?" Dazz asked Tw'eak.

"That's right. He was helmsman aboard the _Silhouette_. Actually, wasn't long ago that we ran into the old Bonnie. Would you believe that Lio'wan is in command now?"

"Oh, perfect," Dazz replied. "Can't imagine anyone better for the job." She lowered her voice. "Y'know, other than us."

Tw'eak smiled. "Absolutely. I miss that old ship. Another ship I've been to hell and back with." She gestured to the table, and had Dazz sit to her right, with Octavia seating herself to Tw'eak's left. "But we have other ships to think of now." She glanced around the table at her captains, naming their ships as she did. " _Armstrong_ , _Temeraire_ , _Mikasa_ , _Warspite_." Tw'eak nodded. "One hell of a formation."

"I agree," Ethan Caliburn replied. "We'll surely give the Iconians what for, before long, right?"

"Only if ordered," Tw'eak said. "We're under official rules of engagement - that means not provoking the Iconians if we encounter them."

"Great," Caliburn snarked. "Let them make the first move. That's how we ended up in a long war with the Klingons. I want to take the fight to them, just once."

Tw'eak was taken aback by Caliburn's candor. For someone she had just met, it was unusually direct - unpleasantly so, in fact. "Not in this formation, mister," she replied, very much in the manner she would have addressed a newly-minted Academy graduate.

"Exactly," Fleet Admiral Slutskaya added. "No offensive action without clearance from Command. Those are orders."

"What are our specific orders, Admiral?" Tw'eak asked Slutskaya. "For this squadron, I mean."

"Is why I asked Admiral Downey to join us. As I said, her mission is much, much like yours." Slutskaya nodded to Downey, who activated a viewscreen at the head of the table, which showed the four sectors - Gasko, H'Atoria, Narendra and Iconia - surrounding Galorndon Core.

Downey stepped to the display, her hand indicating various sectors and systems. "My squadron has been patrolling the Narendra Sector and Pheben Sector - both before the armistice and now. It's been a big shift in focus, for the aggro to go from being headed this way" - here Downey directed her hand from the bottom of the map, in the direction of the Klingon Empire's boundary with the Federation - "to this way" - here she turned her hand and pushed down and outwards from the Iconia system. "At least, that presumes the Icos are going to work in a linear direction, which we have no proof they will."

Tw'eak nodded. "So we're to provide additional cover in that sector, I take it."

"Not exactly." Downey looked to Slutskaya as she tapped a button on the console, shifting the Iconia and Gasko sectors out of the frame, rolling the map to include the Mempa and Pheben sectors. In essence, these sectors stood just behind the H'atoria and Narendra sectors, light-years further away from the Iconia system.

"Your orders are patrol two sectors," Slutskaya said, her old - and sometimes confusing - pattern of speech returning to Tw'eak's ear. Slutskaya had a tendency to leave out certain articles of speech, such as 'the' or 'a', or to confuse them, in her verbal remarks. "Pheben sector, Mempa sector. There will be Klingon squadron, maybe two, present. You ignore them, hopefully they ignore you, yes? If you need support, whatever elements of Eleventh Fleet you require - science vessels, attack wings, even the main dreadnought column - you need them, they come. But may not be much."

"Where will those elements be stationed?"

Downey indicated a blue spot on the map. "Main fleet will be ...in Azure Nebula, alongside Nineteenth and Twenty-Third Fleets."

Tw'eak looked at the map. "Not at Starbase 234?"

"No," Slutskaya replied. "Starfleet say heavy presence over starbase sends wrong signal to civilian freighter captains, and Romulan Republic. Not good for Republic if civilian freighters get wrong signal. They run off, trade goes down, many go hungry. Not good. But Republic will still be defended, very well defended, from inside a nebula. Also Eighth Fleet stationed in Dewa system, and Seventh Fleet in Jouret. Is enough ships to appease Romulans. More ships and we look desperate, yes?"

"I'd think that would be a reassuring presence, having a fleet over Starbase 234," Doc observed. "It's a major staging area for our relief efforts throughout the Republic."

"Admiral Quinn wants majority of traffic there to be civilian, not Starfleet." Slutskaya shrugged. "Besides, all three fleets need time for repaired starships and salvaged starships to come back into formation. Nineteenth Fleet took the beating defending Earth, and Twenty-Third will be fleet in name only for some time yet - it lost two-thirds of their ships over Earth."

"How many did Eleventh lose there?" Tw'eak asked.

Slutskaya pursed her lips. The question clearly touched a nerve. "Four." She looked genuinely aggrieved. "Seven more over Qo'noS."

"I'm sorry," Tw'eak said after a moment.

"Yes," Slutskaya said in reply. "I, too, feel sorry."

"Two of those ships were from the Fifty-First, sad to say," Downey added. "The _Kosciusko_ was one of the first ships destroyed over Earth, while the _Wichita_ went down fighting over Qo'noS."

Tw'eak narrowed her eyes at the mention of the _Wichita_. She fought the urge to glance backwards at Spera in recognition of the name, and sought a question which she could ask to move the discussion forwards without noting it. "Your squadron is only four ships, the same as mine."

Downey nodded sadly. "It is now. Fortunately, only the ships were lost - losing their crews as well would have been the real tragedy, but over eighty-five percent of both crews in total were able to survive their starships' destruction. Just this past week, we added two new Avenger-class starships to the Fifty-First - the _Ishtar_ and the _Ardent_. In fact, many of the crews from Kosciusko and Wichita shifted into roles aboard _Ishtar_ and _Ardent_. I myself just finished briefing them on their responsibilities yesterday. It was good to see so many familiar faces again." Downey allowed herself a smile. "Our fourth ship is the _Jeanne d'Arc_ , an older Sovereign class starship. Our good luck charm." Downey gave a quick smile.

Tw'eak smiled and looked to Slutskaya. "I'd love to see her tactical station - it'll bring back so many memories."

Slutskaya nodded affirmingly, but from the back, Doc clucked her tongue. "I'd be happy not to see that sickbay ever again."

"Same here," Tw'eak added, for good measure. "Spent too much time in one of those."

"We're currently dispersed - the _Ardent_ is patrolling the Nequencia system, while _Ishtar_ is in the Archer system. The Narendra system is being monitored by the _Jeanne d'Arc_."

Tw'eak looked to Slutskaya. "You'll want us to do the same sort of thing, I take it."

"Only where it's of strategic importance, or operational necessity. Taking a cruiser into, say, the Lilitu system would not be advisable unless the Heralds go there first. We're not interested in smugglers or slavers - we're watching for the Iconians."

"That's ironic," Tw'eak said in reply. "We were just in the Lilitu system a little while ago, and it was because of the Iconians."

Downey took a second to thrust a dangling tress of her black hair over her shoulder, and out of her eye. "That right. That would've been as part of your previous task force?"

"It was. We were pursuing stolen artifacts. Met up with the Tal Shiar. It didn't go well... for them, I mean."

Caliburn gave a swift nod. "Right on."

Tw'eak found herself looking at the silent figure of Captain Salah, who tapped out notes on a padd without saying much. She had almost forgotten that Salah was there. Caliburn's exaggerated mannerisms made her wish she could forget he was there altogether. "Where would you think we should deploy, Captain?" Tw'eak asked her. "Optimally, I mean."

Salah looked up at Tw'eak, down at her padd, then back up at Downey and the viewscreen. "I'd recommend we post ships in... the Eriksson system, as it holds surveillance arrays we can re-direct to monitor the Iconians. I'd also suggest the Vor system, as there's a Federation research station there, and... Mempa itself."

"That's three," Caliburn corrected.

"I know. I'm not sure about the Vesper system - it's still officially neutral, which was why I would be hesitant to place a cruiser there unless the Diplomatic Corps had made an overture first."

"There are six million people there," Caliburn blurted out. "Why don't they take precedence over the Mempa system? There's nothing there but rocks - and they're a neutral system, too."

"True, but the Klingons haven't been actively involved in any settlements in the Mempa system for thirty years. It's lawless, and if the Iconians were able to gain a foothold there they could have jumping-off points into the three adjacent sectors - one of which is the Qo'noS sector."

"If they even have a need for jumping-off points," Caliburn countered. "They don't need Mempa when they can use their gateways to get directly to Qo'noS."

"But a Republic warbird reported Elachi activity in that system less than a year ago. That tells me the Iconians see some value there." Salah looked to Tw'eak. "That's why I think we should, too. I should note that I'm working on the presumption that the Klingons will be patrolling the Pheben, Ceron and Beta Lankal systems. And Beta Penthe as well, presumably. They're all of strategic importance, but they're Klingon - any colonies and forces we had in those systems have withdrawn since the armistice."

Tw'eak nodded. "I doubt they'd let us anywhere near Rura Penthe even in an emergency. But you're right. Their systems, their responsibility."

"Not exactly - Pheben is neutral, but I recommend we avoid going there. We'd have to de-contaminate every time we went in-system due to the quarantine active there. There's a subatomic bacteria there, it feeds on tritanium, we'd be best to avoid it altogether."

"Very well." Tw'eak was impressed - Salah's knowledge of these systems was thorough.

Salah continued. "I'd recommend making contact with the Klingons and co-ordinating our patrols, to avoid weak spots. We'd hate for the Iconians to get a foothold anywhere without our being aware of it."

"Agreed."

"We might also consider... assigning a starship to the M'rade system. I realize there's nothing of strategic value there anymore" - here Salah shot a pointed look at Caliburn - "now that the Klingons have abandoned their base there, and the theta radiation levels will affect systems, but again, we want to avoid weak spots in our dispersal. I can re-calibrate Mikasa's shields to block out most of the radiation. As long as we don't launch shuttles, everyone should be fine."

Tw'eak nodded, impressed. "Very thorough."

"A network of shielded sensor probes can be configured to operate in the M'rade system," Octavia noted. "The modification to the probes would required approximately two-point-five hours per probe to complete, with a network of some... one hundred and forty-four required to maintain complete coverage." She tilted her head. "This would resolve the 'weak spot', as Captain Salah noted, without risk to life in the event of attack or systems failure."

"Good idea," Salah replied. "I'd like to see how you mapped that out. We can get started on those modifications right away. We might be able to do the same thing in the Pheben system, if we can configure the probe shielding to keep out the subatomic bacteria."

"I foresee an eighty-nine percent likelihood of a probe's shield being capable of filtering out any spaceborne micro-organisms," Octavia calculated.

"Good - let's make it happen." Tw'eak said intentionally, looking around the table. "Anything else?"

"May I make a suggestion, Admiral?" Dazz said after a moment.

"Of course."

The Bolian leaned forward, looking at Caliburn, then Salah. "One of our ships should remain stationed at Beta Thoridor."

"Not Vesper," Caliburn replied, his tone agitated.

"Not Vesper," Dazz repeated in acknowledgement. "And I have a reason."

"Let's hear it."

"If we arrange everything with the Klingons, get the coverage we need... we won't need to worry about Vesper."

"Because Vesper is not a member of the Federation?"

"If memory serves, they were on the verge of joining - it was the war with the Klingons that led their planetary government to declare a non-aggression stance and maintain neutrality. I remember thinking that was a smart move, then - easier for freighters from both sides to do business with them. But the war's over. We could ask the Klingons to keep a cloaked ship on station over Vesper - passive sensors, nothing that would alarm the local government, but enough to serve as an early-warning system - in exchange for our handling Beta Thoridor."

"On what grounds?" Caliburn sounded frustrated. "Am I the only one who thinks Vesper is worth defending?"

"We would be, though - again, we're working with the Klingons now, they can monitor Vesper. Beta Thoridor is uninhabited, a lot like the Mempa system. It's a jumping-off point to mol'Rihan and Crateris alike, threatening both the Republic and the Reman settlements. But operationally, for our purposes, it serves as a fallback position in the event that we're beset with Iconian Herald vessels in any one system. And it's easier to warp in and out of Beta Thoridor than the Azure Nebula, meaning the cavalry can get to wherever we need them, quicker."

Slutskaya leaned forward. "An interesting prospect," she noted. "Perhaps we could have ...Twenty-Third Fleet, say they deploy there instead of Azure Nebula."

"Are you sure about that?" Downey asked.

Slutskaya nodded. "Should work. Twenty-Third will only get stronger, can use system to drill and bed in new ships. Also can support your two squadrons - Beta Thoridor is the equal distance from here at Galorndon Core as it is from Vesper." She pointed to each of the systems, connecting a triangle from Galorndon Core to Beta Thoridor to Vesper, and sure enough, the two arms reaching out from Beta Thoridor were of approximately equal length. For good measure, Downey fanned her fingers out along the arc, and Slutskaya nodded. "Like this, yes."

Tw'eak nodded. "So in the event that we need to run for it, our ships break for Beta Thoridor and hope the Twenty-Third can cover our retreat."

"The Fifty-First will follow the same path of retreat," Downey added. "If it comes to that."

"If you need." Slutskaya shrugged. "Maybe you will not need. Who can tell."

"But why wouldn't we station the Twenty-Third at Starbase 234?" Caliburn asked. "I mean, I'm no fleet admiral, but that makes sense, doesn't it?"

Dazz shook her head. "As the fleet admiral said, we want to project the right image. Starbase 234 has limited defenses. That's sort of intentional - enough to repel Klingon raiders, not enough to spook incoming freighters, some of whom might have things they'd rather not submit for inspection. We put too many ships on-station at Starbase 234 and we threaten the civilian lifeline that mol'Rihan still needs to be a viable settlement. We can't risk that."

"Besides," Salah pointed out, "there are more than enough ships within a few light-years of Starbase 234 - they'd be in-system to support any move the Iconians made against the starbase within minutes. Even with moderate defenses, the starbase should be able to defend itself until help arrives in force. Especially if there's a whole fleet twelve light-years away."

"I don't know," Caliburn grumbled. "Just... call it a feeling I have. But we're going to wish we had ships stationed at Starbase 234. It's an obvious first-strike target for the Iconians. We'd be best to make a strong defensive stand there now, as a deterrent."

Dazz shook her head. "They'll be just as safe with everyone from Starfleet stationed in Beta Thoridor - maybe safer, with nobody causing any additional anxiety. I know what freighter captains are like - I come from a big family of freighter captains, believe me, we're very protective of our investments and our cargo. As it is, I've gotten more subspace chatter from relatives asking me whether they should be shifting their routes to out in the Delta Quadrant someplace instead." She looked down sadly. "If anyone knows what I should tell them, I'd appreciate knowing."

Tw'eak thought of Spera, well aware that she'd spent most of her life on freighters in the Delta Quadrant. "You tell 'em that we'll be out there," she said in response, her tone resolute, "standing between them and harm, as always... it'll be business as usual again before long."

"You mean you think we can beat the Iconians?" Salah asked.

Looking around the table, Tw'eak noted that the eyes of Downey, Dazz and Salah were all upon her. Caliburn, for his part, pretended not to be watching her response. Tw'eak nodded, assured, at Salah. "Captain, I've spent - how long was it, Octavia? Six months? Eight?"

"Eight months, twenty-three days, thirteen hours - "

"Long enough to have a baby," Doc added from her place next to Spera along the wall.

"And in that whole time... what we uncovered showed that while the Iconians might get the jump on us - literally! - over the long run, it'll be the qualities we've come to expect from every Starfleet officer that wins through, and prevails." Tw'eak looked at Slutskaya, who had a glum look of resignation on her face, although no one else noticed - all their eyes were on Tw'eak. "Wouldn't you agree, Fleet Admiral?"

Slutskaya looked up, a wan smile upon her face. "Yes, yes," she replied.

"So don't worry. They might be a little stronger than we're used to, but we can take it. And we'll fight back for every system, for every starship, for every person they try to take from us. I'm sure of it."

There was a sort of uneasy assurance - as though the assembled flag officers wanted to believe Tw'eak, but couldn't quite bring themselves to feel committed. Caliburn, however, wore a broad grin. "Me too," he said with exultation.

"Alright," Tw'eak said. "So we'll have the _Temeraire_ \- Captain Caliburn, since you're eager for a fight, let's put you in the Mempa system. See if you can scare up some Elachi."

"Oh, I hope so. I'd love to kick a few mushroom-heads in myself." Caliburn brought a fist into his palm, causing Dazz to roll her eyes in disgust.

Tw'eak gave a withering glance to Caliburn, then looked to Captain Salah. "You'll take the starship _Mikasa_ to the M'rade system to configure the probe network there."

"I'd be happy to," she replied. "We can then do the same thing in the Pheben system. We'll have to return to spacedock for decontamination afterwards."

Tw'eak nodded. "You might as well go to Starbase 234. It''ll be a brief stop-over for a specific purpose, and that's the nearest starbase. No suspicions, no added anxiety that way."

"Alright."

Tw'eak turned to Dazz. "I want you to make contact with the Klingons at Beta Lankal. Make sure they're keeping up their end of the patrol duties. We'll need them."

Dazz nodded. "Sure. Then what?"

"The Vor system. Protect on the research station there. _Warspite_ will move to the Eriksson system to reconfigure the surveillance arrays - we can do that, right?"

"Indeed," Octavia noted. "I estimate it will take... twenty-two hours to complete, once we have authorization from Starfleet Command."

"Good. I'll talk to Admiral Quinn, see if we can start right away. From there - "

"Maybe you should leave the Admiral Quinn to me, yes?" Slutskaya asked, a broad smile on her face.

"...right. Sorry." Tw'eak shrugged. "Used to doing this all myself."

"Just don't make the habit of it," Slutskaya quipped. "I like to talk to my friend Jorel sometimes. Good man, under much stress. But go on."

Tw'eak nodded, then turned back to her captains. "Once the fleet admiral gains approval for our action in Eriksson, _Warspite_ continues to Beta Thoridor until the Twenty-Third Fleet takes up station in the system, then we double back to Eriksson and... baby-sit." Tw'eak gave a quick flash of a smile to Doc and Spera. She then glanced briefly at each of her captains. "Questions?"

The captains shook their heads. "Good to go," Caliburn said enthusiastically.

"Alright, then. To your starships - I want reports no less than every forty-eight hours, even if all you've found is cosmic dust and gravity waves. And be careful out there." She gave a curt nod. "Dismissed."

The captains turned from their chairs, and made their way towards the door, en route to the transporter room. Doc stepped back to allow Octavia past. "We will return to _Warspite_ presently," Octavia notified Tw'eak.

"Should be right behind you," Tw'eak said with a smile.

"Thanks for everything, Captain," Spera said to Octavia. "I'll hope to see you again soon."

"Of course," Octavia replied, then turned and left.

"We'll talk later," Doc said to Spera with a smile. "Work out when you'll be available to baby-sit yourself."

Spera smiled, then laughed, as Doc left, followed closely by Captains Dazz and Salah, who each gave Tw'eak a respectful nod as they departed.

Caliburn hesitated a moment as he walked by Tw'eak on his way out. "I just wanted to say again what an opportunity this is, to work alongside a real war hero like you."

Tw'eak smiled at the young captain of the _Temeraire_. " ' War hero'." She chuckled, then shook her head. "I take it you're looking forward to the fight."

"You bet I am! I can't wait." He threw a couple mock-punches. "Let me at 'em!"

Tw'eak's smile dimmed slightly. "How long have you been a starship commander?"

"Three months. This is my ship's first assignment - and my crew is so ready for this. We're all looking forward to seeing some real action!"

Tw'eak heard Slutskaya, from somewhere to her right, let out a monstrous sigh. "Be careful what you wish for," Tw'eak replied. "Just be patient. We'll be in the thick of it, soon enough. On your way."

Caliburn bounced his way out the door, leaving Spera and Tw'eak facing Downey and Slutskaya. Tw'eak watched the door slide shut before she turned to Slutskaya. "I just... want to apologize, in the event that I ever sounded like him."

Slutskaya gave a hearty laugh. "You were too busy losing arms and legs to make those kinds of ignorant noises." She allowed a harrumphing noise to escape from her lips.

"Yobbo," Downey cursed towards the door Caliburn had exited through, with a shake of her head.

"So young to be captain," Slutskaya continued. "But, is the way of things these days. My youngest child was applying to Academy before I earned rank of captain."

"He'll learn, as I did," Tw'eak said. "As I'd imagine a lot of captains across this fleet and the others will have to do, before long."

Downey shifted her weight from one leg to another. "I'm not sure you're aware of this, Admiral, but... you may be a little underwhelmed by Twenty-Third Fleet when they arrive at Beta Thoridor."

"Why's that?"

Downey turned to the viewscreen and called up a tactical readout of the ships in Twenty-Third Fleet. From a total strength of eighty-four ships, only twelve were showing green on the board - listed as operational - while a further nineteen were yellow - presently in spacedock. The remainder were either red - indicating they were being in the process of being salvaged - or dimmed out altogether as they had been destroyed.

"Uzaveh's name," Tw'eak muttered.

"I was not kidding," Slutskaya said softly, her tone somber. "Fleet in being, but 'fleet' in name only."

"Nineteenth has about the same number of ships, although most of them are operational." Downey turned her hand to the viewer, calling up the readout on Nineteenth Fleet, and sure enough, thirty-nine ships - a number of starships Tw'eak noted to match precisely the number lost at the Battle of Wolf 359 - were listed as operational, with a further six in spacedock or being salvaged.

"I... I didn't realize we'd lost so many starships, of late," Tw'eak said. She glanced briefly at Spera, realizing for the first time that perhaps the timeline into which her daughter had come would look a lot like the one she'd fled before long.

"And this we have available, to face Iconians," Slutskaya said softly.

Tw'eak fought the urge to offer a caustic, cynical comment - they were the first ones to her mind. But she cleared her throat and looked to the Beta Penthe system on the star map. "We have to hope that the Klingons are in a position to help."

"That sort of trust takes time to build," Downey observed. "Even with the Republic helping us to persuade their assistance, our understanding is that the Klingons have the same number of ships, but their average time in service is roughly double."

"Klingon warships, good for fighting, not well engineered for a long term," Slutskaya added. "Many will be held together with the baling wire and bubble gum."

"We can't lose hope," Spera said softly, intending to help.

"I think otherwise," Slutskaya noted. "Maybe the hope is what we need to lose. Fight like Jem'Hadar - go into the battle to reclaim the lives, yes?"

Tw'eak gave a half-smile, thinking of Pal. "Right."

"Both of you," Slutskaya said, indicating Spera, then Tw'eak. "You came back to fight these Heralds, to show us how. You fight for her, to show her future she never knew. Powerful force to have on our side - love. Between you... you might be only hope of victory."

"I don't know about that," Spera said with a blush.

"That is why you come aboard _Olympia_. I have questions - not test questions, not Academy problems, you see. Iconian problems."

"I'm sure my shreya has already transferred the files to your-"

Slutskaya waved a dismissive hand. "Yes, yes, files. I do not learn from files. I read files, I learn nothing. Nothing!" She shook her head. " _Nyet_. I learn from you." Slutskaya reached both her hands out so that one was on either side of Spera's head, as if she was trying to meld minds with her. "And I teach you, so that you can leave cadet's uniform in quarters, yes?"

"I'd like that," Spera said with a bit of a laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm just... nervous."

"I think we all are," Downey added, her face downcast. "The Iconians are unlike any enemy we've faced before."

Tw'eak nodded, thinking of a conversation from a few days before which she'd had with Va'kel Shon. "I have a ...friend of mine who recently reminded me that we once spoke in desperate terms about the Borg, the Undine, even the Jem'Hadar. Each time it seemed hopeless then, too. But we survived. The Federation came through in the end. The losses were great, but the Federation survived, and prevailed. This time out will go much the same, I'm sure."

Downey nodded grimly. "I hope you're right."

"I know I'm right. Didn't you hear?" Tw'eak said, a mischievous smile on her face, thinking of Caliburn's awe in her presence. "I'm a 'war hero'."

This dispelled the shadow over Slutskaya, and her face beamed with a huge smile. She broke into laughter, and before long, so did Spera, Tw'eak and Downey.


	93. Part VI, Chapter 8

_**Author's note:**_ For the next couple chapters, the style of this narrative will shift into a first-person perspective in a non-linear timeline. This is not a permanent change. I didn't have the heart to write a series of crushing defeats as would've happened at the outset of the Iconian War, and since I know from first-hand experience how powerful veterans' personal narratives can be, I decided to let a few of my characters speak for themselves about their wartime experiences without breaking the flow of the story. I hope nobody finds this confusing or irritating. If you've seen the DS9 episode, "In the Pale Moonlight", this should be familiar. We'll pick up the standard-form story again soon enough. Thanks to _Folwod_ for recommending I include a brief clarification at the start!

* * *

 _[Interior shot, well-lit, spacious quarters aboard a Federation starship in the early 26th century. The viewscreen of the recording device displays the stardate as 99611.2 in a visible readout. In the foreground, a comfortable-looking grey fabric armchair with a coffee table extending out of sight. Along the wall about two metres behind the armchair is, to the left, a three-level decorative bookshelf and, to the right, a segment of a desk with LCARS terminal, still active. On the coffee table is an empty cup, placed slightly askew on a saucer, waiting to be returned to the nearest replicator.]_

 _[There is a female voice, soft, affirmative, off-camera, which speaks just one word.]_ "Okay."

 _[From the left, moving away from the camera, is a dark blur - after a moment's movement this blur reveals itself to be a middle-aged, slender Andorian shan-female in a Starfleet vice admiral's uniform. She seats herself in the armchair as if perching delicately upon its edge. She tilts the empty cup towards herself, then replaces it on the saucer. Her eyes intentionally avoid looking directly into the camera. After a moment's consideration, she lets out a short sigh and leans back into the armchair, opening her mouth for a moment, then closing it.]_

"So." _[A pause, as her eyes flash a sadness, then roll mockingly. She shakes her head.]_ "I've never been much of a storyteller. That might seem a bit funny, given that I come from a family, and a clan, of storytellers. But my charan always used to say, 'the most important story is always the life you lead'. It was his way of saying character, in both senses of the word, is important. He wanted me to know how important it was for me to make my story, the one I lived as lead character, worth the effort of reading someday. I hope I have, but... well, I'll never know, will I. Still, I'm still alive right now, and there's a moment to tell this story, so here goes

"I suppose I should start with an introduction. It's not like I'm ...well, maybe I am, but I'm going to presume otherwise. My name is Twaiheak Sh'abbas. I'm the senior officer commanding Eleventh Fleet, United Federation of Planets. Today is stardate 99611. This is my personal quarters, aboard the starship _Warspite_ , my flagship, Captain Eight of Twelve commanding. If you're viewing this at all, then the Memorial datacore survived. And you're either watching either for some sort of historical research, for posterity's sake, maybe as a hobby or for your personal entertainment. In that case, I apologize in advance. Then again, maybe this memory core came into your possession because you're somehow just learning of the destructive power of the Iconians, and you're desperate for some way to stop them. Unfortunately, we have that in common." _[Tw'eak leans forward a little, resting her elbow on the arm of the chair and placing the side of her head in her hands, antennae tilting slightly to remain upright while her head is in pose.]_ "But let's work on the presumption you're a historian, and I'm your subject. I'm going to skip the preamble and biographical details, anything you might already know from Starfleet library services, and get right to it. You'll probably have noticed the present stardate is about twenty-five days since my last log entry, which is not typical for a Starfleet officer of any rank, let alone one who's just been field-promoted to fleet admiral. I haven't yet found the words with which to record what's happened, although the word 'cataclysm' comes to mind."

 _[Tw'eak adjusts her seating position, bringing her elbows forward to rest on her knees, her facial expression earnest, her antennae angling in to form a roughly triangular shape.]_

"I just haven't had the heart to record this war in slow-motion. It's mostly because I don't intend on reviewing my logs for this period. It'd just discuss defeat after defeat, and Counselor Derret doesn't want me dwelling on my failures. My last log entry was from just after the opening battle in this war. I have to admit, when Bianca told me she would be compiling interviews like these for Memorial, I didn't really want to take part, even knowing my logs were... less than complete." _[Tw'eak shakes her head, and pauses for a moment.]_ "We haven't had any news that hasn't been 'bad news', whether that means setbacks or full-on tragedies. That's the best way I can describe what's happened. An unending chain of miseries. And it all began ...with quite a bang, on that first day. The Heralds struck in force, suddenly. We might have expected a surprise attack, but... not one this intense, this efficient. Starbase 234 was their first target, and they annihilated it. It's hardly surprising to admit that - after all, it was the closest starbase to Iconia, to the old Neutral Zone in that sector. We just didn't expect them to hit so hard - or for them to have enough strength to keep striking us elsewhere.

"The Herald forces were in-system via gateways at Starbase 234 before anyone knew what was happening. At that time, I was aboard Earth Spacedock at Admiral Quinn's request to meet with Captain Paris and Captain Kagran of the KDF. The news of the attack reached us here aboard _Warspite_ almost the moment the Heralds arrived. The starship _Mikasa_ , one of the ships in my cruiser squadron at that time, had arrived three days earlier in-system there for decontamination, they'd... I don't remember why." _[Tw'eak pauses again for a moment.]_ "The Pheben system. They'd been in the Pheben system, that's right. It's... it hasn't even been a month and I can barely remember." _[Tw'eak takes a moment, closes her eyes, clearly affected by the memory.]_ "I'm sorry." _[Pause.]_ " _Mikasa_ didn't stand a chance. None of them did. According to the automated buoy of sensor logs we recovered later, she cleared the decon facility just in time to face the first wave of attackers. Captain Salah did her best, as did her crew, but against those numbers, they were overwhelmed. We were just past mol'Rihan, at maximum warp, when Oulius received their distress signal. They'd been rammed - twice - by Herald raiders. A third raider rammed her from above, and behind, moments after we acknowledged. Bam - right between the nacelles. It broke her back, to borrow Aurora's expression. Everyone on board was killed when the warp core breached. No one had run from their post for the lifepods, they were determined to fight it out. And that's how _Mikasa_ went down - fighting. It was... it was the first time I'd lost a ship under my command. It was awful.

"The crews of the three other ships that had been ambushed at the station itself did likewise, proving their courage at the cost of their lives. They bought time for a number of civilian freighters to clear the system. By the time Nineteenth Fleet arrived, most of the station's traffic was on its way out, anywhere but there. That was when the second wave arrived. That was the first time we'd gotten a look at their bigger ships, what we now call a Vonph class dreadnought. We were familiar, of course, thanks to the intel content which we had received from the future, from... from Spera." _[Tw'eak pauses again.]_ "But it's like knowing the difference between a square cubic kilometre and a Borg cube. One's a geometric form, the other one wants to kill you. That's how this felt. We knew the forms, what they looked like, even knew their weapons and their defenses, at least 'on paper', as the saying goes. Nothing helped. It took ten minutes for the Heralds to completely destroy Nineteenth Fleet. I don't even think it took that long. Every ship in that formation was destroyed. Maybe a hundred people survived - from thirty ships. Veteran crews, too - some of them had been together for more than ten years. And like I said, the Heralds... it took maybe ten minutes." _[Tw'eak shakes her head, her face aghast. It takes her a moment to continue.]_

"When we arrived in-system - and I suppose I should tell you that when I say 'we', I mean _Warspite_ , since this has been my flagship throughout - we linked up with _Temeraire_ and _Armstrong_ on the way, formed up in-system, and faced off against what felt like a hundred of their raiders. The bulk of Eleventh Fleet showed up just then, and our dreadnoughts went to work against their cruisers and battleships. The raiders - I have to admit, their tactics are a lot like the Jem'Hadar used in the Dominion War. Given that the Heralds are under the Iconians' complete control, it doesn't really surprise me that once their ships become damaged, they use their dying moments to ram into whatever target is closest. That wasn't the problem. Starfleet has had counter-tactics for that since the Dominion War. It was the gateways we couldn't handle.

 _[Tw'eak sniffs, twitches her nose, then looks up.]_ "You see, the Iconians have their gateways, they can criss-cross galaxies in as much time as it takes for me to point across a room. But their Heralds use these gateways for offensive purposes as well. They open up a small gateway, no bigger across than a heavy escort, but on its far side is the corona of a sun, or a bombardment of radiation, or some other damaging event. It's very difficult to defend against since it can come anywhere, even against unshielded quarters. I watched a starship - the _Bastogne_ , I believe it was - reconfiguring its shields forward, only to have a solar gateway appear behind it and destroy its starboard nacelle." [Tw'eak shakes her head.] "A whole assault cruiser, destroyed just like that, because its crew tried to fight conventionally. Our own instincts worked against us that day.

"The Heralds seemed to strike us hard on all shield facings at once. Escorts were particularly susceptible to this sort of damage. They're already less sturdy than typical starships as it is, and I've always loved escorts for the same reason I prefer an _ushaan-tor_ to a gauntlet - I'd rather take the fight to the target than wait for them to come at me." _[Tw'eak considers this a moment.]_ "Actually, that's not strictly true, because a good counter-attack is always so, so satisfying, and you have to catch them off-balance for it to work best, but - anyway, yes. I spent my early career aboard _Sovereign_ -class starships like the _Bastogne_ , the starship I mentioned before, but after I moved into command rank I took a liking to escorts for their intensity, their turn rates, their whole mission - close fast, hit hard, get out." _[Another shake of the head, this one a little slower.]_ "The Heralds were ready for our escorts. Quite a few of them were destroyed."

"I will say that the Klingons did better than we did in this regard, when they entered into the battle during the second phase, over mol'Rihan - I'll get to that in time, but Klingons take cloaking devices as standard-issue. With no one covering our escorts on their returns from their attack runs, the raiders pursued them and cut them down. That... that was how we lost _Silhouette_. She had just made a run on one of the huge Herald dreadnoughts when a raider struck, first with its weapons, then by overtaking the _Silhouette_ and crashing into a warp nacelle. Captain McQueen did what I would've done." _[Tw'eak raises one hand, flat with palm out, representing the dreadnought, while the other becomes a pointed shape, representing the Federation escort.]_ "She ordered the ship evacuated, then personally maneuvered the ship at its best speed right into the 'eye' of the dreadnought. I heard from Denver O'Leary, who had been helmsman onboard and who was later rescued, that his lifepod's onboard sensors didn't pick up any sign that _Silhouette_ 's last-ditch maneuver caused any damage to the Herald ship at all. So one of Starfleet's finest, most aggressive captains... threw her life, and her ship, away for nothing." _[Tw'eak looks downcast.]_ "Sorry, Kit. It's what I would've done too."

"But nothing worked that day. The Heralds boarded Starbase 234 before we could complete its evacuation, and we had to withdraw from the system and leave the starbase to them. It was the first time since Starbase 82 had been fully assimilated by the Borg that Starfleet had been forced to concede a whole space facility - and even then, we fought to re-take Starbase 82 from the Borg eventually." _[Tw'eak looks away.]_ "But we had other commitments, and not enough ships to save everyone. With the appearance of Heralds over mol'Rihan, we knew it was more important to safeguard the Republic than one starbase. No sense letting the Romulans lose another homeworld, if we could act to stop it. That... that was the first time in this war that we had to go through the difficult calculation. Y'know, the Vulcans have that line of theirs about the 'needs of the many', but in leaving behind the starbase, we were choosing one 'many' over another. There was nothing we could've done to stop them at 234. There was nothing we could've done on New Romulus, either.

"As I mentioned earlier, we'd only seen a few Klingon ships at the starbase. They just didn't get there in time. Most of them were diverted en route, so whole fleets arrived at mol'Rihan, Romulan, Klingon, and ours - and we were still outnumbered, I'd say three to two. I've never seen anything like it. By then, the surface was reporting Herald invasion groups gating in, so I asked for volunteers to beam down. Oulius was the first to raise his hand, but I told him, you stay up here and fight them like we know you can, from tactical. At that point, Spera was still aboard the _Olympia_ , and when Eleventh fell back to mol'Rihan, _Olympia_ was there as flagship. I didn't get to bring her as part of my team, but I wanted to - the last time I'd faced Heralds she'd saved us all. I think that was the reason... no, I'll get to that later. Like I said earlier, I want to apologize because keeping things in order when so much has happened might be a bit of a challenge for me. I don't want this to sound like an after-action report, but at the same time, honestly? If I treat it as such, I don't feel it as deeply. I'm sure Counselor Derret would call that a 'coping strategy', but I don't want anyone's sacrifice which I personally noted or observed to go unmentioned in some way.

"My landing party that day consisted of Doc Ellington and Tlhosh, Pal, of course, and Commander duBois - sorry, Aurora duBois - along with a scout team of Jem'Hadar led by Pal's Second, Etak'ix. The scouts went ahead as Aurora put up a defensive perimeter of turrets and shield generators while the medics looked to the wounded. We moved forward, co-ordinating with a subcommander named Xiolan, a Reman. I should point out for the record that his people fought bravely for their homeworld, as have the many Romulans I've fought alongside. More than a few of them, Romulans and Remans both, died that day, and the Republic won't soon forget them.

"Once we had the beam-out position fortified, I moved forward with Pal and Aurora to get an idea of what we were up against. That was when a Herald thrall and a team of constructs appeared out of a gateway behind us. That was their favourite thing to do, it seemed. You had to constantly be on guard, antennae front and back, fighting them on the ground. The thralls had their beam-staffs but they also had the ability to gate behind you, take a swing and knock you down, then re-appear on the other side of you before you got up. That's what happened to Aurora - we were racing to catch the forward team, but then the thrall come between us and Doc. Aurora had been smart enough to place turrets at intervals - one of them, a quantum mortar, saved our butts - it fired as soon as the gateway appeared and knocked the thrall off-balance, so when he swung at Aurora, the hit lacked killing force." _[Tw'eak reaches out as if striking someone, then pushes forward as if struck herself.]_ "It still knocked her down, mind you. Pal took him down while I targeted the constructs and got Aurora back on her feet. Those turrets of hers made the difference.

"After a few minutes, we were on our way again. That was when we received word from the ship that gateways were opening near the power station. We fought our way to that position, with Republic soldiers led by a Commander Nakal fighting and dying alongside us at every step, down to the gateway beneath the power station. We couldn't hold it, though, once we arrived. The same Harbinger I had seen on the Herald Sphere was waiting for us, with a full team of reinforcements fresh out of the gateway. It told us that 'our presence defiled the space'. We fought them for that defiled space anyway - we took casualties, especially among our Jem'Hadar - but once the Heralds had withdrawn, Aurora checked the gateway and found that they hadn't just been there to deny us the gateway - they'd been trying to use it, and had accessed Romulan library files for co-ordinates leading to a specific location: the Preserver Archive on Lae'nas III. Once they had that information, they were on their way. That meant we had to be, too.

"There wasn't enough time to do much - we had only moments to spare before more Heralds arrived. Bianca duBois beamed down to join us, and Tlhosh did a point-to-point beam-in - this was Chief Sandoval's doing, he managed to get them both to beam into the chamber at the same time, he did amazingly well that day - and we used the gateway ourselves to beat the Heralds to the Preservers. I had contacted Octavia ahead of time to let her know our intentions, and she and Captain Paris withdrew from the battle over New Romulus with a handful of starships that could still make the long transwarp voyage to the Defera Sector. They joined us as soon as they could.

"Lae'nas III was kind of a unique planet, and I had only been once before, as captain of the _Bonaventure_ , when we had been responsible for the discovery of the archive there. The Borg, the Breen, and the Undine alike have all expressed interest in possessing for the knowledge of the Preservers. With our help in securing the archive, we then entrusted it to the care of the peaceful Deferi, since the planet was theirs by interstellar treaty. However, since the Deferi have been reliant on outside aid for defense, as the Borg have long held a foothold on Defera itself. This meant they had nothing to spare for the Lae'nas system, and the planet was pretty much helpless. Since the Preservers who had been, well, preserved there for thousands of years were about to become the Heralds' next targets, we had little choice but to form the defensive perimeter we could -" _[Tw'eak brings her hands together in a sort of 'perimeter' formed with her fingers]_ "- and give Bianca as much time as possible to access the archive."

 _[Tw'eak gives a sort of shrug, then returns to sitting with her elbow upon the armrest, counting off the details on the fingers of her opposite hand.]_ "There wasn't much to learn, though - their guardian could only tell her that the Iconians were the first of their children, different once, changed by a war that began once others grew jealous of their gifts. This wasn't much we didn't already know - but it did make facts out of speculation. That they were different once, shaped over the millennia by their need to avenge their lost empire, merely confirmed what Bianca had already figured out. The guardian was attempting to revive the other Preservers, to answer Bianca's questions more fully... when an Iconian, the same one I had seen on Qo'noS, the one whose every movement and detail had been studied extensively since then by Bianca and myself... the one I eventually killed, and regret having killed... appeared before us. The Preserver guardian called her by the name M'Tara, called him his daughter. But the Iconian refused to hesitate - she killed the Preserver with a wave of her hand, the same way she had knocked aside a whole group of Klingons in the Great Hall. I remember M'Tara said that none would stand against them, that they would reclaim all that was once theirs." _[Tw'eak shakes her head once again.]_ "I wish I could tell you she'd been wrong. I mean, she won't be here to see it, but... I'm doing it again. Sorry.

"We beamed back aboard _Warspite_ without a moment to spare - another large Iconian dreadnought arrived and its main weapon destroyed the entire planet, Preserver archive and all. They took a few more ships with them over Lae'nas III, but the majority of the damage had already been done to our forces. We were lucky they hadn't given mol'Rihan the same treatment. They'd mostly vacated the system once they had the co-ordinates of the Preserver archive. And once there, they just ...destroyed the planet and withdrew, job done. And that was it - the first day of the war cost us a starbase, a planet, a gateway... a quarter of the Republic fleet, fully a third of Starfleet's operational ships..." _[Tw'eak bows her head for a moment, and briefly lowers her voice.]_ "Bianca told me later that, on a proportional scale, this was like losing all the ships we had lost in the Dominion War - in a single day.

"We returned to the Romulan flotilla, where Proconsul D'Tan thanked us. I'm sure you know what happened next - it garnered quite a bit of attention over the Federation News Service. So I'll just say, his speech wasn't what I'd hoped it would be. I mean, myself, I may not have the same level of eloquence as either of my fathers - or my zhavey, either, for that matter - when it comes to rallying people to my cause. I still try, though. I know how important it is for those with the highest rank to appear to have the highest estimation of any crisis. I lost sight of that for a while, while I was in command of Task Force Silhouette, and was given some very well-deserved grief for doing so. Which was why, when D'Tan admitted it seemed to him that _'this may not be a war we can win'_ , that we would _'win where we can'_ and _'fight until the last one of us falls'_ , I, um... took exception to his words. And, well... I told him so.

"I won't get into exactly what I said to the proconsul. It's already on the record and like I said, my remarks were widely reported. Ambassador Sugihara and Admiral Quinn both chewed me out. They did the same thing after I refused to apologize. I've done enough for the Romulan people that I don't feel I need to be afraid to speak the truth to D'Tan. We've worked together on various Federation-Romulan projects for at least ten years. I know he can get a bit, well, precious about his people and their importance. He's a peacemaker, a statesman... a politician. He's the leader of his people. And I'm sorry, but he should've known better than to talk like that. If he'd addressed a wider audience in the Republic with those words, he would've been out of a job by the next day. I like to think it just rubbed me the wrong way - the pressure of the crisis, an unguarded moment on his part after a stressful day. That certainly was my defense, when I was forced to apologize" _[here Tw'eak imitates Admiral Quinn]_ " 'as for the sake of the Alliance, we must continue fighting together instead of fighting each other.' " _[Tw'eak throws her head back with a despairing smile.]_ "Even Va'kel wasn't happy - although, give the man credit, Twaiheak, he was less impressed with Admiral Quinn for forcing me to apologize. The same was true from Tom Paris' perspective - 'it had to be said', was how he put it... even if it had to be apologized for afterwards.

"Getting to the apology didn't happen for a couple days yet, though. I beamed back to _Warspite_ and we co-ordinated with the fleet admiral, with Starfleet Command. We fell back and strengthened positions around key installations, in accordance with Captain Kagran's defense plan. Looking back now, that plan..." _[Tw'eak purses her lips and raises her eyebrows in a skeptical expression.]_ "I knew that there was little point in doing as Lance Caliburn of the _Temeraire_ had argued we should, taking the offensive against the Iconian sphere. Dazz put him in place when she told him that'd mean concentrating the dead into a single mass grave at the fringe of the Iconian system instead of giving us a fighting chance to survive by trading space for time. But Starfleet trusted Kagran because Kagran had employed a similar strategy against us during the war, forcing our ships to go over onto the offensive, then counter-attacking or ambushing them once they were committed. Starfleet, in turn, had resorted to a defensive policy, and been one of the reasons the war had gone on so long - merely been a state of war without pitched battles or mass offensives. I think it just suited them, given the fact that we'd gotten out of one war only to begin another, and against an enemy even more tenacious than Klingons.

"It was our best hope, at least at first, that Kagran's strategy would work against the Iconians. The Heralds had an almost unlimited reserve, though, so it changed how that strategy played out in operation - I'd argue it really didn't do much other than make us feel like we were doing something. Herald numbers were greater, and they had no hesitation about being destroyed. They shrugged off losses in numbers that even the Jem'Hadar would've felt to be disastrous, and we had yet to sort out how to combat their weaponized gateways and their massive dreadnoughts. So at first, it was mostly just hoping against hope that it'd work. But it did reassure people, and make it possible to rally some strength in the later phases, when we might've faced a total collapse if we hadn't shepherded our strength in the early going. Kagran's policy makes more sense to me now than it did then - but maybe I just sympathize with him because of what Spera did to him.

"Spera - I should mention that... she... something has happened to Spera. She's had quite an experience. It started a few days after the war began. I got a subspace call in the middle of the night, the morning before my big apology. It was Fleet Admiral Slutskaya. I figured she was checking in on me, so I apologized for losing _Mikasa_ on the first day of the war, for what happened to Nineteenth Fleet, before I realized she was more anxious to be talking to me than I was talking to her. And there was good reason: the Solanae had abducted Spera from her quarters in the night. This was nothing new for them - in fact, in Spera's time, every ship has a sort of built-in subspace buffer or something that keeps the Solanae from being able to locate them and take them. I saw what they did to Va'kel and the others when Ambassador Worf and I had been forced to take refuge on the first Dyson sphere. Va'kel would've died right then and there if we hadn't been able to stabilize him. It was horrifying, to see him on that table, in that state. Knowing that Spera was in their custody, and therefore subject to their mutilations, kept me up all night.

"There were a few of us onboard who had sleepless nights at the thought of it. Bianca duBois contacted me the next morning to let me know she'd been working on trying to get into their realm, in order to mount a rescue. We had previous knowledge of an attempt like this working - Admiral Riker, while he had served aboard the Enterprise-D, had been successful in going through a Solanae portal, conscious, and retrieving Admiral Rager - mind you, Admiral Rager was still an ensign then. But her rescue meant we knew it was he could be sent, if they could... manipulate the process, send someone into the Solanae realm, and pull off a rescue... we could do it, too. We worked on the rescue plan until I was due to appear aboard the Romulan flotilla and make my big apology. Octavia, Oulius, the two sisters, they kept working constantly, with help from across all decks of the ship, to find a solution. We knew we could find a way to breach their domain. We also knew that Solanae abductions were increasing, so if we could do this and help bring more than just Spera home, it'd be a huge win for the Alliance. But another mission elsewhere had unintended consequences, and made rescuing Spera nearly impossible.

"Captain Paris took his Delta Flight on an attack run against a Solanae station in the Calbriden system, to cripple their efforts, make further abductions would become that much more difficult. He likened it to flying in the 'danger zone'. I replied that the 'danger zone' seems to exist everywhere, with the Solanae and Elachi able to appear at will, but he said I just... didn't get the reference. I have to admit, I still don't. We didn't know it then - Bianca realized it the day after, when the sensor calibrations she'd made suddenly didn't work. But Captain Paris' efforts had unexpectedly turned back the Solanae almost entirely - those few who did remain in contact with our particular part of this universe were either dead or aboard Elachi stations, and their efforts became few.

"That mission - we didn't get to take part. My fault. If I hadn't taken so long to apologize, we might've been along for the ride, and helped Delta Flight on their mission." _[Tw'eak looked downwards in silence for a moment, then back up to the camera.]_ "Suppose it doesn't matter, they succeeded, and to his credit, D'Tan had foresight enough to send the Joint Liberation Service warbirds to join Delta Flight for the mission. Admiral Aetius Konsab, their commander, whom I've known for a while now, told me afterwards that the mission had been a difficult one, with a few losses, but that the Solanae, and the Heralds, had suffered worse. It was our first 'win'. Captain Paris likened it to something called the Doolittle Raid. I asked why a raid that did little was commemorated, but again, he just shook his head, told me I didn't get it. But I looked it up in the historical archives later - I think our version of the Doolittle Raid did a lot more damage than flying for thirty seconds over Tokyo ever managed. Unfortunately, we didn't realize then how much more complicated it would be to get Spera back, as a result. It also put the Elachi in the forefront of the fight - their raids increased considerably as a result, usually with the Heralds riding along with them. The - hmm.

"Anyway - This is all a lot more story than I thought I'd have to tell. All this talking and I haven't even brought Spera back yet. Haven't even talked about Sassil - or the timeship, for that matter." _[Tw'eak looks down at the empty cup.]_ "If I'm gonna get all this down, I need another cup of katheka. No wonder I'm rambling. Just a minute..." _[Tw'eak gets up from her chair, taking the cup and saucer as she goes. The camera continues to record the empty room for a brief period before it automatically disengages recording.]_


	94. Part VI, Chapter 9

_[Interior shot, a desk facing away from a window full of stars streaking by, indicating a starship at warp speed. On-screen chronometer reads stardate 99613.4. The desk itself is black with curved wood veneer trim around its length, which stretches across the bottom of the frame. Into the frame steps a lithe Starfleet officer in a loose-fitting uniform, captain's rank clearly visible below a jumble of green-black hair. The officer brushes her hair aside as she sits, revealing an intimidating Borg ocular implant in her left eye, along with a rather vicious-looking scar around its perimeter. She places her hands in her lap and stares intently with one eye into the camera.]_

"Eight of Twelve. Rank of captain, commanding USS _Warspite_ , Eleventh Fleet, Starfleet, United Federation of Planets." _[Pause.]_ "My input has been requested by chief science officer Bianca duBois, for the purpose of creating a temporally-shielded computer memory core to be known as Memorial. She has requested my candid, sincere opinion and personal reminiscences of the recent conflict to be contained therein. It is for this purpose which I am currently addressing this holo-recording device." _[Octavia pauses for a moment.]_ "My remarks will address those who are most deserving of such a memorial, and chronicle my remembrance of those whose lives have been lost in this conflict. The commander has stated that it is her hope that this database might at some point comprise an archive, in the event that the temporal incursions which we will be attempting in order to resolve the Iconian threat should fail, or irretrievably damage the timeline. There is a twelve-point-five percent chance that this will occur in a manner which we can noticeably detect, and an eight-point-seven-five percent chance that such a temporal alteration will pass undetected, resulting in..." _[Octavia tilts her head in computation.]_ "Unknown. It should be noted that the odds of our success are difficult to predict, but even the most optimistic estimation is... not favourable.

"Our assignment to Eleventh Fleet commenced on Stardate 99518.5, and was followed just over a week later by the initial Iconian assault, on Starbase 234, mol'Rihan and Lae'nas III. The defeat which followed was believed, in consensus, to be a grave one. I, personally, did not concur with this line of thinking. At that time, my belief was that, like many wars, the initial aggressor would win a few notable victories, in a manner seemingly unstoppable, before the momentum would shift to the defenders, who would invariably draw upon new-found strength in order to adapt, and prevail. This has been true in seventy-four percent of conflicts of a duration of year or more in recorded history, a number which I was able to quantify via the main computer. This also has been true of my ...experience as a member of the Borg Collective. Resistance, while futile, is frequently encountered beyond a reasonable scope due to the survival instincts of most sentient beings. Such resistance made my recovery from the Collective possible. Sadly, however, my earlier computations may have proven to be in error, as experience has shown.

"With regards to this starship's efforts in that regard, _Warspite_ has engaged the Herald forces on seven separate occasions in the past month. During that time, total destruction of space-going vessels, across the Alliance, has exceeded production of new vessels, fivefold. Furthermore, the repair and refit of damaged vessels, the replenishment of crew count, and the ongoing maintenance cycles required irrespective of combat experience continue to draw upon the resources of the respective powers represented in the Alliance. I am aware of the irony in hearing one of my present identity admit it as such, but I am firmly of the belief that further resistance to the Iconians will prove futile, and will prove so within the next six weeks at maximum utilizing solely conventional methods of warfare.

"I am aware that this opinion would prove unpopular if stated openly to my crew. I am further aware of the significance of morale, and the need to maintain what Admiral Sh'abbas would refer to as 'a brave face' against the foe. In fact, one of my most indelible of recollections during the war involves the Admiral." _[Octavia takes a moment to raise an eyebrow, then continues.]_ "It was shortly after the destruction of Lae'nas III, when she and I were among those in Proconsul D'Tan's audience. The proconsul was quite bleak in his outlook, to which the admiral took exception. The resulting scene caused a diplomatic incident, as the admiral rebuked the proconsul for his words, and seemingly for his direction of the Republic to that point. There may have also been pejorative, if unquantifiable, references to his lineage and aspects of Romulan history. I have rarely observed such emotion in the conduct of the admiral.

"I distinctly recall the admiral stating that Romulans had 'all of the physical strength of Vulcans but none of the tenacity or integrity', this being 'why you people' - as she put it - 'were better off clinging to the shadows'. It was shortly thereafter that Captain Shon of _Enterprise_ escorted her away, leaving Ambassador Sugihara to offer apologies. I did not see the point of further rancour, and joined the ambassador in apologizing on the admiral's behalf, offering 'battle fatigue' by way of rationale. I did not believe that the proconsul was mollified by either my words or presence. My proof of her character was insufficient to sway his mind, and I returned to the ship shortly thereafter.

"The next eighteen days were marked by Warspite continually being called into combat, in formation with _Armstrong_ and _Temeraire_ , as we were summoned in response to hails from systems in distress. Other ships of all kinds, whether escorts, science vessels, cruisers, warbirds or birds-of-prey, joined us at various points in various combats. I distinctly remember the starship _Geronimo_ , an _Akira_ -class starship which fought alongside us in three separate non-consecutive actions, only to be destroyed in a fourth. Other such ships were lost. I am forced to remember the unfortunate loss of the starships _Tianjin_ , _Chesapeake_ , _Shi'kahr_ , _Monarch_ , _Starseeker_ and _Dorsetshire_ , six cruisers of various class, all of whom were lost in the defense of the Romulan colony at Trelvar Prime. Herald resistance there was unexpectedly fierce, and the arrival of Elachi reinforcements necessitated our withdrawal. There are also those - such as the _Sovereign_ -class cruiser _Valley Forge_ , the Prometheus-class _Thermopylae_ , and the Romulan warbird _Katsulas_ \- whose deliberate action made possible evacuations or escapes at the expense of their survival. The _Valley Forge_ in particular is of note since, with heavy damage to its hull and its warp nacelles destroyed, it intentionally overloaded its engine core in the face of a Herald force. The Heralds were pursuing a group of Reman vessels which _Warspite_ and other vessels were escorting in an attempt to escape into a dense nebula. While all onboard _Valley Forge_ were killed - and I should note that much of her crew were, at that point, already dead - the resulting subspace field and ionic shockwave prevented the Heralds from being able to maintain their sensor lock, and removed any trace impulse signatures for them to follow.

"There were other acts of gallantry sufficiently conspicuous to mention, even aboard this starship. During a Herald assault on the research station in the Vor system, three of our shuttlecraft were able to successfully mimic the sensor profiles of freighters, providing decoys for the Iconians. Sadly, two of them were destroyed. Their pilots were Ensign Svetlana Millen and junior-grade Lieutenant Koowiealchin, both of whom selflessly volunteered for the duty. Approximately one week later, Centurion Tavian of the Romulan Republic was killed in action during an Elachi boarding action. He intervened in order to prevent the Elachi from detonating a subspace device in the forward torpedo magazine. Unfortunately, he later succumbed to the noxious effects of the Elachi device. He is survived by his brother, Subcommander Oulius, who has advised me that the Republic intends to bury Tavian with full honours in a ceremony to be held at earliest convenience."

 _[There is a lengthy pause as Octavia seems to consider something, staring unnervingly at the camera as she does so. The chronometer clicks over to read 99613.5.]_ "To some extent, I am aware of how certain viewers of my comments thus far may be taken aback by my remarks. I am attempting to ensure the remembrance of those whose lives were lost, sometimes by choice, for the good of others. The time will undoubtedly come where the Federation, if not the Alliance, is overwhelmed by the Iconians. Too often the vast majority of cultures place an inordinate value upon victorious outcome, the kind which cannot occur unless someone is willing to commit to rearguard actions and holding maneuvers in order to maintain total strength of the defensive effort until such time as a counter-offensive or other action deemed 'victorious' can occue. The term 'sacrifice' is therefore employed to indicate a willing disregard for one's own well-being in order to see to it that the needs of the many are met. I do not wish to minimize the nobility of these sacrifices. I maintain, however, that not such sacrifices were necessary.

"The Alliance's grand strategy of trading a limited defense of certain installations and individual star systems in order to gain time to mount an adequate counter-offensive or, at minimum, to safeguard those of marked importance, is admittedly difficult to understand unless seen from the level of grand strategy. Our view on the situation was rather of the 'front-row seat' variety. If there was a grand strategy, it was little in evidence from up close. I attempted a discussion of this with Captain Kagran during our briefing prior to a mission in the Dinasia system, one which we undertook in order to prevent the Iconians from utilizing an Omega molecule generator. I requested to know what method of priority was being employed in order to determine the level of defense required for individual systems. His response was tactful, if lacking in detail. I do not believe he had a satisfactory answer to offer me, so I merely reminded him of wise words from Earth's history, that 'wars are not won by evacuations.' He bowed in response, and turned away.

"I returned to _Warspite_ shortly thereafter. The plan of attack called for _Warspite_ to venture to Dinasia, alone and under cloak, in order to rendez-vous with a Klingon battlecruiser under the command of Ramir. We were to maintain our cloak throughout the approach, scanning for the precise location of the Omega generator as we did. That the Iconians were able to conceal its presence at all was astonishing, given that this system had been charted and explored for generations. Lieutenant Commander duBois theorized that it may be possible for the Iconians to have activated the facility themselves, given their knowledge of the ancient Dinasian civilization as contemporaries. Our evidence on the subject was inconclusive - and I reminded the commander that our task was no longer to understand the Iconians, but to operate according to strategy, to deny them the victory they seek. It was at this point that I first heard Subcommander Oulius quietly speak of 'payback', a sentiment I had heretofore not heard him declare. I found out later that his family - his wife, and their child - had been abducted by the Elachi in one of their abduction raids upon New Romulus. They remain among the missing.

 _[Octavia's tone of voice remains unchanged, pausing only briefly, her facial expression impassive, before resuming. Yet it is clear that a contemplation of some sort has passed behind her eyes, unremarked upon.]_

"Upon triangulating the facility's precise location, the admiral led a team to the surface. I counseled against every aspect of this operation, as did Counselor Derret. I pointed out to the admiral that her participation in the away team endangered her, that taking both Aurora and Bianca duBois along with her was a further danger, and that she should exercise caution, especially in the event that any Orions should prove to be working with Ramir. The likelihood of Kagran leading us into a trap set specifically for the admiral, let alone one supposedly within an Iconian facility, were infinitesimal, but I raised the point nonetheless." _[Pause.]_ "I also mentioned the admiral's daughter, Spera, to whom we have all become close, and who had recently vanished from the starship _Olympia_. The admiral appreciated my caution, as did both sisters. It was then that the admiral confided to me that she was joining the mission because, as she put it, she 'had to do something', and made a reference to Spera. I interpreted it as being similar to the subcommander's expression of 'payback', but the admiral assured me that she was merely putting her skills and years of experience to good use, because it was easier for her to risk her life than continue waiting for news from _Olympia_. I found this confusing, but was strangely assured when the admiral told me that she did not expect me to understand. As they beamed down along with the First and the Gorn medic Tlhosh, I returned to the bridge with a sense of sincere trepidation of what was to come.

"I am certain the admiral's after-action report on the subject can discuss the details of the operation sufficiently, but I must admit that, at the time, the events of the raid were seemingly implausible. That the clone Emperor Kahless would face an Iconian in single combat, let alone strike it as he had before falling himself..." _[Octavia pauses for a moment, then raises both eyebrows.]_ "It had not been considered in my anticipations. Such a scenario would have presented itself as... outlandish. Nevertheless, his was to become yet another sacrifice in this war, among others to fall in combat. We were fortunate to learn, through Iconian database entries recovered at the facility that the action of Delta Flight in the Calbriden system had disabled the Solanae species' ability to interact with our universe. We also learned that the Iconians had learned of Admiral Tuvok and Rear Admiral T'uni's efforts to reach the Krenim, and had dispatched both Herald and Vaadwaur vessels to intervene in force, in order to prevent it.

"The only other entry that was retrieved was a cryptic series of inputs which seemed to touch a chord with the admiral - their language, 'all of the pieces being necessary for the Whole', matched precisely the terminology with which Andorians discuss their marital relations, something which I know Admiral Sh'abbas to be personally incapable of experiencing. I indicated to the admiral that I, too, am incapable of bearing children due to my modification by the Borg, but she advised me that such terms had a particular meaning to an Andorian which was something beyond what other sentient species experience. I attempted further discussion, but the admiral excused herself and withdrew to her quarters until we returned to Earth Spacedock to report to Admiral Quinn directly.

"It took us nine point six hours to return to Earth. In that time, the admiral had been visited by her one-time antagonist from Section 31, an operative of theirs named Corbin. This meeting had apparently reversed her earlier mood, and she claimed to have 'hopeful news' as a result. Much like with the Klingon emperor's personal involvement in the conflict, I had not expected this turn of events. Once again, my anticipations proved inadequate to the complexities of this conflict."

 _[There is the sound of an activated communication signal overhead. Octavia tilts her head upwards to the sound.]_ "Yes?"

"Captain, we're approaching the co-ordinates for the temporal incursion."

"Very well, Subcommander. How soon will we be there?"

"Six minutes."

"I understand. Advise the admiral we are arriving, and take us to yellow alert."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll let her know."

"Thank you, Subcommander." _[Octavia's eyes return to the centre of the frame.]_ "I shall return to this narrative in due course. If there is sufficient time." _[She rises and reaches out for the camera, which rapidly tilts downwards to catch a glimpse of Octavia's booted foot pressing into the carpet as she deactivates the recording.]_

* * *

 _[Interior shot, Tw'eak's quarters once more. The chronometer now reads stardate 99611.4 - a full two days before Octavia's recording. Tw'eak herself is seated as before, legs crossed, cup of katheka in hand. The recording has automatically resumed.]_

"Where did I leave off? There was quite a bit still to say. I should mention that we've left the Kyana system. I only have six hours. Given how long this has taken so far, it's gonna be close." _[Tw'eak gives a sly look to the camera.]_ "Anyway. So there was a - oh, right. Sassil. We had just finished a mission in the ...Dinasia system, that was it. Dinasia was amazing, architecture-wise. I've never seen anyplace like it. If I'd had any sort of archaeology background I would've probably hesitated before destroying it. But we carried out our orders as best we could. It wasn't easy. We had to face down T'Ket's own Harbinger to do it. Meanwhile, Emperor Kahless challenged the Iconian, T'Ket, whom we weakened with their own gathered energy, and in so doing gave him advantage enough to injure her severely, severing an arm. But it wasn't enough to kill her, and she... she just vanished in a sort of fog, then appeared behind him, and struck him down. He fought bravely, worthy of his name... unforgettable. And he bought us valuable time. As he said, we created a legend that day, but it wasn't enough. The Omega generator survived our raid, and an emergency beam-out was the only thing that saved the team. We were able to break out of the Dinasia system, transmitting the intelligence we'd gained before we went. I was..."

 _[Tw'eak raises her left hand to her mouth, resting it upon her upturned knee. She is silent for a moment.]_ "Reading the Iconian files we brought out of that place was humbling. The words they used... that they could regard themselves as gods, treat us as though we were just... insects, and yet for them to have the same... need to be Whole that an Andorian would... I don't know how to explain it. Kahless had challenged T'Ket to honourable combat, something she seemed willing to undertake. This was an interesting insight, one I shared with Intelligence later. But that combat had proven that they could be hurt, even killed. Even though that was important, it was the intel we recovered that was probably the bigger revelation - not to the Klingons, mind you, the songs and operas were being sung the same day on their side. It probably got them thinking about taking down M'Tara like we did. But that was a long time in coming yet - and in the meantime, we had work to do. Bianca and her team got right to it, trying to make sense of their files, right away. Her enthusiasm for the work was to her credit, and entirely what I would've expected from her. But as we returned to Earth, I found it hard to be enthusiastic about much of anything. I don't know what it was... I just wanted to be alone." _[She picks up her katheka and takes a lengthy drink, her eyes darting about through her memories before she replaces the cup on its saucer and returns to talking.]_

"I had been here in my quarters for a few minutes when we received a priority transmission from House Pegh. I was sure it was going to be Ramir, or B'eler, but it was Sassil. She had questions. It wasn't so much a debrief as a sort of interrogation. She wanted to know how we could have failed. Apparently she had been involved in planning the operation. Ramir and his team were among the best the Klingons had. She had intended to go herself, but the Emperor had received word and seen an opportunity for honour. So he had gone in her place. And there was no talking him down. Now, I had to talk her down a bit, explaining everything basically as I just did. I had used the word 'sacrifice' so much - in letters home, even in casual conversation. 'Sacrifice' was just becoming an expected part of the service. But this..." _[Tw'eak nods slightly.]_ "This truly had been a sacrifice - one worthy of remembrance. Kahless had provided us an important diversion, had given us more than half a chance. His combat with T'Ket had given us hope, especially when it looked as though he would prevail. I told Sassil I'd wished we could've brought him home, but she shook her head and cursed his idiocy. I couldn't believe it."

 _[Tw'eak looks incredulously at the camera.]_ "It's not every day you see someone wearing the symbol of the Klingon Empire on their armoured breastplate denounce Kahless for foolishness. So I asked her to explain herself. I had to. Sassil said she had told him - specifically - not to throw his life away, that he was worth more to the Empire alive. I said to her that it was almost stereotypically Klingon for him to go looking for honourable combat in the way he had. I didn't understand how she could've thought he would listen to reason when glory is an option. In fact, I can remember being on the Dinasia station and rolling my eyes at the sound of him chanting and getting ready to face T'Ket. One Klingon - even if he had the Sword of Kahless in his hand, even with the blood of Kahless in his veins - against an Iconian. It was pretty much every Klingon child's dreams come true. Sassil, though, had seen more than her share of Klingons try to live their dreams the same way. And she spoke bitterly of the sheer number of deaths she'd witnessed in suicidal attacks on Herald positions, during fighting on the Klingon homeworld over the previous weeks. Few of them had counted for much." _[Tw'eak's expression turns aggrieved.]_ "I had no idea the Heralds were directly attacking the Klingon homeworld until that moment. No one from the Klingon government had requested our assistance - not that we would've been able to offer much help.

"But in talking to Sassil, I took a chance - one I don't regret." _[Pause.]_ "I told her this was our way as well - the Andorian term for it is _'thasalla shiithar'_ , honour won by fighting to the bitter end. It's the only way we know. It's why we ushaan, for Uzaveh's sake. If it'd been Andoria that was invaded, we would fight them until until either they were all dead, or we were. I asked her if maybe she was just tired of Klingons - jokingly, for sure. But it opened a new conversation, because it turned out... she really was tired of Klingons. It started our conversation. I asked why she left. I didn't expect her to answer me. But she did - the whole truth. It took a few hours for her to finally unravel everything, but did she ever. She called her defection a mistake, and blamed it on our family. She had always held each of us to an exacting measure of what these traditions should be, but at some point she had found a 'love note' of some kind that one of our parents had written to a 'pink-skin' - and I only use that word because she did." _[Tw'eak makes a deliberate face, indicating two simultaneous emotions: her discomfort with the term she used, and her further discomfort at her sister's continued use of the term.]_ "Now, she didn't say who wrote this love note she found, but there were only four suspects. I bet it was shreya. She and Sassil always had this... they had similar personalities, let's say. Impossibly high expectations for everyone else as a constant ideal. Whoever it was, someone hadn't lived up to Sassil's ideal. It was enough to break her heart.

"And from there, she generalized - all of Andoria had fallen just as far. The Federation was why - you'd think, the way she went on about it in those days, that we had been conquered, corrupted, subjugated... that we were unworthy of our heritage. She had been so young, she said, and so hurt by what she had found. So she started making a challenge of everything, trying to uphold every last rule of our heritage, until she had become so strident, so unpleasant, that it had driven everyone away. Dashii, me, our brothers, probably charan, too - even shreya. But she finally explained to me why she had never bonded. It meant nothing if it was so easy for her bond mates to become involved with people from off-world. I don't know why this upset her so much. We even have a name for it, _tazh par_. It's sort of expected that Andorians will follow their passions, and find partners if they're away from home for too long. We're fortunate we can think of it that way. It takes so much work to actually give birth to an Andorian child as it is..." _[Tw'eak laughs.]_ "Like everything else, you really have to try to succeed. Everything about being Andorian comes with a six-sectioned rule book governing twenty-three specific rituals and forty-seven incantations." _[She shakes her head and stops laughing.]_ "That's probably why so few of those old ways survived.

"Sassil left because nobody respected the rules. She felt we had abandoned them, so she abandoned us. Never mind that there were so many rules, some of which contravened other rules. Never mind that our family was complicated enough as it was. Thavan and zhavey were both gone for long stretches of time, and eventually both of them would only come home to join the Wall of Heroes. As for the other two, well, shreya only ever let you know she was aware of your existence when you'd done something wrong, and charan just... he was there, but he wasn't, if you know what I mean. He had been particularly fond of zhavey. When she didn't come back, well... he was never the same, never really there again. It was hard not to feel abandoned in my family - I mean, look at Dashii." _[Pause.]_ "Look at me. When I did slip off-world and head for Vulcan, I don't even think charan noticed. But Sassil noticed. By that point she and I had no patience for each other. By that point in time, zhavey had been killed in action, thavan would be posted to one duty station or another indefinitely, and the rest of us either fought with her or ignored her. So we drifted apart. It's funny - thinking back on it now, losing her probably made me try harder with Dashii. And we all know how that turned out." _[Tw'eak laughs for a moment.]_

"Anyway, when the war with the Klingons began in earnest, Sassil was at the Academy, and came to believe that the Klingons had done a better job of upholding their traditions than Andoria had with its own. I do not know where she got that impression, but she came to see the Federation as a problem. Joining the enemy ...somehow became a solution. So she deserted - almost right away - to the Empire. But once she got there, she found their traditions weren't ours. They were 'close enough', she said, but there were just as many arcane traditions no one observed, and even the main traditions were variable, not essential. But she'd chosen to leave, and for whatever reason she didn't come back - I think she was afraid to come back, but she said she was too proud. She had tried to live the Klingon way, as a warrior of the Empire - an Empire that regarded her as untrustworthy. She built friendships, even had a few lovers. But the Klingons knew she wasn't one of them, so she found herself treated as little better than a second-class citizen. That would explain why she wound up serving House Pegh - they're all a little... different from the standard-issue Klingon. It's one of their strengths, actually. Not so hide-bound to warrior deaths and honourable combat. But her sense of belonging in Klingon Intelligence was already wavering when she encountered us - Dashii and I - during our war game with the old task force. Suddenly here were the two sisters she was convinced had forsaken her, behaving very much like she remembered. It turned her solitude into a harsh loneliness. And it was why she had recommended me to Ramir for the mission on Dinasia. She knew I could get it done. But mostly, she was looking for a way to bring me into her world again. Both Dashii and I, I should say - I got to tell her the good news, that Dashii and her family were safe.

"And I told her, if she wanted... the war was over. I wasn't going to hold anything against her any longer. As for Dashii, I told her, there was a little one on the way who would probably love to have two aunts as part of her life." _[Tw'eak pauses.]_ "Or his life. I don't know if she's a zhavey yet or not - Dashii hasn't contacted me in weeks. I know she's okay. I'd get an automated subspace signal telling me if the freighter she's on is in any danger - something she set up on purpose. No news is good news, right? _[Another pause. Tw'eak wears an expression of conscious doubt for a moment.]_ "Anyway, Sassil and I just talked about things for a while after that, about things we'd missed in each others' lives, about Spera and her disappearance... doesn't matter what we talked about. We talked in a way I hadn't talked to her, probably ever. It was a good talk. I needed it, really, but I could tell she needed it more. I told her that at some point she would have to stop by for a cup of katheka with me, which was when she asked me if she'd kill me when she did. And I just laughed." _[Tw'eak shakes her head, chuckling. She then looks up at the camera.]_ "And I told her that if I wanted her dead I'd send Pal." _[She then breaks into an uncharacteristically hysterical sort of laughter for a brief moment, then recovers herself. Another sip from her glass of katheka.]_

"I was asleep in my cabin a few hours later when I was startled awake - it was Corbin. I told him to go away - harshly. I only had a few hours to rest, and it'd taken me a while to fall asleep with Sassil on my mind. But he was frantic. I don't know how to describe it, but it was like he was having a panic attack. All the usual swagger, that smug face of his... gone. He was spooked. All of Section 31 was in chaos, he said. I asked how he could tell, but he ignored me. Everything they could do, he said, the Iconians did better. Except for one thing. And that was when he handed me a padd with a set of co-ordinates, and said there was a weapon waiting there which he was entrusting to me. I don't know why he didn't stay longer. I couldn't tell you where he went. But he told me that I was the only one he felt he could trust any longer. And before I could respond, he dashed into the next room, and then... off into wherever the hell it is he goes." _[Tw'eak reaches over and lifts a padd off of a coffee table just out of view.]_ "The co-ordinates led us to a remote system in the Mariah sector. That was where we found... this." _[She holds up the padd, which displays the multi-systems display of a Mobius temporal destroyer.]_

"Apparently it's Mirror universe technology from their future - a design unlike anything we've ever built, mostly because the components haven't yet been invented. I've heard of timeships before, but they were a myth to me before that moment - one I had to see for myself. In fact, that was why we got through our business on Earth Spacedock and back underway to the Mariah system in a mere eight hours. Admiral Quinn... let's just say that he was still upset about that incident with D'Tan, and he let me know. But I was insistent that I had to keep the debriefing about the Dinasia mission short. He didn't like me giving him such curt treatment after what had happened, especially in order to follow up a lead in the opposite end of the galaxy from Iconia - a lead I'd gotten from Section 31 no less. But it was urgent. On top of everything else he'd put up with from me lately... I don't know why he reminded me so much of thavan, that day in his office. Maybe it was the beard. Or the yelling. Thavan used to yell a lot - it was a Marine thing. Leo did that, too - everything was a combat scenario. Counselor Derret would probably attribute it to combat fatigue, post-traumatic stress." _[Tw'eak chuckled._ ] "She'd be right.

"I got the sense Admiral Quinn was just tired of every part of this war. He's seen a lot from that desk. And the casualty counts have been... unspeakable. We lost over a hundred starships in holding efforts, this system, that system. Somehow, that was actually an improvement - a lesser rate of loss than had been our experience in the opening phase. But the Iconians had shifted their tactics - the raids, the planetary assaults, were increasing. They had begun targeting Republic colonies and stations at a disproportionately high rate." _[Tw'eak scowls.]_ "Seeing that casualty list just made me want to get _Warspite_ to the Mariah sector that much faster. I knew whatever weapon he had for us would be morally questionable, but if we could use what Corbin was offering in order to make the difference, well..." _[Tw'eak raises her eyebrows. Her antennae tilt outwards.]_ "...there wasn't much time left to make that difference. I was surprised, when I returned to the ship, how many people were talking about the mood, the general morale, the desperation that seemed to just hover in the air on Earth Spacedock. They were right - the whole place felt like a funeral, even in Club 47, people were just sitting, drinking, or dancing like there was no tomorrow - probably literally in at least a couple cases. When I said we'd be leaving quickly, people were actually glad to be leaving Earth. I'd never heard anyone say that before.

" _Warspite_ proceeded under cloak, and I ordered radio silence except for priority one communications. I didn't want to take any chances, even if I regret that decision in hindsight for... well, for reasons I'll get to in time. We arrived in-system and proceeded to the co-ordinates. We were completely alone. No ion trails, no evidence of warp flight - a pre-warp civilization on the third planet, and orbiting the seventh was... well, our prize." _[Tw'eak drinks off the rest of her cup of katheka.]_ "Corbin hadn't been kidding. It was a weapon - of sorts. Our initial scans read active chronodynamic emissions from multiple systems onboard, notably the deflector, the weapons, and the transporter system. No life signs, it was keeping station on automatic, waiting for us. This wasn't just a starship, it was a timeship. I took Aurora, Oulius and Pal to secure it, inspect it, have a look around. Everything was fully functional.

"That was when Corbin appeared. Pal just about killed him right then and there when he did." _[Another chuckle.]_ "The look on Corbin's face - I wish I'd had a holo-recorder. Pal might've scared him, but it was Oulius who had a disruptor trained on him. That got him talking. He said Section 31 had no hope of ever defeating the Iconians unless we were use their sensitivity to chroniton states - to time travel - against them. And this was just the ship to do it. It was built for attack - like a heavy escort, it reminded me of the _Repulse_ , actually, in its overall power levels and weaponry. But its systems were far more complex. Aurora was falling over herself at every turn. It was her dream come true. I figured it was probably appropriate for her to take a closer look, so I told her to select twenty officers from _Warspite_ to form a skeleton crew and take it to Station Phoenix." _[Tw'eak smiles at the recollection.]_ "Yeah, she was pretty happy about that. But we extended the effect of our cloaking field - a trick I'd learned from Ramir of House Pegh - until we were safe at home.

"The holo-field was still in position around Station Phoenix, so our secret was safe for now. I got in touch with T'uni - since she was now the admiral in charge of Task Force Phoenix - to let her know what we had at home. She wasn't happy to see me. She demanded to know where I'd been. I told her, and she was intrigued, but disappointed. It was then that she explained why. While _Warspite_ had been running silent, our forces in the Azure Nebula had been ambushed. The surviving ships from Eleventh, Nineteenth and Twenty-Third fleets numbered just thirty-four where there had been one hundred and sixty-seven beforehand. While USS _Australia_ had survived, USS _Olympia_ had been among the lost. Admiral Slutskaya had gone down fighting in formation against a force of six Herald dreadnoughts and accompanying cruisers and raiders." [Tw'eak bit her lip, her antennae curling forward and towards each other.] "The small mercies of it - another thirteen ships from the three fleets were in spacedock for assorted repairs, among them _Armstrong_ and _Temeraire_. I ordered _Warspite_ to depart Station Phoenix before we completed docking - leaving Aurora in charge of the timeship, which she had taken to calling the _Silhouette_ in honour of the old task force's lead escort. It was fitting tribute. We then proceeded at maximum warp to the Azure Nebula.

"On our way there, I called Octavia into her ready room. I needed to talk it out - I felt wretched. We had an obligation to our fleet. While she had been aware of subspace traffic, calling for us, it had gone unanswered. So I asked her, in her honest opinion, what difference we could have made. She offered me very slim odds of our survival, or indeed of our being able to survive in a meaningful fashion at all. She then raised a point to consider - given the nature of Solanae abductions, Spera's return to the point from which she was abducted would now be impossible, since her point of origin, _Olympia_ , had been destroyed. We sought Bianca's input, and she could only speculate as to whether we'd get Spera back at all. I think she was hesitant to give a straight answer because, to her, the straight answer was that Spera was missing in action, and that was that. When I asked her to just say it straight, if that was how she felt, she merely said that she couldn't - she had a sense, an intuition, that told her we would see Spera again before long.

"As it turned out, she was right. We had been in the Azure Nebula for some hours, retrieving lifepods, rescuing whoever we could. Doc was busy. So was her whole staff. Australia and Armstrong came along with us, searching in their own turn, while _Temeraire_ actively scanned for signs of a second ambush. But we were astonished - there was definite signs that Elachi sabotage efforts had been present on a number of the wrecked hulls. Our teams were advised to use combat environmental suits for every stage of recovery in case Elachi devices were housed in lifepods. Fortunately, none were. We brought home a lot of people, including Denver O'Leary. He had survived the _Silhouette_ 's destruction, been retrieved from a lifepod by the Prometheus-class starship _Hornet_ , where he had been recognized by the ship's captain and given an opportunity to helm that starship's Alpha section. When the Heralds arrived, the multi-vector attack mode was of limited use, given the odds. _Hornet_ Alpha was destroyed, leaving O'Leary once again piloting a lifepod, helping to keep others like it in proper formation for mutual support until we arrived. Thankfully, the Heralds stuck to larger targets, but their various gateways damaged indiscriminately. He said more than a few lifepods had been destroyed by suddenly being within the effect radius of a solar gateway. He was shattered by the experience. He wanted to know how he could help. So I offered him a chance to join Aurora's skeleton crew and sort out the new _Silhouette_ , take it through its paces and see what it could do. His response was unequivocal, a lot like mine - anything for a chance to really hurt these bastards.

"That was a common sentiment I recieved over the coming days. We needed a plan - one that brought the war to the Iconians, one that hurt them for once, as Kahless had wounded T'Ket. I called a conference aboard _Warspite_ for all the captains remaining, to discuss next moves, and to ask them what they felt. Some, like Captain Caliburn of the _Temeraire_ , were desperate for a sense of victory. A number of them were, though most preferred a cautiously-planned strike to an impetuous counter-offensive. The captains of the _Keller_ , _Mandela_ and _Zhukov_ urged me to bring together the three fleets into a single formation. They felt that, with the right leader, given the opportunity, what remained of us needed to be given clear directives, clear leadership, and clear opportunities to feel as though the war wasn't going to be an ongoing defensive struggle. At least a few captains despaired of the chances that remained to us - would they be enough? was there time enough to find their weakness? One of them, a Captain T'mali of the starship _Decker_ , reminded us to continue to think and act like Starfleet officers. Her point was a reasonable one, hardly surprising for a Vulcan. But there was no denying that our officers were desperate for a little payback." _[Tw'eak shakes her head slowly.]_ "Payback. There's a reason Starfleet doesn't believe in revenge. It was the worst thing for us to have wanted. It solved nothing once we got it - made things a lot worse, actually."

 _[There is a long pause as Tw'eak looks away, deep in her own thoughts. Silently, she gets up from her chair, retrieves her cup and saucer, and wanders off. The recording once again concludes itself automatically after a few seconds more.]_


	95. Part VI, Chapter 10

_[Interior shot, a dark corner of what appears to be a room aboard Warspite. Unusually, the chronometer is not visible. The pattern of decor on the walls is consistent with a Starfleet vessel regardless, but the lights are reduced to well below twenty-five percent effective. Into the shadow steps an individual, who is visible from the shoulders up. The individual is bald, presumably male, broad-shouldered and wearing darker colours than his skin tone, possibly black. It's not clear in the shadow, but the individual leans against the darkened wall, and sighs. The voice is weary, with a rage punctuating the speech at intervals.]_

"This is my recording - as requested, for I wish it to be known. I... I have become as you see - mere shadow, a complete absence of light... of meaning. I had once prided myself upon my commitment to duty, to my need to prove my honour in the martial way of all my people - but not from shadow. It was my choice to live free from shadow. I knew better than to serve the shadows. I knew better than to feed my anger - my... my anger with what lay in shadow. For I have paid the price for that anger too often. And now, the shadows seem to have avenged themselves upon me."

 _[There is a long pause.]_

"When I was young - my mind can barely stand the memory of those days. But they were pure, they were fulfilling, they were... they were spent in light, far from shadow. Then came the dark hour when my home was consumed in shadow and flame. My days in the light met an end, and my heart experienced the darkness for the first time. I... I savoured it then, the burning passion for justice, for vengeance... for destruction. All I encountered became subject to my wrath. I was unaware then that the shadow had fallen over my world through the actions of those tasked to protect it. Thus, all who knew light would suffer. And I, having suffered, became infused with the shadow.

And for a time, when it rose in my heart, I felt... cleansed by my passion, by the anger within me. Knowing no true villain yet, I turned my heart against those who held any advantage over myself, or my wounded people. In time I came to suspect my passion, came to realize that no acts of destruction could fill the world-shaped hole in my heart. I had come to crave the shadow as a substitute for light, and I came to realize that the shadow craved me as well. It took me too long to come to know this craving to be wrongful, even shameful - and as I did, my heart beckoned desperately for the fullness of light. Thus came I to this duty. Thus came I to my path.

"With me I brought my dearest of friends, my only brother, who had never known a world without shadow, having been born well after our home had burned. With me I brought the fullness of the love I had found with my beloved one, my... my Cressia, she with whom I shared my heart and whose beauty exceeded even that the Elements could present to me. She was the source of all my hope and joy, and so I came to trust that she and I, together, would settle a new home, raise a child together, in the light of Dewa.

"But now the shadow has struck again - both here, and at home. I have lost everything - my true-hearted brother, my pure-hearted Cressia, and our tender child... my son. All of them have fallen into shadow. I have had news of friends, of family members, of old comrades, all of them, in my time, dear to me - now no more. The shadow has struck the very place where my life was dearest, yet has left me unharmed. I... know my failure. It tarnishes me like the shadow once did, yet I feel only shame. Like those of my world whose task was its protection, this shameful fault is my own. Even this great vessel could offer them no safety. But the greater failure, and the greater shame, must fall upon those who have destroyed my light, and who leave me no other choice but to return... to the shadow.

 _[The voice begins to falter, and a raised fist can be seen in silhouette, rising to the lips of the speaking individual, then falling down to mid-shoulder height. It remains there as the individual speaks again.]_

"For I shall - I swear it, by these beloved dead - and I shall repay the shadow the wounds which it has borne me. I cannot say why I have been dealt so many at once. Perhaps it is merely the fate of all those of my blood, to suffer for our own failings. Perhaps the shadow felt aggrieved to see my life to have gained so much meaning since I have cast off its presence. I do not know. I know only that I have failed in my duty to all of them as protector. I am therefore left no choice but to fulfill my duty as their avenger. And I swear, again, by these beloved dead, by the Elements, by the blood which burns in my veins, that I will strike down every demon of air and darkness that yet lives, for what they have done to me! So let it be known! Vengeance WILL be mine!"

 _[The fist rises, knocking the camera face-down into the carpet as it tumbles from wherever it was placed. Moments thereafter, the recording suddenly ends in blackness.]_

* * *

 _[Interior shot, corridor of USS_ Warspite _, Deck 6. The recording device is being carried in a handheld fashion by Bianca duBois, who is holding it up as she walks around. Her sister Aurora moves along at her left-hand side. The chronometer reads 99612.6.]_

 _B:_ "And this is Deck Six. It looks a lot like the other decks, but - hey, Ensign Bartok!"

 _[Bianca has a hapless ensign in her sights who has just entered the corridor via a door ten metres in front of Bianca on the right.]_

 _B:_ "There's Ensign Bartok. Hello, Ensign Bartok!"

 _[The dark-haired ensign waves, then abruptly turns around and walks towards the far turbolift and presses the button urgently.]_

 _A:_ "You're scaring them, Bia."

 _B:_ "I just want to make sure we don't miss anyone."

 _A:_ "I think we've almost got everyone, haven't we?"

 _B:_ "I don't really have a crew manifest or anything. It was a good idea you had, to start on the bottom deck and work upwards."

 _A:_ "Easiest way to get the engineering teams on duty down there - go to them. They're always busy - ship's systems and warp engines don't maintain themselves."

 _B:_ "I know, but we spent a long time down there, so - hey, Chief Sandoval! We missed him before!"

 _[Chief Sandoval emerges from the turbolift that Ensign Bartok has summoned, and immediately appears to consider going back in - too late, as Ensign Bartok presses a button and closes the door.]_

 _C:_ "Hello."

 _B:_ "You weren't around in the transporter room before. We're so used to you always being there."

 _C:_ "Yeah, I had to, uh... re-calibrate the Heisenberg compensator."

 _A:_ "Again? Didn't we just do that last week?"

 _[The Chief looks momentarily panicked. Aurora's encyclopedic memory for all things maintenance has worked against him.]_

 _A:_ "And you can do that from the duty station. Only takes about twenty minutes."

 _B:_ "Never mind that, 'rora. Chief, maybe you could spare a moment for the Memorial project?"

 _C:_ "The - the what?"

 _B:_ "The Memorial project. We're making a recording for the temporally-shielded data core, sort of a record of the war."

 _C:_ "So that Krenim ship IS dangerous. Thought so." _[Chief Sandoval snickers.]_

 _B:_ "We don't have any way of knowing. This isn't really about that anyway - we're just making sure we have everyone mentioned in the recording."

 _C:_ "Wouldn't it just be easier to upload the crew manifest and logs to the data core?"

 _A:_ "We're going to include those as well. But we wanted to give everyone - ow!" _[There is a sound off-camera as Bianca walks into Aurora, causing the recording to shake slightly.]_

 _B:_ "Would you be careful?"

 _A:_ "Me? You ran into me."

 _B:_ "I did not."

 _C:_ "Well, good luck with your... project. See you."

 _B:_ "But - oh, look, there's the First."

 _[Bianca's camera suddenly swoops past Chief Sandoval's face, causing him to dart backwards. Bianca moves it down the corridor to catch Pal in frame.]_

 _B:_ "Excuse me, Pal? Do you have a moment?"

 _P: [bristling silence - walks past]_

 _A:_ "Come on, Pal. Just give us a minute."

 _P: [more bristling silence as he stops, then turns to glare into the camera.]_

 _B:_ "So... it's been a long war."

 _P:_ "Indeed." _[bristles]_

 _A:_ "Maybe you should ask him something."

 _B:_ "What?"

 _[There is silence for a moment. Pal glares at an ensign who passes by, who accelerates at the sight of the recording device, more scared of Bianca's recording than the Jem'Hadar.]_

 _B:_ "Wait, I know. How do you cope with the demands of being in combat on a constant basis like we've been?"

 _P:_ "We go into battle to reclaim our lives." _[His tone is surprisingly matter-of-fact.]_

 _B:_ "Yes, but it's been very hard on the crew, hasn't it."

 _P:_ "I do not see why. We will surely prevail."

 _B:_ "You're sure of it."

 _A:_ "Of course he is, Bia. He's a Jem'Hadar, for heaven's sake." _[The camera dips slightly, and Aurora can be heard to whisper her next few words.]_ "You know, 'victory is life'?"

 _[Aurora's use of that phrase causes Pal to bristle slightly less, something akin to a smile upon his lips.]_

 _B:_ "Right. But what about?"

 _P:_ "I must return to Commander Spera."

 _B:_ "Right - how is she, anyway?"

 _P: [silence - resumed bristling]_

 _B:_ "Can't answer, eh? I get it."

 _A:_ "Say hello to her for us, okay? We all miss her."

 _P: [bristles]_

 _A:_ "Please?"

 _P:_ "Now, I must go. Excuse me."

 _[Pal gives a slight bow, then turns in a direction and walks away briskly. The recording watches him go - passing several anxious shipmates who dart frantically to either side as Bianca hurries after Pal down the corridor.]_

 _A [distant]:_ "Bia, where are you going?"

 _B:_ "Damn it."

 _[Aurora briefly comes into view, before she angles the recording device away from her. The nearby bulkhead comes clearly into view at close range. Details in the surface become evident as the recording lens focuses sharply. Neither of the duBois sisters can be seen, only heard.]_

 _A:_ "What were you doing?"

 _B:_ "Trying to follow him. He's usually invisible. I thought maybe he wanted me to follow him. Like a deliberate clue, then we'd find out where Spera's hiding."

 _A:_ "Oh, you're wasting your time. I asked everyone. They don't want us to find her."

 _B:_ "I know, even internal sensors couldn't find her."

 _A:_ "You weren't supposed to use the internal sensors!"

 _B:_ "Why do you think I did?" _[She snickers.]_

 _A: [sternly]_ "I'm still your commanding officer, you know."

 _B: [indignant]_ "You are not - you're captain of the _Silhouette_ now. What are you going to do, rat me out to the new XO? Go ahead, tell me all about what I did wrong."

 _A:_ "Yeah, well, I'm still in charge of you."

 _B:_ "Not since they promoted me. You're a Commander, I'm a Commander."

 _A:_ "But they call me captain when I'm on the bridge over there. I don't get it."

 _B:_ "You're the one in command, 'rora. It's an old Starfleet tradition - whoever's in charge is 'captain' regardless of rank."

 _A:_ "Yeah, but I don't feel like I belong on a bridge as it is, you'd think they'd stop giving me reasons to avoid it. Besides, that ship is nothing like _Warspite_. The warp core and the nacelles are unlike anything I've - "

 _B:_ "There's Tlhosh, c'mon!"

 _[The recording device, throughout this conversation, has done a spectacular job of capturing the details in the adjacent bulkhead while recording the audio. The focus spins again as Bianca races off to pursue another officer, this time Tlhosh. She angles the recording device upwards at the Gorn's face.]_

 _B:_ "And here we have our very own Ensign Gorn."

 _A:_ "I think it was Yeoman Gorn, Bia."

 _T:_ "It wassss. I have requesssted that the crew no longer refer to me as ssssuch, however." [Pause.] "Commander."

 _B: [gulp]_ "Right, I knew that. Well, then, Tlhosh. Anything you'd like to have mentioned as part of the Memorial project?"

 _A:_ "We don't really have a Gorn perspective otherwise."

 _B:_ "Seriously, 'rora? You know he's the only-"

 _T:_ "Am I only being assssked in order to provide a Gorn perssssspective?"

 _B:_ "No, not at all! You're one of the hardest-working officers onboard, and we all appreciate your efforts immensely." [There is a whispered remark caught clearly on the recording, intended for Aurora.] "Would you shut up?"

 _T:_ "I would gladly addressssss your recording, if you desssire."

 _[Bianca tilts the frame of the recording device downwards a bit, cropping off the crest of Tlhosh's cranial spikes. She then adjusts to take his full head, with spikes, into perspective, and his massive Gorn face fills the screen.]_

 _T:_ "My people have in my lifetime have already ssssuffered the heartbreak of invasion - at the handssss of those who would eventually become our mastersss. That was the reason I left to be of better use in Ssstarfleet. I have ssssseen, first-hand, what such an invasion meansss - firssst on my homeworld, and now on a ssscale far beyond, acrosss the galaxy. In both, the disssplacement of the innocent, the injuriesss ssssuffered by the children, the pain of grief and losss... they cause woundssss borne in mind, body and sssoul. Sssuch pain, we can treat. Such ssskills as these are ones I know myself to have. But that treatment extendsss to jussst one perssson. Any government, any ssstarship, any organization or empire will rise or fall according to the ssspirit of its people. Thisss is why the Iconiansss cannot prevail - they are rulersss of an empire of machinesss, machines which we can break. But I maintain that ssso long as the ssspirit of the people remainsss unbroken, even in defeat, even in dessstruction... hope enduresss. And hope will alwaysss prevail."

 _[There is a momentary pause. Tlhosh's face remains inscrutably present upon the screen.]_

 _B:_ "That... wow, thank you, Tlhosh. That was wonderful."

 _[A sniffle can be heard off-camera.]_

 _B:_ "You okay, 'rora?"

 _A:_ "Yep." _[She quietly sniffles again.]_ "Sorry. That was..." _[sobs]_

 _T:_ "Alssso, Doctor Hewssson wishes to know if you have further need of the recorder. She would like a chance to use it."

 _B:_ "Yeah, sure - I'll drop it off to her as soon as I'm done my part, and then I still have to get it to the captain. I think she's pretty much the last of the senior staff. I don't remember if Lieutenant Aewon or the subcommander have had a chance yet." _[Pause.]_ "The admiral took a long time with it."

 _T:_ "Please return to sssickbay when you have completed your recording. Doctor Hewssson is mossst anxiousss to have an opportunity, preferably before Nadezhda becomesss fusssssy."

 _B:_ "We'll be right there, you can let her know."

 _A:_ "What about Doc?"

 _T:_ "Doctor Ellington isss far lessss interested in being recorded, as you are no doubt already aware."

 _A: [chuckles]_ "Yeah, just wondered if she'd change her mind."

 _T:_ "Unlikely. I will return to sssickbay and await your arrival."

 _B:_ "Shouldn't be more than half an hour."

 _[Tlhosh makes his way down the corridor, and the recording centers on Aurora, who turns, surprised, then rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.]_

 _A:_ "What are you doing?"

 _B:_ "I just realized I hadn't actually gotten you to talk yet."

 _A:_ "Me? Um..." _[Aurora shrugs.]_

 _B:_ "Really? Nothing at all to say."

 _A:_ "Um... no? C'mon, Bia." _[Another shrug, then Aurora looks around for a moment, and continues.]_ "I'm sure that, um, with the Admiral in command of our fleet, and with the Silhouette at her disposal instead of Section 31's, I'm sure we'll be looking back on this, years from now, and, I don't know, telling other people's kids all about it and stuff."

 _B:_ "That sounds a lot like what Counselor Derret said, when we saw her on Deck Twelve."

 _A: [frustrated]_ "That's because it is. Damn it."

 _B:_ "Alright, fine. You go up to the bridge, see if there's anyone else who wants to get a word in, okay?"

 _[The recording device is angled downwards, capturing a brilliant shade of placid blue in the well-trodden corridor carpet. Bianca's left foot is partially visible at the edge of the frame.]_

 _A:_ "What are you going to go do?"

 _B:_ "I'm going to my quarters for a little bit. Just have a bit I want to say. You know, for the record."

 _A:_ "Well, let me hold that thing for a minute and we can get that down to sickbay."

 _B:_ "N - no, it's technical stuff. Very scientific. I have some notes in my quarters, I don't want to get the details wrong."

 _A:_ "Alright. Call me when you're done. If we're going to have dinner together before I get back to the _Silhouette_ , we should eat soon."

 _B:_ "Sure. I'll meet you down on - "

 _[The recording is terminated abruptly, as Bianca suddenly realizes she had forgotten to de-activate it earlier.]_

* * *

 _[Interior, a very messy set of standard Starfleet headquarters. There are padds everywhere, on the table, one tucked into the side of the chair, another three on the floor beyond. The nearest bulkhead is some distance behind the chair, and the bedroom visible through an open door beyond - that open door caused by what appears to be a bathrobe casually discarded through its opening - shows the corner of an unmade bed, along with another table stacked with padds. These are Bianca's quarters. She comes into view and picks up the padds, stacking them neatly on the table. This partially obstructs the view of the recording device, as a stack of nine padds is placed directly in their field of vision. The recording device emits a bleating noise, and Bianca goes to move the padds, only to knock them to the ground. She sits, defeated, in the chair, pulling out the padd embedded there and throwing it tomahawk-style into a couch off-camera.]_

"Damn it. This place looks terrible - I just... I haven't had a lot of energy for keeping up the place lately. I've just been so tired. We all have. This war... it's only been a month, but we had, what, five, six months since the last one? It's all been so frustrating. We had no sooner finished wasting our time fighting the Klingons when the Undine showed up, threatening us, then the Klingons. And the only reason we haven't felt the impact of the Vaadwaur has been because they're isolated from the Alpha Quadrant. Commander Spera told me how Voyager and the Delta Alliance had been able to isolate them from the Iconian leadership, which... given how tough they were reputed to be, it's a good thing we aren't facing them and the Heralds as well.

"I just look at the way this war has gone, and I really feel awful. I haven't done anything scientific other than read and report. I wish I'd had more time to study the Preserver archive on Lae'nas III. I'd never seen that before... now no one ever will again. But Iconians? Oh, let me tell you all about everything we haven't learned so far. Iconian artifacts, Solanae research, Herald attack patterns, all in the hopes of finding vulnerabilities - well, they don't have any." _[Bianca throws her hands in the air in frustration.]_ "There's my scientific opinion for you. So all we can do is keep on hoping they'll be so kind as to demonstrate clearly for us how we go about beating them, beyond 'hold tight and pray'. Maybe if we just asked them to explain their evil genius for a moment, then we could foil their dastardly schemes. I don't know. This all just... I hate this. I hate this, and ...and I want to go home."

 _[Bianca sits in silence for a few moments, her face frowning, and she bats at an eye, blinking once or twice as she does. She then clears her throat, looks down, and then her eyes drift off into the distance, focused more on memory than the present messy space.]_

"When I was a kid, 'rora and I would spend... hours just going out places in the back woods, putting together some sort of adventure story and playing it out, or working with Dad on one of his projects. I remember the summer we spent re-building a Spitfire, all four of us, replicating the engine parts and airframe, but doing all the work on it ourselves. It was completely to specification, except for the onboard weaponry - those were just broomsticks. Mom fitted the wings and landing gear, dad worked on the avionics and controls, and 'rora and I just worked on whatever little things they needed - get a light for this panel, shine a light on that bolt head, go fetch some drinks... whatever. I know that Aurora thinks of that as the moment she realized for the first time how much she loved engineering. But what I remember most about it was the way that Dad told us stories about the plane while we'd take breaks - about the engine, the airframe, and the pilots. He knew so many stories from those times, the brave men - only men were allowed, it was a very different time. For them, it must have felt a lot like this does. That's why I remember it - that battle meant the difference, changed the course of history. And it all happened because of those men, airplanes like the Spitfire.

"I used to go sit under the wings sometimes and imagine what it would've been like to have the end of the world swarming towards you, to get the order to 'scramble' and climb to altitude, then dive in and fight. It used to scare me so much, the thought of combat. I mean, that plane was so beautiful - especially after we finished its skin in bright metallic blue - that I couldn't imagine taking it anywhere which would mean it would be shot down. I mean, you don't shoot down bluebirds, or butterflies, or so many other beautiful creatures flying around, being free, being... being so, so free. I think it's why I went into the sciences - I wanted to explore, to discover. I wanted to keep people safe, learn about ways to make the universe better, safer. But my application to the Academy didn't allow me to specify a combat-free assignment, though I knew in Starfleet science officers used to be able to do exactly that. They changed that rule when it became clear that no starship could guarantee a combat-free assignment.

"But the Iconians have put me in a really awful place. I don't know how else to explain it - they're forcing us to use what we know about the space-time continuum as a weapon against them, and I hate it. I absolutely hate everything about it, and it makes me want to just... leave and go home. Just because I understand gravity doesn't mean I want to focus our deflector dish on making a miniature black hole. I know how to do it. I can do it really well, actually - create aftershocks, create more than one, it's just a matter of knowing how to direct the graviton emissions in a cascading pattern. Same with tachyons - they're such beautiful particles to watch in their motion through sensors, they make these patterns when they're encountered, because they're faster-than-light. A particle shouldn't be able to go that fast, shouldn't... dance like they do, but these do, and they careen around in these fractal sorts of patterns. But nobody cares about that. They just want me to channel a beam of them into someone's shields. Or track those beams and find cloaked ships. It's an applied science, and I don't deny that it has its place, but it's all we do anymore. I can't remember the last time I did anything involving scientific thinking, testing, following the method, hypothesizing... unless it involved Iconians. You're not able to just conduct any old research now - every minute counts these days.

"Every minute..." _[Bianca chuckles with the irony.]_ "I have to admit I regret that Task Force Phoenix ever found the Krenim. I'm... I'm not sure how to explain it." _[She pauses for a moment, thinking.]_ "Before they showed up, we all had this awful sense that the war would never be won, that we would have to take the fight to the Iconians themselves. And that was awful, once we did. I was there, on the Herald Sphere, when M'Tara died. I helped to kill her. She... I had never seen an Iconian before, other than through analysis, and then there we were, doing everything we could to destroy her. I realize this is a war, but I still don't understand what we were trying to achieve. I tried everything - using tachyon harmonic fields, electro-gravitic distortions, scanning constantly for vulnerabilities, for any sign of weakness. And it reminded me of that Spitfire. She was so graceful, like a butterfly, but so deadly. She was very difficult to take down, but once we did, in her final moments, she summoned her sisters to her side..." _[Bianca trails off for a bit, wiping a tear at one point in silence.]_ "Just like I would do." _[A further few moments of silence follow.]_

"We beamed out in a hurry shortly after. The whole effort we had made, to penetrate the sphere, to board it and to fight... things got worse after that. Because of that, more like - the Heralds struck back in full force because M'Tara fell. One Iconian dead in exchange for tens of thousands lost on our side - and worse yet to come. The only positive I could find in the whole experience was, well... there were two, and they weren't much. The Elachi and Herald raids on Romulan territory became less intensive. After all, they were attacking everywhere openly now, so the galaxy was a big place even for them. Plus, the Romulans started having success deactivating the gateways around that time, so it narrowed the Iconians' options. The other positive was when we found Spera was onboard the Sphere, and brought her back with us. She was so angry about what we'd done to M'Tara. She had made some sort of breakthrough with the Iconians, and had a lot to tell us. You can imagine the Admiral was just a little relieved to have her back.

"But the rest of us had all lost someone. There were so many destroyed ships. The entire Thirteenth Fleet was wiped out. Our old friend Fleet Admiral Kells was among the lost. There weren't many survivors. The Klingons lost two fleets' worth of ships. That doesn't sound like much until you factor in that some of those ships were hundreds of years old, refit and rebuilt dozens of times, only to be destroyed. The day's losses hurt on a personal level, too. I... was informed that Cam's ship, the _Perseus_ , had been lost with all hands, destroyed in combat that day. The captain felt awful for having to tell me, but I appreciated it." _[Bianca takes a deep breath, calming herself.]_ "I hadn't spoken to Cam again since we broke up, when we'd agreed to be friends. I realized there was little point in trying, since we had nothing more to say to each other. I talked to Counselor Derret about it, about M'Tara, about a lot of things. It was the Admiral's suggestion, but I have to be honest. I can talk a lot and not actually say much. It's a skill I learned fairly early in life - having Aurora for a sister means you can't just sit there silently without hurting her feelings. You have to say something. Doesn't mean you say anything, but you still talk, if you know what I mean. So that's what I did with the counselor. Just a lot of smokescreen talk about duty and meaning. She tried to re-direct, work around me, but... I didn't want to talk, so I kept it up. I know it frustrated her that I did that, but I just didn't feel like sharing. She's doing her job, listening, but it's not going to change anything, talking to her. Come to think of it, she probably knew what I wasn't saying, because it was on my mind the whole time. And she's a telepath

"It was just after that appointment that the idea for this Memorial project came to me. The stories that my father knew, many of them involved wars, disputes, conflicts - all good stories involve conflict, after all. The Trojan War was three thousand years ago, yet I remember his eyes, full of tears, as he described the aftermath of the fall of the city. There were other stories I knew - some from Shakespeare, others from theatre, some I had just read on my own. But those stories, in order for me to hear them, had to be passed on, re-told, written down, acted out, for future generations to remember. And those stories would inform how they faced their own wars. I wanted the stories - our stories, from this war - to continue, to be cared about, even if the Federation collapses, even if we face total defeat. I didn't want anyone to be forgotten just because they didn't want to share with a counselor. Besides, if Starfleet has one flaw, it's how easy it is for us to forget what happened last week, or a generation ago, because there's so much documented and so little remembered. It's happened before, where conflicts are ignored or brushed aside, like our first war with the Cardassians, or the Earth-Romulan War, lost to memory for various reasons. Sure, some people remember the details, but they're mostly historians, or people with family connections. We get so busy, in the everyday, in our current struggle... and we forget what came before.

"And that's not a good thing. I'm not saying we should have a historic marker in every system we explore or anything like that, but I can remember thinking the Xindi were just a myth until I met one at the Academy. That's because they were, to me. Those stories apparently didn't rate re-telling. I couldn't tell you why - what makes certain stories worth it. We have certain ones, about key events of the Dominion War that get re-told, even a few about less-than-significant events, but they're usually as historically accurate as a Klingon opera. And I admit, I can understand why. There's... something about these battles, on an intergalactic scale. So many people become involved, on so many starships, and it's impossible to place monuments everywhere in space. It's hard to know where to focus, and the names and numbers become the narrative. We all know how many ships were destroyed at Wolf 359, and we all know exactly who destroyed them. But the names of those ships? Or their captains?" _[She shrugs.]_ "Thousands of lives lost in a single warp core breach - and then so are names, stories, feats... erased from history. The survivors, often the victors, are the ones to speak of their experiences, while so many other voices are silent - forever. Those of us who survive suffer twice - first for their losses, and then, in turn, for not honouring their sacrifices, not acknowledging their names, their actions, their choices." _[Bianca pauses for a moment.]_

"I didn't want that for us. I suppose it was a bit selfish of me. I mean, it's not like we shouldn't have one of these on every ship in the Alliance, really. But I wanted for this ship to be remembered. I have served with some of the finest officers Starfleet has ever produced. I look at what Lieutenant Aewon has to suffer through with his pheromone system under constant blockade by injection, just so he can pilot the ship. I look at what the captain's been through, having been assimilated as one officer and having had to re-learn everything, then earning her own command as someone else." _[Bianca begins to blush, staring off into the distance, self-aware of the camera.]_ "She's really the one I'm proudest to have known, I have to admit. Well, and the Admiral, too. Goes without saying - she's amazing. But I would have loved to have known the captain for who she was before the Borg, as the botany specialist that Vice Admiral Downey remembers so fondly. How many other junior officers have we lost fighting the Iconians, whose captains and admirals don't even know their names? I didn't want anyone who serves with us to be forgotten. So I made sure I did what I could so that we'd never forget.

"I should also note this whole Memorial idea exists because I am really, really pessimistic about using temporal weaponry. I'm not talking about chronitons - the proposed action for tomorrow involves us leaving the Kyana system, where we are now, and proceeding with the Krenim starship to attempt to destroy... something, erase it from time, alter the outcomes. The Admiral's been running simulations using some advanced holodeck of theirs, but there is always a 'third rail', an alteration which is unexpected to the whole. This is why the Memorial core is going to be temporally shielded. It's also why Starfleet doesn't typically deal in time travel. It's drilled into us all throughout the Academy. We have a temporal Prime Directive for good reason - although I've heard rumours that our forces in the future will use timeships to preserve the integrity of the Federation's development. I don't know if that's a good idea, now or then - just because this timeline turned out okay doesn't mean it's perfect. We're going to lose something or suffer somehow because we messed with this Krenim technology. Don't ask me what, it's an intuition. But it's going to hurt. We're going to come back from this mission and it'll turn out I was an only child all along." _[She offers a faux-vapid expression.]_ "Aurora? Who is Aurora? But I'm an only child!" _[She laughs, shaking her head.]_ "That'd be my darkest timeline. I know she's crazy, but having been without her the past couple weeks... I don't care what happens next, I'm just glad I got to spend so much time with her over the past two years. I didn't want to forget that, just because we smash the timeline.

The crazy thing is, I like the Krenim that we've worked with, even if I don't trust their technology. They're good scientists, conscientious, responsible. They've been successful enough with temporal mechanics to shield their whole planet from the Iconians, after all. But that's a defensive application, not an offensive one. For us to take this ship of theirs, the _Annorax_ , and try to tailor our timeline to ...I don't even know what they think will happen. That's what the holo-simulations are for. It just feels like we're at the dawn of the atomic age, watching to see what happens next. I don't particularly look forward to having front-row seats for the next Hiroshima, that's all. I just have to hope I'm wrong about this."

"Well. I suppose that's all I want to say. I hope I don't end up being removed from the timeline. The way the Krenim described it, there's no 'undo' button available, no way to reverse the process, just... boom, and onward. I'm almost tempted to place myself into a personal shield that's modified to protect me from the timeline changes, just to see if anything changes. I just have this terrible feeling about what happens next. Just have to hope for the best, I suppose. We'll see soon enough." _[She pauses for a moment.]_ "Thank you, whoever you are, for sitting through all of this. I hope you found our recordings to be worth your attention. Goodbye."

 _[She gets up, and turns off the recording.]_

* * *

 _[Interior shot, fairly close upon the interior of a crib. Directly below the recording device, a two-month-old baby girl, skin in blotchy shades of blue and pink, with a soft down of shimmering flaxen hair around two yet-dormant antennae affixed to her skull, is looking up at her world. This is Nadezhda Hewson-Ellington. Her sparkling blue eyes alternate their focus between her mother, Doctor Kim Hewson, who is making quiet, breathy noises but is not visible in the frame, the lens of the recording device, and various other points of interest - on the adjacent wall, within the crib, and so forth. She continually makes eye contact with a plush blue dolphin no bigger than her which has its dorsal fin tucked into a corner of the crib. Her tiny hands are nestled into fists upon her chest, and she occasionally raises one or both in a grasping motion, or just in a miniature fist. She wears a onesie in solid eggplant-purple colour, with neon green cuffs and feet. She lays upon a bright yellow blanket, which her motions have succeeded in partially pulling over one leg. She rolls about from side to side, looking around, cooing and gasping on occasion, softly making a sort of mumbling hum from time to time. Eventually, the blanket falls away beneath her leg again. After a few minutes of this, the voice of Doctor Shirley Ellington can be heard in the background.]_

"Still in there, Kim?"

 _[A footfall can be heard, and after a moment, a dark-skinned hand comes into the frame, unmistakably the skilled hand of the_ Warspite _'s chief medical officer. She brushes the baby along the forehead. This makes the baby close her eyes and hum, happily aware of how much she is loved by these two women, her parents. Doc's whispered voice can be heard clearly.]_

"I didn't realize you were still recording."

 _[Another voice, that of Kim Hewson, softly hushes her wife's chatter. The recording device continues to take in the view of the small crib's surface, as the baby squeals, twitters and hums. This lasts for several minutes longer, before Kim adds a voice-over to Nadya's continued playing and noise-making.]_

"I don't think this is what we were expected to record, but I don't care. There is nothing more important in my life right now than you, Nadya. The past year of my life - of our life together, carrying you, bringing you into this world, all of it has been so much richer because of you. I never want you to forget how much we love you, little one. Whatever happens between now and the last day of this war, your mother and I simply adore you, and we always will. You've brought a sweetness, a happiness, into our lives that we would never otherwise have known. Our family is something we're both so very proud to be a part of, and no matter what comes next, we can't wait to see what becomes of you. You are loved, so loved, our darling girl, with all of our hearts. Don't ever doubt that. We love you so much. Don't... ever... doubt."

 _[The recording continues, without narration, for another few minutes. No footfall can be heard, implying that neither parent leaves the room, silently observing their beloved daughter throughout. There is a shuffling noise off-camera, as the two of them embrace beside the crib. At one point, Nadya tilts her head to one side and spits up, cream-coloured vomit on the bright yellow blanket, just catching the sleeve of her onesie. A second blanket, this one less plush with a striped pattern, enters from the side after a further noise of off-camera fumbling, cleaning things up before retreating. After a few minutes longer, Nadya begins to fuss, and a pair of hands - the same ones that cleaned the spit-up, those of Kim - enter the frame and scoop the baby out of sight. The recording ceases soon thereafter.]_


	96. Part VI, Chapter 11

_[Interior shot, Federation shuttlecraft. The stardate can be read as 99612.9 in the corner of the screen. The aft starboard section of the shuttle which is visible is fairly well-lit, the edge of a console barely visible, its thin bulkhead linking to the edge of a foldable seating bench. After a moment, Spera comes in from right, and sits down on the bench, her back against both bulkheads of the corner. She wears the black-and-purple uniform of an intelligence officer, and the Starfleet rank of commander. This rank is no longer provisional, it seems. Her antennae flicker about for a moment, and she chews on the edge of a fingernail, nervously.]_

"Guess it's my turn."

 _[She looks away from the camera for a moment.]_

"How much time do I have?" _[There is a reply from a gruff voice off-camera.]_ "That's it? Okay. Just come get me when it's time, okay?" _[She looks back into the camera and curls into herself, tucking her feet under the opposite leg and putting her elbows on her knees.]_ "I better talk quickly.

"This all started one night when I was asleep. I was abducted from the starship _Olympia_ by the Solanae. I wonder what would've happened to me if I'd stayed onboard. As it was, _Olympia_ was lost just a few days later, in the Battle of the Azure Nebula. I would've been onboard if they hadn't abducted me. Instead, I woke up in a Solanae examination room. I recognized it - I mean, how could I not? They've been my worst nightmare for so long. I could hear the clicking of their hands and tools, and I could sense them, through my antennae. That was what made me aware - I had been unconscious, asleep, when I came through, so waking up and hearing that sound... God." _[Spera visibly shudders.]_

"I knew better than to scream. I wanted to - I almost did - but I knew better. I had heard, when I was younger, that they just kill you outright if you scream. If you have any ability to resist, it's your best bet because they don't defend themselves, usually. They'll be more likely to send you back if you're aggressive. I don't know if that's true, but I waited for my moment to surprise one of them. That was when M'Tara approached. It was the first time I had seen an Iconian up close - I'd heard all about them, as you can imagine. I'd seen them in holodeck simulations, and studied them intensely, but the simulations don't do justice to seeing, experiencing an energy being like that, up close. And that voice - I heard her voice then, for the first time, telling me to follow her out of the room, 'to meet the Whole', as she put it. My first thought was that they were trying to... y'know, bond with me or something. Thankfully I was wrong. Sort of wrong. It's confusing.

"You see, the eleven surviving Iconians... they're all family. Or at least, they all speak of each other that way, as sisters. I don't know how they recognized me, but they said that they couldn't be as one without me. Not sure I understand exactly what that means. And they really didn't explain it. But M'Tara and L'Miren were comfortable with my being there. No, I should rephrase - they told me, they took comfort from my being there. I asked them how they knew me, and they told me that I had, in a time before, stood with the Other, but then against the Other." _[Spera pauses for a moment, then chuckled.]_ "Yeah, I know, right? There's no way I could've - I still don't get it. But everything was cryptic with them - at least, when they felt the need to tell me something. I could've left any time I wanted. There were gateway access points all over the sphere we were on, the one I later learned the Alliance designated the Herald sphere. But I felt compelled to use my being there as an opportunity, to learn as much about them as I could. It wasn't easy, but..."

 _[Spera pauses for a long moment, thinking, then shakes her head slightly.]_ "I think the easiest way to explain it is that I thought that might make a difference. The right kind of difference - like I did coming back in time. They said they wanted me there - so I stayed. I figured that if I could talk to them, get to know them, learn from them... then maybe I could help them find a way out of their problem. Y'know, the one they seem to have with us, the reason they're fighting us. Shreya used to do this with me all the time - when I was younger, she'd have me talk through all of my options and explain to her which I thought were impossible, or unthinkable, or even just plain wrong. That helped me realize what I really wanted.

"So I tried to do the same thing for them. And maybe that would show them that, I don't know, that there are other voices worth listening to in the galaxy. But those voices, wow, they hurt. It wasn't easy - they sort of speak to you in your mind, not your ears. Getting used to that took a while. They were really anxious because the Solanae were suddenly forced back into subspace - they all just vanished right from where they'd been on the sphere! L'Miren and the rest hadn't expected it, but at the same time, maybe they were just trying not to let me know they'd even noticed. It was just like, bam, no more Solanae. Oh well. Let's move on.

"It was fascinating to watch how they worked - I learned a lot. Like how the Vaadwaur were proving difficult to control even before _Voyager_ had severed their leadership from Bluegill control. Gaul was becoming relentlessly ambitious about his Supremacy, and began demanding more and more from them. I told them, I'd been on _Voyager_ , I'd seen what the Vaadwaur's demands looked like, up close, but she didn't care about the impact of their actions. They knew each species so well, knew their weaknesses, how to exploit them. I asked L'Miren at one point if Gaul and Hakeev had been similar in her eyes, and she said they both "mistook a god's attentions for the real power with which they could never truly be trusted'. They don't really like doing it - it's sort of like lowering themselves, to have to rely upon us lesser beings. Romulan, Vaadwaur, Solanae, Elachi... just tools to be exploited. It's a matter of necessity rather than a desirable arrangement, like battlefield surgery - no sterile fields, just whatever's on hand, get the job done. That being said, I got the sense that L'Miren finds the Elachi to be very efficient in gathering the intelligence the Iconians require, but finds their methods abhorrent, especially, y'know... how they turn you into food."

 _[There is another pause.]_ "Oh, I want to make clear - I have no loyalty to any of the Iconians, I don't have any loyalties except to the Alliance, and I haven't been secretly indoctrinated by them during my time with them, or anything like that. When Shreya and the others showed up on the Sphere, I went back willingly and right away. With M'Tara dead, it wouldn't have been safe to stay. Doc checked me over and cleared me to return to duty, mentioned something about Stockholm, but... I'm fine. I'm still me. Don't be thinking that I've gone over to the other side. Like I said before, I had a chance to get to understand these people, and since they're fighting us, that's important to know. That sort of understanding serves as a powerful weapon, in the right hands. That was why I tried to understand them. That was why I stayed.

"I was surprised at how each of them has a definite personality and a self, even though they're all constantly linked to each other. L'Miren was certainly the most open of them. Others, like T'Ket, I wasn't given an opportunity to know. Never will be, now that M'Tara is dead. She was unique, even given how each of her sisters is so different. She looked different, stood a little taller, was unquestionably their leader. After she lost her arm, she was somehow brighter, but I didn't dare remark upon it. I still found her beautiful to look at - I found them all that way, they're composed of pure energy, and they radiate... they glisten. And among them, M'Tara was the moderate voice between L'Miren and T'Ket. L'Miren explained that T'Ket has never really forgiven us for attacking them. I said, no, it wasn't us. Nobody from Earth or Andoria or New Romulus had even developed interstellar travel at that point. We hadn't seen an Iconian before M'Tara appeared on Qo'noS, let alone killed any of them. She told me I was wrong. She told me she had known us all, known us all along. And she told me something I know we've always suspected to be true - that the Iconians used to be far less infused with their technology, that their bodies and minds were once of a different form. They evolved, developed over hundreds of thousands of years, becoming the beings of pure energy they are... all in the pursuit of their rightful place. And it was because of us.

"But that was a different time, I said. In their rightful place, a galaxy's worth of civilization had grown instead. M'Tara used the metaphor of an abandoned building overrun with vermin, but I said that all the vermin I'd ever dealt with had run away and fled before my approach in fear, without resistance, without any effort to fight back. I think this gave her a bit of pause, and then L'Miren pointed out that vermin would not concentrate their strength in their resistance, either. Several of the sisters agreed with me, I could feel it. But T'Ket still refused to acknowledge me. Not just ignore my point - she ignored that I was there at all."

 _[Spera raises a hand for a moment.]_ "I should - sorry, I should explain. They were always in contact with each other, and they could choose to speak to me if they wanted. If they didn't, as T'Ket certainly didn't, then I wouldn't hear their voices at all. It'd be like being in a crowded room and carrying on a private conversation with someone on the other side. L'Miren explained it like a subspace relay network, if each relay connected minds, not just words and images - they can be on the far side of the universe and be connected to each other telepathically. That's a key part of their gateway network - it carries their consciousness to each other. But that's only for casual conversation. If there is a matter to be settled, all appear, in a sort of circle, and sort it out. They can do this anywhere they want to manifest themselves. It's extraordinary. If we had that kind of capability we wouldn't need starships or comms or... or even certain types of sensors. I can still speak to them now, if I want. I don't think they're likely to listen, though. But they might - which is why I have to be careful not to let myself even try while we're in the Kyana system. They find out I'm here and it'd bring a swarm of Heralds down on us and ruin the whole Krenim project. So it means I keep my mind to myself. Also means I don't really get much sleep. They have to monitor me - I can't risk subconsciously contacting them. But anyway.

"Their method of communicating was certainly difficult to learn. But they know me now as well as anyone ever had. And I felt, after a few days, that I was getting to know those of them who wanted me to. It was important. There were long-standing arguments, some of them millennia in the making and still ongoing, that I overheard. Even settled one, between L'Miren and her sister V'Lar, a question of temporal mechanics and the universe's overall structure. I mean, obviously I knew a thing or two, since I had a lot to learn in order to travel back in time successfully, but these were things I'd read in my Stellar Cartography refresher course, the ones Admiral Slutskaya had just finished testing me about. I just want to point out that these are official now." _[She points to her rank pips.]_ "I'm actually in Starfleet now, for real. It's kind of exciting for me, even if I am suspended from duty at the moment. Still, they haven't stripped the rank from me yet or anything - they'd need a court-martial to do that, and they'd need to find me first. Didn't come back to this time period just to be confined to quarters. Never mind.

"I should point out, the Iconians were fascinated by me for a while there. L'Miren had so many questions for me about time, about the nature of time, about traveling back in time, about the wormhole aliens the Bajorans call the Prophets. I tried to be guarded in my response, but she was right there in my mind with me. I'm sure I made a few mistakes and told her too much, but I don't know if that was such a bad thing. She could see for herself, from my memories, just how hard the Iconians had hit us, how much of our lives consisted of... well, of behaving like vermin - scuttling away at the first sign of danger, living a desperate existence in the shadows... I asked her, once, what she thought of it, and her reply... it wasn't complete, it was like what I would think a whisper might sound like from such a voice. She said my memories proved their final victory was soon in coming, and that those days would return. Hard to say how I knew she didn't mean it, but somehow I could tell. There was no confidence in her words.

"I think that was really the most unexpected thing I learned. I mean, it hardly comes as a surprise - they're scared of us, we're scared of them. Same as any number of beings, right? It's why Starfleet has first-contact procedures. And I tried to adhere to those where I could, tried to serve as a sort of 'outreach' liaison from the 'insects' they were trying to exterminate. I don't know how successful I was. In fact, I know I didn't change anything. The moment M'Tara died, she used the last of her power to draw L'Miren and T'Ket to her side. I could tell how hard L'Miren took her sister's death. If I had a sister I wouldn't be able to stand it either, but these people thought they were immortal, all-powerful, invincible. And then they watch as a strike team from the Warspite - one led by my shreya, in fact - takes down one of their invincible sisters. I wish I'd found out they'd boarded the Sphere. I might've been able to talk Shreya out of going through with the mission. I don't know how, but I could've done something. Maybe I could've saved her... I don't know." _[Spera's voice trails off for a moment as her emotions overtake her.]_

"Sorry." _[Spera takes a moment to collect herself.]_ "Feels kind of strange to be so emotional about one dead Iconian, when there are millions dead because of them. Shreya always used to tell me not to regret what I couldn't do - just focus on what I can do next. Unfortunately, that's just what I did. And now I'm suspended from duty. Got myself in a lot of trouble. Counselor Derret questioned me pretty thoroughly about it. I don't think they can understand my feelings. They didn't experience what I did, on the Sphere. That's why I was so angry. I just let my anger get the best of me. I don't regret what I did - as far as I'm concerned, they should relieve Kagran of his command immediately for thinking that stupid mission was necessary, let alone a good idea. Millions of people are dead because he wanted to take the initiative instead. And now the Iconians are angry - and the Heralds are striking harder than ever - all for the sake of this stupid Krenim weapon of theirs." _[Spera pauses again, then laughs to herself.]_ "I didn't know I could knock down a Klingon with one punch. Me. Would've knocked down Tom Paris, too, if Shreya hadn't held me back. That, I would've apologized for, because Captain Paris is a good man, a good leader. I read the report of what his team was able to do in the Calbriden system - they did very well for such a small strike force. And to be honest, he was just kind of there - but my God, Kagran deserved it, and I'd have hit him harder if I could. I had been working so hard just to get through to the Iconians, reason with them, and all of what I tried to do died with M'Tara. And now - look. We're just getting our asses kicked all over the damn galaxy. All because they had to act like such... such damned Klingons about this." _[Spera grits her teeth.]_ "I'm sorry, it just makes me so mad.

"I really had to try to get through to M'Tara, too, that's the worst part. M'Tara was a hard one to get to know, but I knew her well enough to believe that she could be reasoned with - and L'Miren was usually the one to do the reasoning, too. Not anymore. The anger... the fury in L'Miren's voice that day, nobody else heard it like I did, because they didn't feel it in here." _[She taps her head.]_ "She sounded like T'Ket. It was like something I hadn't expected to hear. And to think that M'Tara was trying to be the arbiter, was trying to temper T'Ket's rage with L'Miren's rationality. Gone now. Now it's all fury. Now L'Miren hates us more than T'Ket ever did. And we're the ones who made it that way. Whatever we get out of bringing M'Tara down... it's going to be our own fault. They're already making us pay for it. We've lost hundreds of ships, at least forty-seven worlds, all in the week since we killed M'Tara. It's awful.

"I talked to Shreya about what I did. She thanked me, actually - said she's been wanting to slug Kagran like that - for weeks. I can't blame her. She's ten times more qualified than Kagran. Why the hell does he qualify as overall commander anyway? Just because Admiral Quinn thinks he's something special? Or what? It's ridiculous. He doesn't know what he's doing - and if this Krenim weapon doesn't pay off in a big way tomorrow, we're all doomed. They've put all their hopes on these Krenim. The Alliance went way out of their way to try to find them, and now that they're not down in their temporal hidey-hole, they're all we have left. And now, we're just going to alter the timeline until the Iconians aren't a threat anymore. Well, okay, then. What else do we lose in the deal? These sorts of moves are, seriously, first-year stuff. I should know, I still have my course notes - I only wrote them up last week. God. We have a temporal Prime Directive for a reason, morons."

 _[Spera sits in stunned silence for a moment, suddenly becoming agitated, outraged.]_ "But you'll notice -" _[She points at the camera intently for a moment.]_ " - that now, this is the only vulnerability the Iconians have that anyone's going to go looking for any longer. We have our solution, after all, and it's the mighty _Annorax_! The Krenim, they gave us a gun. So we nursed that gun in our back pocket, and poked the Iconians in the eye, to keep them from seeing the gun. Now we're getting beaten to death, so, now we're going to draw this gun on them - and we hit them first time, or we're dead." _[Spera laughs desperately.]_ "What makes them think it'll shoot straight? What makes them think they know how to use it? Or that the last shot they'll get will mean anything? We've thrown away half the Alliance fleet just to get into this position. So we've got no other option. We either use the Krenim ship and hope for the best or we let the Heralds destroy each of us. It's the worst of both worlds.

"I don't understand all the strategic and operational angles, I admit. I haven't been back long enough to actually review and find out if I'm right about this, but I'm really beginning to resent the Krenim. Kagran and Nog have such... such blind faith in them, and I'm not so sure it's justified. They could've used this weapon to stop the Vaadwaur - why didn't they? And now that we have, what makes them so sure they'll win the war for us? I'd almost rather we hadn't. If the Krenim had just... remained in their precious half-second out of sync with the rest of the universe... a lot of people would still be alive. I know, I was there, I was among the Iconians, reasoning with them. Or trying to, anyway.

"Now whatever good I could've done - who knows? I could've... maybe could've talked M'Tara into a compromise. Or maybe not - I don't know. But I was getting through, dammit. More than Kagran ever managed with his frontal assault. I had their attention. I might be the only sentient being other than themselves who they've ever listened to, for all we know. And we threw that away just so we could... what, sing a few songs over blood wine about the slaying of the tyrant creature? God, I hate Klingons. Their every instinct is wrong. This isn't their war to fight alone. Damn it!" _[She brings her fist down, frustrated, onto the bench in which she is seated.]_

 _[She then holds up her fist and looks at it.]_ "We're not going to succeed through force of arms. Simple as that. We have to stop approaching this with phasers drawn, and look for outreach, look for ...another way. It might not end with victory, but it has to end with us - even just with some of us - still alive. There is something... vulnerable about the Iconians. Not just chronitons, either. We have to reach out to them. I know I can. But no one will listen to me now. Not the Iconians, certainly not Kagran... not even Shreya. And I'm stuck out here with no chance - with no chance of changing anything. They want to take me to stand trial, but she won't let them. So, here I am, back the way I came, aboard _Hypatia_. Cloak's up, katheka's stocked. I could stay here till doomsday at this rate." _[She chuckles.]_ "Helps that it won't be long until then.

"Only Shreya and Pal know I'm here, and neither of them are telling Kagran. It was Shreya's idea, actually, for me to hide out here in the shuttle. I tried to tell her, how to get in touch with them, how to negotiate with them, everything I learned from them... but she just doesn't want to hear it. She's angry with them - angry with herself, too. I can totally understand. But we had a chance - one might call it a fighting chance - to end this war for good, the right way, the Starfleet way. It was the way I was brought up believing in, and I don't intend to stop fighting for that now. I just don't know how to do that quite yet."

 _[She shrugs.]_ "It's funny, you know. Or it would be... if it ended like this, after what I did, after what I used this shuttlecraft to do, in order to get here. I've taken the precaution of enabling my temporal shielding, and set the exterior sensors to monitor for incoming shifts in the timeline. Hopefully that'll give me enough of an opportunity to get ahead of any changes, reverse whatever damage they've done. Because I'm convinced this Krenim weapon will do nothing but damage - hideous, irreversible damage, not only to the Iconians but to us. And I may not be able to help any of my friends, or Shreya, or anyone else... but then I just... pick up where I left off, ask the Prophets for a do-over, and start all over again. I always knew I might need more than one try to change things completely." _[Pause. Spera shakes her head, then laughs.]_ "Maybe we have to just call this a dress rehearsal. I don't know. Guess we'll see soon enough."

 _[She looks up, off-camera.]_ "I would really be glad to have you come back with me, this time." _[There is no response.]_ "You'd get to meet yourself - remember? You were there with Dad and Shreya when I first turned up." _[No audible response is given, but clearly Spera has received a negative reply.]_ "Fine. Y'know, you weren't always this grumpy. You used to be a much better babysitter when I was younger." _[The silence continues.]_ "Maybe that comes to Jem'Hadar as they age - their parental side comes out." _[Spera smiles and winks at the camera.]_ "Alright, fine. Here." _[She reaches out to the recording device and her palm obscures the view. The sound is briefly muffled.]_ " - back to _Warspite_ , you know what to do with it. Is it still recording? Oh, f-" _[The recording ends abruptly.]_

* * *

 _[Interior shot, a desk facing away from a window full of stars streaking by, indicating a starship at warp speed. The desk is familiar from a previous record, as is the rest of the room. Indeed, the chronometer on the display reads 99613.3, some time earlier than the previous entry from this location. Into the frame steps Octavia, as before, yet according to the recording device's chronometer, this footage was recorded at an earlier time than the other. Octavia brushes the hair from her eyes, places her hands in her lap and stares intently. Her ocular implant adjusts slightly, with a slight whirring noise.]_

"Eight of Twelve. Rank of captain, commanding USS _Warspite_ , Eleventh Fleet, Starfleet, United Federation of Planets." _[Pause.]_ "My input has been requested by chief science officer Bianca duBois, for the purpose of creating a temporally-shielded computer core to be known as Memorial. She has requested my candid, sincere opinion and personal reminiscences of the recent conflict to be contained therein. It is for this purpose which I am currently addressing this holo-recording device." [Octavia pauses again.] "I had given some consideration to how best to proceed in this fashion. My initial intention involved stating for definitive fact the events and proceedings in which the starship under my command, USS _Warspite_ , was involved in conflict with the Iconians. [Another pause.] However, as Commander duBois was specific in requesting that I be 'candid', I should like to offer remarks upon an individual to whom I have only recently been introduced, yet who has proven to be an important friend. I speak of Vice Admiral Emlyn Downey, commanding Fifty-First Independent Cruiser Squadron.

"I should begin by recounting that I am currently unable to ascertain any particular memory or recollection of my life prior to becoming Borg. It is... frequently asked of me, if I would pursue any means by which my memory might be restored. I would view such an initiative, if undertaken, with some anxiety. I am aware that my former identity as Lieutenant junior-grade Mallory Jermyn held a specialization in exobotany and colonial agriculture. These are topics upon which I have next to no subject knowledge at present. Furthermore, I would in no way wish for my present assignment to be jeopardized. I was told, during my recovery, that I would have to adapt to my current identity. And so I have. My interest in maintaining a small garden in the arboretum, as well as in my quarters, has limited bearing upon my personality. I often clarify for people that the garden is in memory of my past self, not an echo of that self in my present form.

"Nevertheless, it came as some surprise for Vice Admiral Downey to discover that I had selected roses, and that I had adapted nano-probes to their particular, delicate needs. She came to discover this as a result of a visit she paid me six days ago, while we were in the Kyana system awaiting the commencement of the fleet's strike operation against the Herald Sphere. Apparently my former identity was renowned for the quality and colour of her strains of rose, and had regularly taken part in floral shows and competitions. I confessed to the vice-admiral that I found the concept of competing based upon the outcome of a holistic process to be unpleasant. She took offense to the idea, and told me that my roses would be inadmissible due to, in her words, their being a 'collective of roses more than a garden'. I requested that she clarify the remark, but her response was simply, 'never mind'.

"Our initial contact continued in much this vein until she clarified, at length, her feelings towards me. I believe it would be an adequate descriptor to state that she lost her temper." _[Octavia arches an eyebrow.]_ "To briefly summarize our next hour of conversation, she claimed that her frustrations originated from my assimilation. She felt an immense regret that I could still be alive and yet not be the Mallory Jermyn whom she knew so well. I offered an apology, yet from her reaction I discerned an increase in frustration. Namely, she swore repeatedly about the Borg, and became angry with herself for permitting my assimilation to occur. It was a peculiar reaction, since the Borg had not sought her permission in advance of my assimilation. While my first impulse was to apologize, having seen how unsuccessful I had been in that regard, I felt a stronger indication of my appreciation for her sentiment was in order. This was the reason I placed my arms around her and kissed her, with medium pressure, upon the lips.

"Once again, it seemed I had miscalculated. The vice-admiral asked why I had chosen this course of action. My explanation, that I wanted to reciprocate the depth with which she cared for me, was also insufficient. The vice-admiral stated, 'I can't believe you did that', and explained that the present romantic relationship in which she is involved precludes her from reciprocating my feelings. Rather than apologize again, as I had intended to mirror her sentiments rather than express any of my own, I instead stated a course of action - namely, apologizing - which I felt to have a stronger potential for success. I have often found, with Admiral Sh'abbas, that stating my intentions in advance permits her to review my orders prior to my issuing them, in order to be assured that _Warspite_ will respond as she expects. This I sought to do in the arboretum as well, though Vice Admiral Downey is not a direct superior of mine. Had she been, my earlier embracing of her would have been thoroughly unprofessional to attempt.

"The course of action I recommended to the vice-admiral was to begin by apologizing for misjudging the situation, followed by perhaps a less forthright attempt at human affection, perhaps a hug or a holding of hands. She sought to clarify my feelings - in fact, she stated her surprise that I could, and I quote, 'kiss me like that without feeling anything'. I apologized, stating that my emotional responses to situations are severely limited and easily controllable, that my expressions of sentiment are intended for the good of the perception of others, and are usually undertaken based upon an algorithmic series of heuristic interpretations - the fact of her overwhelming negative response to being kissed meant I would not attempt to do so again, for example. I had hoped this explanation, in detail, would provide reassurance. Once again, I encountered failure. The vice-admiral began to cry, and held a hand out to me, asking me to stop.

"That was the end of our first encounter. Though puzzled, my presence was requested upon the bridge shortly thereafter, prohibiting any attempt at further clarification. I had to leave the vice-admiral alone there as a result, and I understand she returned to her flagship some time later. In conversation with Counselor Derret on the subject later that day, I came to understand how my response to the situation - what she called my 'instincts', though I would dispute the term - may have been based upon the wrong heuristic. The counselor explained it thusly - Vice Admiral Downey underestimated the extent to which I am Borg, and I underestimated the extent to which she is human. Her sentiments, especially her guilt over my assimilation, worked against the efficiency with which I sought to assist her in controlling those sentiments and improving herself. This, Counselor Derret reminded me, is not the typical way of sentient beings. I returned to my regeneration chamber after completing my watch and commenced the re-writing of my 'sentiment' response series to adapt to the events of the day.

"To my surprise, this regeneration was interrupted three hours later by Vice Admiral Downey, who had returned to my ready room in person. We were due to depart in four hours' time, so it was an unexpected pleasure to see her aboard _Warspite_ , yet she had specifically transported aboard to see me in person. I checked the ship's chronometer and found it was oh-four-seventeen. I reminded the vice-admiral that organic beings such as herself typically require an appropriate quantity of rapid-eye-movement sleep in advance of a battle, but she advised me that she had always been the anxious sort. She wondered for a moment if I remembered, but of course, I did not. It was then that she related to me a brief history of her friendship with Mallory Jermyn. At several points in the narrative, she either noted the peculiarity of needing to explain things to me, or requested of me whether I could recall the events in question. I found that responding with a smile was sufficient when this occurred, and her narrative would then proceed.

"The vice-admiral grew up in a neighbourhood in Melbourne where there were several children, one of whom was Mallory Jermyn. The two of them spent many days in their childhood together, attending the same schools, participating in the same sports, and the like. Her recollections tended to center around these two streams of activity, either referring to teachers, and classmates or teammates of the same or similar age. There were references to individuals whose names and service records were unknown to me, and thus the narrative only held a meaning within its own context. There were trips which she and Mallory Jermyn had ventured upon, to increasingly further places - multiple sites on Earth, then Luna, Mars, Ganymede, Triton, and eventually Vulcan, Andoria, Betazed and, memorably for the vice-admiral, our Academy graduation trip to Risa. She also had fond recollections of our visit to Jupiter Station, as part of a class she and Mallory undertook in Advanced Astrometrics."

 _[Octavia's recitation suddenly comes to a stop. She seems frozen in place for a moment, then her eye closes for a moment. The on-screen chronometer now reads stardate 99613.4. Once it opens again, she seems slightly embarrassed, if it is possible for her to express that feeling, and her voice sounds slightly strained.]_

"I no longer wish to continue this recording. To speak of these events in this fashion - is irrelevant. The life of Mallory Jermyn holds only sentimental value, both to myself and to the vice-admiral. As such, I deem it inadmissible for inclusion in the Memorial archive. It would be more appropriate to chronicle the remembrance of those whose lives have been lost in this conflict. They, as a whole, are far more deserving of memorial. I apologize for my... excessive candor. I shall ask the commander to delete this entry, and will attempt a second recording momentarily."

 _[Octavia reaches out for the recording device, then the lens sharply turns to the surface of the table and the recording ends.]_


	97. Part VI, Chapter 12

_[Interior shot, Tw'eak's quarters, yet again. The display chronometer reads stardate 99612.1. Tw'eak herself is seated as before, legs crossed, cup of katheka slowly being returned to the short table in front of her. Once more, the recording has automatically resumed.]_

"I better make this quick - we're almost in the Kyana system now, and I promised Bianca I'd be done before we got there. Then I got busy with everything else, and here it is the next morning already. Look, let me just list - I don't want to leave anyone out - let me do a little ...free association based upon what I can remember, as they come to mind. I know I'll just be throwing out starship names, not the names of those who served aboard them. It's the best I can do. I'm sure there will be more detailed sensor logs and reports in the memory core, but... well.

"There was the warbird _D'Tiralius_ , I think it was called, which rammed an Iconian cruiser intentionally, detonating its singularity core to allow a convoy of refugees to escape Dorcal V. The starship _Kinshasa_ , Excelsior class, one of the finest old ships left in the fleet. I watched it on long-range sensors, in its death throes, as it ejected its warp core deliberately into the path of a Herald ship that was moving past it on a pursuit course. The core's explosion doomed Kinshasa but damaged and slowed the Herald ship - one last act of defiance worthy of remembering. There are so many starships I could list, many of them escorts of various types - the _Courageous_ , the _Boudicca_ , the _Crocodile_ , the _Tomahawk_ , the _Lightning_ , the _Harrier_ , the _Shi'Kahr_ , and unforgettably, the Miranda-class USS _Rogers_ \- each of which I wanted to note that I watched ram themselves willingly into Herald ships when their weapons or shields failed.

"I myself watched two ships of my former task force, the _Swiftsure_ and the _Scorpion_ , be destroyed by Herald raiders. I'm sorry to say that of my old task force, only the _Polaris_ and _Turing_ still survive. Besides _Warspite_ , of course. This old ship..." _[Tw'eak looks around.]_ "Barely three years old and it's had one major refit, six minor repair stopovers, and only Aurora knows how much maintenance. You get accustomed to it, being onboard a ship like this. I hope we never lose her - it'd be sad to see our home destroyed. So many other people's homes have been lost in this war already. "So many starships, Uzaveh help me - the _Valley Forge_. The _Garrett_. The _Magnificent_. The _Quiberon_. And the _Peleliu_. We lost _Peleliu_ , it was one of the troop transports we escorted to the Herald Sphere. The other was the starship _Fearless_. Neither of them made it back. Thankfully, the other three starships did, although the crew of the _Clemenceau_ had to abandon ship almost as soon as they crossed through the gateway.

"Aboard the sphere itself, we lost seven thousand people - Klingons, Romulans, Starfleet, all other races you can imagine - Gorn, Remans, Orions, Nausicaans... it was horrendous. I wish I had a better memory for Klingon, or for the names of the countless warbirds I watched tear themselves apart as their singularity cores went critical. Not just on that day, over the whole period, and I'm sorry I don't give them their due in all of this. But we had our task - we had M'Tara pinned, and we slowly bled her to death. It was incredibly difficult to do, and nearly all of the landing parties suffered heavy casualties. To say nothing of the sheer number of starships we lost in total. I don't remember the official number, but it was well into the hundreds. It was awful to read the names. We've set up a display, in the common areas, listing the dead and injured from the ships we lose. That day it could only list ship names. There were just that many."

 _[Tw'eak stares off into the distance.]_ "One of them was the USS _Armstrong_. Birmal Dazz's ship. We crossed into the rift, and they didn't follow. I haven't heard from her - but if she's alive out there, somehow, I know I will." _[There is a pause. Tw'eak looks downward.]_

"I don't want to be on the record as saying that I disagreed with the operation. It's easy to say that now, because we didn't pull it off. But I have to say, I didn't like Captain Kagran's plan from the start." _[Her eyes return to looking directly at the recording device.]_ "To draw all those starships away from local defense or escort duty for a single massive strike mission... if it'd worked, I suppose we'd call it a gamble that won the war. As it is now, after we've counted the cost... one dead Iconian seems little consolation. And now, how many other ships have been lost since then? The Heralds are coming at us harder than ever because we dared to strike down one of their gods. We've lost at least twenty systems in the past week. We just don't have anything left to throw at them.

"I should mention that we found Spera during our time aboard the Herald Sphere. Or rather, she found us. She was offended - if that's strong enough a word for it - at our having killed M'Tara. At the time, I argued with her about it. After all, I'd seen what Captain Paris and the others had gone through to try to make the best of this plan, how many people we'd lost to bring down M'Tara - it had been an enormous sacrifice to reach that point. We would've lost Pal and Bianca both if Tlhosh hadn't been there to pull them out of the fire. As it was, it was too close - the gateways had a horrible effect on me in close combat, and I know they almost killed Bianca. We had to beam them both out, medical evac. As it was, the tactical officer who replaced Pal on the mission, Lieutenant dos Santos, was killed in action that day. He did a good job." _[Tw'eak smiles.]_ "He was a good kid. Just like the twenty-three other people we lost that day from this ship.

"It's hard to talk about, y'know - because we know he died for nothing. dos Santos was killed in the line of duty, but nothing was gained by losing him. He was doing exactly what I would've done as a young lieutenant - protecting the flag officers by distracting the primary target, drawing fire. It makes a big difference who you do that against, I guess. When I made those sorts of moves on missions, it was against Orion raiders, Borg drones, True Way. It's standard tactical procedure. But against an Iconian... I don't know if we have anything strong enough. Maybe throwing shuttlecraft at them. I don't know. Even then, probably not - they'd just open a gateway and goodbye shuttlecraft.

"They're so powerful that we're no longer relying upon conventional arms. We can't - there's no point, and even if there was, we don't have enough guns to prevail in a straight-up fight. So instead we're relying upon the mighty _Annorax_ to win this war for us. _[Tw'eak pauses, her unease with the situation visible in the angle of her antennae. Her tone becomes clipped.]_ I've met with all the Krenim, their people... I have to admit I'm uneasy about our next mission. Captain Nog is going to pilot their timeship, the _Annorax_ , to a pre-determined point in time and space where their temporal incursion monitors can track the pattern of the timelines and make a significant impact. We're looking for something that makes the right kind of impact, too. It's not enough to just make the Iconians themselves disappear. Otherwise we'd ...never get here either. They're hoping for a target that's... precise, particular. Deliberate in its effects - but also, specific." _[Tw'eak looks away, chuckling to herself.]_ "To tell you the truth, I hope they find their target. I don't know if anyone from this timeline will endure afterwards, if they don't. Call me crazy, but... that's crazy."

 _[Tw'eak furrows her brow, mulling over her thoughts on the matter.]_ "It's one of the first lessons in Temporal Mechanics - they go over it with us time and again. Cause and effect, timelines altered by subtle differences, by simple choices. An order disobeyed, or a moment of hesitation, or perhaps a response that's not exactly what's expected - even something like de-pressurizing a shuttlebay in time, or keeping someone from being hit by a bus... these are the kinds of choices on which whole timelines can hinge, and shift, and never be the same again.

"But those sorts of scenarios are also the very reason why we have a temporal Prime Directive. And these Krenim... aren't bound by it at all. It's a point I raised with Admiral Quinn. I offered my objections, one at a time, and he patiently listened, then pointed out to me that, unless Nog is able to find a way to be successful with this Krenim technology, we'll be compelled to surrender to the Iconians. All of us - the whole Alliance. _[Tw'eak shifts uncomfortably in her chair for a moment.]_ Command's projections range from awful to dismal. If we keep fighting, the Federation doesn't have six weeks of life left in it - even less time for the Republic. That's what he told me. That's top secret information, of course. But learning that... it was enough to make me set my qualms aside, and just get on with it.

"There's a possibility that the timeline we return to will be somehow altered. That's why I've permitted Bianca to temporally shield the Memorial core. I'm also allowing her to serve as our temporal observer. I would ask for a temporal agent to be sent out to us, to safeguard Memorial, if I trusted any of them. Something about them just... I can't really separate them from Section 31 in my mind. After all, let's not forget that our timeship was provided to us free of charge by a very anxious Section 31 operative. Besides, as it is, I'd rather trust my friends than bring someone in, this late in the game."

 _[Tw'eak smiles at her remembrance.]_ "I talked to Va'kel - Captain Shon, of the _Enterprise_ \- he's an old friend ...my best friend, perhaps I should say. He's... a lot more optimistic about this than I am. That's nothing new, of course. I don't know how he can be so... inexhaustible in his belief that it'll all come good. We both agree that time travel, as a weapon, as a means of changing the conditions of this war, has potential to be our worst nightmare in ways we can't even fathom. And he asked about Spera. He was worried, he said - I knew what that meant. It wasn't that long ago that Spera was trying to throw herself out an airlock on his starship, after all. He'd heard about the incident between her and Kagran. I told him it had all been handled, that she had... disappeared. I don't expect that he believes me - he knows what I sound like when I'm lying through my teeth." _[She laughs to herself.]_ "Or at least, he should by now. Maybe not - doesn't happen that often."

 _[She pauses for a moment, the smile fading from her face.]_ "I... there has definitely been a change that's come over Spera, since she returned from the sphere. She's... I don't know if the old Spera would've knocked down a Klingon officer before, let alone with one punch. But that's part of it - her attitude is so different. She's angrier than she was. I understand why, too. I know what it looks like when someone loses their faith in Starfleet. I... just take it a little personally when that someone is my own daughter. I mean, I know, it's not right for me to be offended by her feelings - in fact, I only make it worse if she does. But I'm the ranking representative of Starfleet, and it was my team that led the charge and killed M'Tara. I feel like it's unfair of her to be mad at anyone else but me. We had our orders, followed them, completed our mission. We did our job that day, and some of us came home. M'Tara being dead was the only good thing that came out of that whole mission. And I realize hindsight always allows for perfect vision, but from the moment it happened Spera didn't see it that way - ever. She knew M'Tara as more than just the sort of 'creature' we saw her as being. She knew her as a friend.

"That was something that I think we lost along the way, and it's a hundred times worse because we're Starfleet officers, and we're the lesser for it. Our mission - the big one, Starfleet's mission - used to be to seek out new life and civilizations. We lost sight of the idea, haunted by visions of 'demons of air and darkness'. We went into this expecting war, because we were threatened, and we behaved in a way that exacerbated this war, because we were scared. I don't deny that the Iconians are a threat, but the Federation has talked its way out of threats before - and after they destroyed Starbase 234 in their first strike, we didn't exactly feel like talking. We were out for blood - from a creature of pure energy, we wanted blood.

"They were the enemy, from then on - they had been our enemy for so long, in our minds, somewhere in the background, turning the tables on us - with the Undine, maybe even with the Klingons. What made the Iconians such villains, in my mind, all that time in Task Force Silhouette, was the idea that there was nothing to them but vengeance and death - and the Heralds certainly reinforce that idea, being... killing machines. The term that typically gets used to describe what I'm talking about is a 'common humanity'. Even Andorians refer to it as such. We don't usually accord that 'common humanity' to our enemies. I never expected Spera would find it among our bitter enemies. But she did.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of her for being able to do that. She took a more appropriately Starfleet approach than I've seen from the admirals in Command, and it's to her credit that we've learned as much as we did in advance of their arrival. It seems like she once again has information about the Iconians which no one else does. The difference is, this time we were too late to listen. M'Tara was dead by the time Spera warned us of the danger in killing her. Now they hate us more than they ever did, and we can't negotiate - we can't even apologize. Even for Spera, those channels are closed. It may be too late. It's hard to admit that what she came back in time to do... we might have made it impossible to accomplish for her because we followed orders. Killing M'Tara led the surviving Iconians to escalate this war to the point where we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't with this Krenim weapon. Who knows."

 _[Tw'eak takes a moment to recover herself. She is quite distraught.]_ "Alright, I'm gonna... be completely honest. I don't see a way out of this. I said at the beginning that I've never been much of a storyteller. But the truth is, there isn't any part of this story that I would want to tell. I've got plenty of good stories. I've seen the best of people, and the worst - and in the past month or so, we've lost a lot of the best. The thought that those sacrifices could be in vain... keeps me up at night. Each of the Alliance powers has done their best. The Klingons tried to do this heroically, fighting for glory - they failed. We've been approaching the Iconians scientifically, trying to exploit weaknesses. We failed. The Romulans have been just trying to hold on, with everything striking them at once - and they're failing. We've sought other allies, other approaches. They've all failed. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the _Annorax_ , that the Krenim and their time-altering mission, that it'll fail in turn. Nothing seems to change. Nothing seems to make a difference. They've been forcibly evolving themselves for two hundred thousand years to become vehicles of awful, bloody vengeance. For reasons we still haven't begun to understand, they've decided that our entire galaxy will be theirs again. And so we've come to the point now where we either find a way of changing the timeline to keep it from happening, or give in to what seems inevitable and abandon all hope.

"And if I could live with giving in, I think it's an option I'd rather take than lose anyone else. But that's never been our way, and - "

 _[A communicator notification sounds.]_ "duBois to Sh'abbas."

 _[Tw'eak looks visibly annoyed at the delay.]_ "Sh'abbas here. What is it, Bianca?"

"Just wondering if you're almost done. Aurora just came up with a great idea to try and record as much of the crew as we can, so we're going to do that. We'll need the recording device for an hour or so. Hopefully we have enough time."

"I was just about wrapped up here anyway, Commander. You can pick up the recorder any time you'd like."

"Thanks, I'll be right there."

 _[Tw'eak takes a moment to reset herself.]_ "I forget what I was going to say. But since I'm out of time, I'd like to take a moment to just be grateful for all of the incredible officers I've had the honour of serving with throughout this war. I look at friends I've lost, like Birmal Dazz and Kit McQueen, and others I wish I'd gotten to know better like Nima Salah of the starship _Mikasa_ , the first ship our task force lost, at 234. I think of the friends I'm lucky to still have here aboard this vessel, the fine starship named _Warspite_. Those would be Captain Eight of Twelve, the duBois sisters, Subcommander Oulius and Lieutenant Aewon, Doc Ellington and Doc Hewson, Tlhosh of Gornar, and of course, Pal and his Jem'Hadar. I should also mention my old friend T'uni, who's on one assignment or another for Starfleet Intelligence, and my new friend, my captain's old friend, Vice Admiral Emlyn Downey of the Fighting Fifty-First.

"So many of them have fought fiercely at my side throughout this war, and I am so proud of each of them - for everything they've done. I am reminded, in that vein, of Lieutenant Lini sh'Iltryav, who died too early in this war, and who always looked up to me. Her enthusiasm and her bravery have been an example to all of us of the best of the service. Then I think of the mentors I can consider myself lucky to have had during my service, notably Fleet Admiral Katya Slutskaya, whom I dearly miss, and before serving with her, Jean-Luc Picard, not only one of my heroes but my first commanding officer. Those two were the best of Starfleet, each in their own way, and I have often sought to emulate their style, their courage, their inspiration as an example to their crews. If I came half as close, I'll know I did a good job.

"But I want to acknowledge the two dearest people in the world to me. The first... knows who he is." _[Tw'eak smiles wryly at the recording device.]_ "I'll leave it at that. The other, of course, is my daughter. Whatever happens, and I know that, right now, she's not exactly happy with me for what has already happened, but whatever happens to me, I want to thank you, Spera. You... you came into my life at exactly the right time. I don't know if that was by design or coincidence but you showed up, you made me very proud to know you, and most importantly, you gave me back the hope I'd lost. I never thought I'd get a chance to have a family. But you, and that other guy I'm not naming... well, even though my rational side - my Vulcan side, let's call it - knows the odds and the possibilities that lie ahead, the other side of me... the Andorian side of me is finally happy, and maybe even a little hopeful, and it's all because of you. So thank you."

 _[Tw'eak stands up as the door chime sounds. Her face cannot be seen, but a short laugh can be heard before she remarks.]_ "Not a moment too soon, either." _[She walks off-camera to the right, and the view of the recording device suddenly shifts downwards to a brief shot of carpet and an extreme close-up of an Andorian finger before the recording ends.]_

* * *

"Upload complete."

Within the main science lab of the starship Warspite, first officer Bianca duBois gave a nod to the computer's affirmation. "Thank you. Commence power-up of temporal shielding." She stood next to Tw'eak, whose furrowed brow indicated her mood.

"Shielding matrix activated," the computer continued. "Temporal shield will become fully active in seven minutes, forty three seconds."

Bianca turned to Tw'eak. "That should do it. I don't think we could cram one more piece of information into Memorial."

"That's the core there, is it." Bianca nodded, to which Tw'eak asked, "You included the most recent updates?"

"All the intelligence we have, from the beginning of the task force to stardate 99615. It's quite a treasure trove. I almost wish we had discovered it, at the beginning of our work in Task Force Silhouette. Would've made our jobs a lot easier."

"Where's the fun in that?" Tw'eak smiled.

Bianca laughed, and as she did, the console in front of her beeped. "The temporal shield is beginning to stabilize. Once the datacore has a pocket of time established around it, we'll be able to seal it away."

"And 'seal it away' how? Where?"

"I was going to ask you that, actually. I have three options. I could leave it onboard, housed in a secure compartment onboard. Even a vacant set of quarters would work - it's got a self-sustaining power cell, we just... we'd have to carry it on a grav-sled. We couldn't use the transporter because of the temporal shield."

Tw'eak looked at the rather large spherical module. "And risk having a pocket of time bump into a bulkhead if we take a hit. It would need supervision if it was onboard."

"Which I'm well aware of. We could create another duty station wherever the memory core is, but I don't know that anyone would want that posting."

"And if this ship is destroyed, what then?"

"Exactly. That's why I'm leaning towards extra-vehicular options." Bianca held her hands up, as if holding an invisible box, then pushed that box away from herself. "We could place it in a cargo container and jettison it - mount a buoy to it."

"Doesn't sound very secure."

"Well, we could use a limited encryption - nothing like what the captain might come up with, for example, complicated enough to keep whoever finds it motivated in finding out what's inside it. Say, a Starfleet crew on an exploration mission."

"We won't really have time to take _Warspite_ far enough out of the way to make jettisoning it a good idea." Tw'eak shrugged. "We don't really need this falling into the wrong hands."

"Which is why the first option suggests itself. But as you said, if we're destroyed, the datacore goes down with us."

Tw'eak's antennae twitched slightly at the thought of _Warspite_ 's destruction. "But you had a third option."

"I do." Bianca pointed in the direction of the aft end of the ship. "Move it into a shuttlecraft."

Tw'eak was surprised. "A shuttle?"

"Yeah. I can rig a signal repeater from here, send a pulse via subspace comms every, say, six hours. We drop the shuttlecraft off, program it with an automated flight plan that'll take it around in circles, here in the Kyana system. We'd have to clear it with the Krenim, of course, but it's an automated shuttle, it could stay out there on a slow path around - say, about a parsec in radius - and just go around forever... nobody would notice it. But if the repeater signal doesn't continue, it goes into emergency mode and sets in an immediate course back to Earth. Or maybe not Earth. I don't know if there'll be an Earth left by then - and if not, I'd need an emergency heading for it."

Tw'eak considered for a moment. "I can give you the classified contact codes for the _Mehitabel_. The shuttle could arrange to follow its path and, presumably, overtake."

Confused, Bianca repeated the name. " _Mehitabel_?"

"My sister Dashii's freighter. She and her family are onboard. It's currently flying formation with a series of other 'pod' freighters, somewhere out there, flying away from the core systems of the Federation. They're already holding what might be the last cultural and genetic remnants of multiple species - a datacore like this would just be more priceless material for them to safeguard."

"Do we know where they're going?"

"I'm... not actually authorized to know their flight plan. I'm pretty sure that's a matter for the highest echelons of Starfleet Command - most aspects of 'Plan Dusk', their worst-case scenario, are being kept for as few eyes as possible. But those freighters will be using a very similar setup with a repeater signal emanating through the subspace network. It cuts out in the event of our total loss, to tell them when they need to worry."

"They're just going to keep on running, in that event?"

"Until we either tell them it's safe to come home, or there's no 'home' left for them to come back to, yeah." Tw'eak nodded.

There was a pause, as the severity of their present situation sat poorly in the hearts of both women. Bianca spoke first. "It must be hard, knowing you'll never see your sister again." She looked at the datacore. "It's part of what I talked about, in my Memorial entry. How I'm worried about coming back and finding out I'm the only duBois child."

"I remember." Tw'eak smiled. "But yes, to answer your question, I miss having Dashii around. Given what we went through to get her back, and then to have to send her on her way with her whole family... and maybe the last hope of my people... yeah. Just reminds me how high the stakes are this time."

Tw'eak and Bianca both gazed at the Memorial core for another long moment, their minds on their sisters, neither of whom were stationed onboard _Warspite_ any longer. "You think we'll be able to do this?" Bianca asked timidly. "With the time-travel, I mean. Change things, the right way."

Tw'eak considered her options, and decided against honesty. "I think we will, yeah." She gave another short laugh, guessing what was best to say. "Based on what I saw in those recordings, it shouldn't be too hard - this is the best crew I've ever served with."

"They really are. I was reviewing crew dossiers earlier, trying to settle into my new responsibilities... I don't think we have anyone onboard who doesn't have a commendation or two to their credit. They're a good crew. Few of them doubt that we can do this - especially with you in charge."

Tw'eak leaned on the rails of the lab station's console, in the centre of which Memorial was temporarily housed. "Thank you, by the way. I know you weren't obligated to let me review your recordings."

"Well, you're the admiral. It's only fair."

"I've asked the counselor to check in on our 'shadowy' friend, for the record."

"Oh, good. Thank you for that." Bianca leaned over the rails in the same fashion as Tw'eak, watching the temporal shield become visibly manifest ever so faintly. A realization came to her, and her eyes darted to Tw'eak, then narrowed. "Just wondering - how many of the captain's recordings did you see?"

"Just the one, why?"

"Good." Bianca was momentarily relieved, then the sight of Tw'eak's concerned face brought her to attention. Her eyes darted about as she thought up a cover story. "Uh - she made two. One was... a duplicate."

"She can't do anything the simple way, can she?" Tw'eak said with a chuckle. "Even makes duplicate versions of her recording."

Bianca's laughter in response was a bit too loud, nervous. "Yeah! Oh, that captain. It's - well. Anyway, Admiral. Thank you for being here to see this."

"My pleasure." Tw'eak pointed to the datacore. "Follow up on that shuttlecraft idea. I like that. And we have a couple spares kicking around."

"Yeah? Alright. Shouldn't take long to get set up."

Tw'eak leaned back, stepping towards the doorway. "Maybe a duplicate temporal shield, around the shuttle. If it's not too much trouble."

"The only shuttle we have that'd be capable of that would - um..." Bianca cut her remarks short, and cleared her throat.

This brought Tw'eak to a stop. "Bianca?"

"Would be your daughter's shuttle, ma'am. The _Hypatia_."

Tw'eak closed her eyes, and nodded in silent affirmation. "Not that one, then."

"Didn't think so. We could refit a shuttlecraft to mount a temporal housing - "

"No." Tw'eak's response was more curt than she had intended. She gave a smile, and a quick toss of the shoulders. "She might turn out to need _Hypatia_ for a while yet." Tw'eak tossed her head to one side in a sort of half-shrug. "We'll see."

Bianca recalled the recording to which Tw'eak was obliquely referring. "Understood."

"Don't worry about that for right now, though. Just have Memorial in a shuttle, launched and following our signal, before we clear the Kyana system tomorrow."

"You got it." Bianca turned her attention back to the Memorial core's temporal shielding, as displayed on her lab console.

Tw'eak gave one last glance to _Warspite_ 's first officer. "This was a damn good idea, Bianca. Seriously. Every ship in Starfleet should be doing this."

Bianca looked up. "Well, this isn't just any old ship in Starfleet, is it?"

"That's right," Tw'eak replied. "It's ours." She smiled broadly at Bianca, who grinned in response, as she turned to head out of the lab, and up to the bridge.


	98. Part VII, Chapter 1

_Admiral's log, stardate 99614.2 - The starship_ Warspite _is one of five vessels currently en route to a rather remote location. Our destination is an asteroid presently located sixteen parsecs from the Maondi system. This asteroid has an unusual destiny, and as such, our mission involves removing it completely from the timestream, and in so doing, potentially saving the present situation, and the future._

The faces seated around _Warspite_ 's briefing room table were each, in their own way, expression enough. Tw'eak sat at the head of the table, her eyes reviewing the contents of a padd before her which outlined the mission, her antennae inclined towards each other. She hadn't gotten much sleep, and an oh-seven-hundred briefing was early, even for her. To her left, Bianca duBois, now _Warspite_ 's first officer, looked as though she were sick to her stomach. Seated next to her was Captain Tiaru Jarok of the Republic warbird _Lleiset_ , her expression somewhat more hopeful, even if her lips were pursed tensely. To Tw'eak's right sat the captain of _Warspite_ , Eight of Twelve, wearing her typically inscrutable expression, an eager-looking Captain Nog, the Ferengi whose task it was to helm the _Annorax_ , and Commander Aurora duBois, captain of the temporal destroyer _Silhouette_ , her face pinched in an anxious expression. She nearly leapt out of her seat as the door to the briefing room opened. Everyone looked to see Pal enter and nod at Tw'eak. After a moment, Spera entered the room, shoulders forward, antennae slightly drooped.

"Hi," she said softly. "Sorry, was hard getting up."

"Glad you could join us, Commander," Tw'eak replied, her voice stiff with formality.

"Yes, ma'am. As requested." Spera straightened up a little and adjusted her uniform tunic. "Shuttlecraft _Hypatia_ is docked in the shuttlebay aboard timeship _Silhouette_. I'd like to request Captain duBois' permission to offer my support in this mission."

"I'm still just a commander," Aurora noted, "for the record. But I'd be glad to have you aboard."

"Good to see you," Bianca added.

"Yeah, you too," Spera replied.

"Did you have much of a chance to look around?" Aurora asked.

"Not yet - not much anyway. Such an amazing ship."

"If we have time, I'll - " Aurora looked back to Tw'eak. "Sorry, Admiral."

"No, it's alright." Tw'eak indicated Aurora's fellow commanders. "I just don't want to keep Nog and Tiaru waiting."

"It's fine," Commander Jarok replied, "Not every day I get a mission like this."

"We're all here now, Captain," Tw'eak said to Nog.

"Good." Nog stood up just after Spera sat down in the seat beside him. "I've already briefed the admiral, and Commander Jarok, on the following, but I figure this is something I should explain since _Warspite_ and _Silhouette_ will both be directly involved. Our hope is that, by targeting this asteroid for removal from the timestream, it'll create a gravitational gap in the Denius system. The Krenim have computed that an asteroid impact will occur on Denius III because of that gap in the gravitational pull this asteroid would otherwise have created. With that asteroid still in the timestream, impact would've happened here, in deep space, some fifty thousand years or so ago. The asteroid impact caused because of the gravity gap destroys the star map Captain Varley of the _Yamato_ discovers - which eventually leads him to discover the location of Iconia."

"In the Neutral Zone, as it was then," Bianca noted.

"Precisely - the old Neutral Zone, as it's not neutral anymore." Nog took a moment to chuckle at his own joke, then, seeing no one else was laughing, continued with anxious haste. "Uh - according to the quantum-recursive algorithm used by the Krenim, this change in the timestream will create circumstances by which the Romulan Tal Shiar will never encounter Iconian technology - or at least, they don't go looking for it. And in turn, that should reverse a number of events leading to the present day. Notably, the Iconian War."

"And the destruction of my homeworld," Jarok noted. "At least, I hope so."

"How can we be certain that the algorithm in question is verifiably accurate?" Octavia inquired.

"Well, uh... it's the Krenim." Nog laughed nervously again. "This is what they do. They're very good at it. The _Annorax_ is their design. They're kind of... experts."

"Nevertheless, we should be cautious of yielding to expertise if done so unaware of the possibilities for unintended consequence." Octavia gestured towards the viewer. "Our intended outcome may yield unexpected outcomes based upon variables not accounted for in the algorithm."

"Actually, the algorithm does account for approximately ninety-eight percent of other variables." Nog laughed again. "The Krenim told me so."

"It should be noted that this is the best-case scenario," Tw'eak added. "We tried other scenarios in simulation. In one, we lose the Dominion War and the Federation is occupied. In another, the Hierarchy rather than the Vaadwaur become the Iconians' thralls, and their forces don't have the same internal conflicts of the Vaadwaur, to the detriment of the entire quadrant. There's even a scenario where the Dewans remain a power rather than becoming extinct, and in time, they challenge a warlike Vulcan race who have subjugated much of the Alpha Quadrant for dominance. It's never going to be perfect."

"Best-case scenario," Bianca repeated. "Or rather, best we've found."

Jarok turned to Bianca. "Any scenario that yields a prospect of Romulus surviving into the present day is one I would hope would succeed."

"That's another thing," Bianca points out. "I don't want to diminish the destruction of your homeworld, Commander, but from its ashes, the Republic has risen like a phoenix."

"That's very poetic," Jarok replied.

Bianca blushed in reply. "Thank you."

"Romulan culture doesn't really have a parallel to the phoenix. But you're right. We just have to hope that, in the absence of Iconian influence, the Tal Shiar never became as dominant. For all we know, the Star Empire may have naturally evolved into the Republic - centered around the old homeworld, instead of the new."

"I appreciate your optimism," Bianca said.

"Thank you," Jarok replied. She looked into Bianca's eyes. "I have to hope for the best."

Tw'eak addressed the room as Nog sat back down. " _Warspite_ and _Lleiset_ have both been temporarily fitted with temporal shielding. _Silhouette_ and _Annorax_ both have far stronger temporal shielding than we do, as it's embedded directly into their shield matrices. Our mission will be to maintain cloak and remain in formation with _Annorax_ , just in case anything goes wrong. With any luck, we zap one asteroid and change the future for the better."

"I would request an opportunity to note my objections to proceeding with this mission," Octavia declared.

"Same here," Bianca added.

"I understand your objections," Tw'eak replied, frowning. "Believe me, I share them. We're in a position where our usual safeguards are set aside - safeguards against 'playing God' with the timeline, for instance. Our usual reservations on these subjects need to be set aside."

"To win the war," Bianca said, finishing Tw'eak's thought.

"To win the war," Tw'eak repeated.

"And suppose we go changing the timeline and end up coming back to find the war's already been won - or worse."

Tw'eak grimaced. She had anticipated objections - in fact, she understood them all too well, having voiced them during the briefing to both Kagran and the representatives of the Krenim. "I don't deny that this is an awful set of orders to be given. But unfortunately, those are our orders."

"Forgive me for saying so, ma'am, but you're the last officer I expected to use that as an excuse."

"It's not an excuse," Tw'eak said flatly. "It's a last resort. Let's not pretend we have better options." She sighed and looked at the assembled personnel, focusing on Nog. "How long until we get started?"

"We're waiting until oh-nine-hundred to get started. The Krenim tell me that's the optimal time for this incursion." Nog gave that same nervous laugh. "And they'd know, right?"

"Not much longer, then. Thank you, Captain." She turned to Jarok. "And you as well, Commander. If the two of you would like to return to your vessels, I'd understand. We all have much to do, it seems."

Nog gave a quick nod, rose, and left. Jarok took a moment longer. "I just wanted to say that it's an honour for me to participate in this mission - and to have a chance to serve alongside you again, Admiral."

"The honour's mine. Please give my regards to the proconsul."

Jarok chuckled, remembering Tw'eak's last set of "regards" for D'Tan. "I'll be sure to do so, next time I speak with him."

The Romulan commander gave a slight bow, then made her way from the room. Tw'eak waited until she left and was in the presence of her four most trusted officers. "Alright," she said after a moment. "Now that our guests are on their way, I want those objections of yours. And I want better options than what I have in front of me."

"This isn't going to work," Bianca noted. "It's just a terrible idea."

"Indeed," Octavia agreed. "Temporal incursion is not a preferential method of combat."

"You, of all people, to say that," Aurora rebuked. "When the Borg were set back for thirty years by Admiral Janeway coming back from the future. And that was after they went back in time to assimilate Earth before first contact with the Vulcans!"

"Forgive me if I do not see the parallel. In both cases, a vessel ventured into the past to manipulate the timeline in a deliberate fashion. This is the same method by which Commander Spera came into our own timeline."

"Exactly," Spera continued. "It's one thing for someone to intervene - it's another to remove something from time altogether. I... I don't even know how such a thing is physically possible - where does it go if it's just... out of time?"

"It doesn't matter," Aurora countered. "It's a matter of changing the past to find ourselves in a better today."

Octavia tilted her head. "I would remind you, Commander, that according to the infinite-divergence theory of temporal development, all timelines develop based upon quintillions of individual choices and chance interactions upon a universal scale - "

"But that's not our timeline! If we can make it so that _Yamato_ 's crew don't find that star map, we don't poke the Iconians, we could gain ourselves hundreds of years of time to be ready for them!" She indicated a sort of timeline with her hand on the edge of the table as she spoke.

"Seven hundred," Tw'eak noted. "That was the number the Krenim scientists gave me."

"Seven hundred years of ignorance, more like," Bianca replied. "We won't be preparing for a threat we don't know is out there. It'd be like preventing Q from flinging the _Enterprise-D_ across the galaxy to make first contact with the Borg. Or keeping _Voyager_ safely in the Alpha Quadrant and never learning of the Undine. They'd still be out there. We'd discover they existed. And we'd be the ones to suffer for it in the long run. Sometimes it's better to learn those threats exist."

Aurora was unconvinced. "But who gets to decide that? Maybe it's better the other way. We're talking about using this asteroid as an 'undo' button."

"You think deciding the flow of time is as simple as hitting 'undo'?" Bianca was perplexed. "It's way more complicated than that."

"It's true," Spera concurred. "Timelines are far more convoluted structures."

"Structures the Krenim understand." Aurora remained certain. "I've seen their methods, they've engineered a real scientific solution to the questions of space and time - and how to manipulate the continuum to their advantage. So have you, Admiral. I'm very impressed by how sophisticated their whole understanding of time is, there's so much to it."

"I'm not so sure," Tw'eak replied. "We're betting the house on this one - at long odds. It's a hell of a gamble to take. As you say, the Krenim seem to have it right... but if they don't, it's one hell of a wrong to have to fix."

"Sometimes those kinds of gambles are how you turn the war in your favour, though," Aurora noted. "And anything we can do to help would be a step in the right direction.

"Until it isn't _help_ ful." Bianca stared blankly at her sister. "Then what?"

"That's where the _Silhouette_ comes in." Aurora looked from Bianca to Tw'eak. "I can use the technology we've been given aboard that ship as a sort of... insurance policy."

"Explain," Tw'eak beckoned.

"I've been working with Lieutenant O'Leary and some of the guys from my team that I brought over from _Warspite._ We've been working out just what this ship can do. Temporal duplicates of itself, localized pockets of time used for tactical purposes... but in this case, I bet we could channel the temporal wake created by the initial incursion through the _Silhouette_ 's deflector dish, and out through the engines into a temporal warp field. Because the warp engines already involve manipulation of spacetime to move a ship faster than light, and because _Silhouette_ can already transit through time as well as space, it's already a function this ship is capable of doing. This is just a very specific - and static - application. We would generate the field, and remain in place, like an anchor in time. Then you guys can go ahead and find out more about our situation, see if you like it, see if there's a Romulus to go home to for Commander Jarok... and we can still go home again if the temporal incursion doesn't work out."

"You're talking about an 'undo button' again," Bianca said.

"Not really. 'Escape route', more like." Aurora's eyes pleaded with her sister. "I know you hate this whole thing but I really think we can do it."

"It'd work," Spera replied. "I can help. There's a lot of temporal dynamics to account for, but I can do it."

Tw'eak found herself nodding. "So if we go, and the Iconians have taken over the universe, you'll be able to return us to our own timeline."

"Where the Iconians have only mostly taken over," Spera quipped.

"Exactly. It'd look like a second temporal incursion, but..." Aurora pointed to the two separate entrances to the conference room. "It'd be like us walking back into a room we just left - only, by a second door."

"But it would be the same room we walked into, right?" Tw'eak pointed around. "Not a thing different?"

"The very same. I should note that the _Silhouette_ will be pretty helpless while the temporal warp field is active," Aurora noted. "And we'll only be able to hold the field in place for a few hours, at most. Any longer than that and we risk burning out the warp core - and unfortunately, this warp core reacts the same way any other does when it's burned out." She raised her hands and made an exploding sound.

"The remote location of the initial temporal incursion may be helpful in that regard," Octavia pointed out.

"Yeah," Bianca said, "if there's no good reason for us to be out here, presumably no one else will be in most other timelines, either."

"What about temporal shielding?" Tw'eak asked. "Will you be able to hold that in place as well?"

Aurora nodded. "The timeship's structural integrity field works both in terms of exterior pressures and damage, and also against temporal disturbances of varying natures. It's very well-engineered to preserve the hull both against space and time. We'll probably take external sensors and weapons offline in order to maximize the flow - and keep the temporal shields up using auxiliary power if we need it."

Tw'eak nodded, satisfied. "That works. Alright." She looked upwards. "Computer, present time?"

"Current ship's time is zero-seven-thirty-eight hours."

"So we have just over an hour. Can you implement the temporal warp anchor you described in that time?"

"We could do it right now, if you wanted, but a few simulations and a bit of time to realign EPS flow would be a good thing."

"Very well." Tw'eak looked to Octavia. "And we're ready here."

"We have taken all necessary precautions and are prepared to witness the temporal incursion. Our external sensors will need to be offline for five seconds during the incursion to prevent damage."

"Just like the Trinity test," Bianca quipped. "Don't look at the blast."

Octavia raised both eyebrows. "The parallel is inexact."

"Never mind."

"Anything else we can think of?" Tw'eak reached out a hand across the table. "I don't want to leave anything to chance if we can avoid it."

"This is the first use of this Krenim weapon, right?" Spera asked.

"As far as I know, yes."

"So it might not work."

"Anymore than a newly-installed phaser strip might not work," Aurora replied. "It's engineered to work, and the simulations have been completed showing that it should work."

"But we've never actually fired this thing off before."

Aurora's shoulders rolled in a shrug. "Right."

"So it might not work," Spera repeated.

There was a moment of silence around the table in recognizance of Spera's point. "It'll work," Aurora said after a while.

"Worst-case scenario, we all let out the breath we're holding, and await further orders," Tw'eak surmised. She looked around the table. Bianca, Spera and Aurora were all laughing quietly. Octavia placed a hand on her chest, as if checking her respiratory function. "Anything else?" The officers all shook their heads. "Very well, then. Let's get ourselves ready for the show." She stood up, and the other officers followed in turn. As they were turning to go, she stopped. "Spera."

Spera turned in place, neatly sidestepping Bianca, who was close behind. "Shreya?"

"Just a moment." She waited until the room was clear, then stepped closer to Spera. "You were late."

"I know. Pal had to beam over and get me up. I'm an embarrassment."

"Hey, no." Tw'eak found herself perturbed with Spera's tone. "That's not what I'm saying. I wanted to know if everything is alright."

"Of course it's not. I have to live on a shuttle again." She looked over her shoulder at Pal. "With a chaperone."

"Only until this thing with Kagran blows over."

Spera's face took on an expression of complete disbelief, and her antennae angled forward. "I punched him in the face, Shreya. It's not going to blow over - you know that and so do I. They'll... I don't know, court-martial me or something."

"So what if they do." Tw'eak gave a half-shrug. "I've faced court-martial before more than once - it's more stress than it's worth worrying about."

"Sure, but... I really hate this. This isn't what it's supposed to be like, and I kind of get the sense that it'll always be like this from now on."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... if I'd known the Krenim could just, y'know, make whole planets disappear from time and stuff, I'd just have asked them instead of the Prophets. I don't like the idea of us completely rewriting the universe like this. It was a big freakin' deal that I took a shuttle and went back in time - for everyone, especially you. I've been the 'last resort' before, Shreya. It... it sucks."

"I realize that. You know I have major reservations about whether or not this mission is worth the effort."

"Me too. I was even thinking..." Spera looked down at the floor. "If it doesn't work, I should just get all the data together, take the shuttlecraft and go, y'know."

Tw'eak swallowed hard. "To try again in a different timeline."

"Or same timeline. Like the captain said, infinite divergence, right? I don't know, maybe if I came back even earlier next time..."

"Then I wouldn't have held admiral's rank, probably. There wouldn't have been much I could've done at an earlier time, other than pass on the information and hope someone noticed." Tw'eak smiled. "It sounds crazy to say it, but the moment you showed up? This became my best possible timeline because you're here. I know we're losing, and everything else, but I'd rather "

"Yeah, I guess." Spera shrugged. "I don't know, it's just... not what I thought it'd be. We're all so focused on doing damage and counting kills, it's not what Starfleet's supposed to be about. I mean, I know we can't just... go back to exploring space with all these Heralds gating in on top of us all the time, but I just feel like we're never going to get back to that. Especially now, with all this time-travel stuff to worry about."

Tw'eak smiled. "I've been thinking the same thing."

"You have?" Spera's face matched her voice - pure surprise.

"Absolutely. Now that we know the Krenim have this weapon, we'll have to find some way to restrict, or control, or at least regulate the temporal incursions. And we'll have to consider this our primary timeline, one that we're willing to preserve. If we could go back and prevent a tragedy, if we could zap some other asteroid out of existence, like this one, say, in order to spare a colony from being wiped out, should we? And if that colony we spared sees the rise to power of the next Kodos the Executioner, or Khan Singh, we can't put that asteroid back into time, can we? It opens up a whole host of moral and ethical questions we maybe should be asking before we shoot. And it creates a whole series of uncomfortable compromises we're going to have to get comfortable with making." Tw'eak shakes her head. "It's like the Genesis Device or the Xindi superweapon - we'll have an obligation to keep that power out of the wrong hands... so whose hands are the right ones, exactly?"

Spera nodded, then gave an uncomfortable swallow.

"It's a lot to think about," Tw'eak continued.

Spera rubbed her stomach. "Yeah."

"You haven't had breakfast, have you," Tw'eak inferred.

Spera laughed. "I don't know how many times you've said that to me."

"Really."

"In the same sort of tone, too."

Tw'eak put her arm around Spera. "Well, come sit down. We might as well eat here - plenty of katheka here."

Spera smiled at her mother. "You haven't had breakfast either?"

"No. I never eat before a briefing." It was Tw'eak's turn to shrug. "Superstition."

Spera smiled. "Always eat right before a mission - I remember." The two of them walked over to the replicator together and continued in conversation.

* * *

On _Warspite_ 's bridge, about an hour later, Octavia was seated in her command chair. Tw'eak and Spera emerged from the conference room together, and Tw'eak spotted Subcommander Oulius scowling at his console. "Problem?" she asked.

"No. Nothing." The subcommander's tone was clipped in response.

"What do you have for time?"

"Oh-eight-forty-seven," Oulius replied.

"You better get going, then," Tw'eak said to Spera.

"Yeah, I didn't realize it was this late." Spera gave a quick hug to Tw'eak. "Love you. Good luck."

"You, too." Tw'eak watched Spera go, then quickly added, "hey, kid."

"Yeah?" Spera turned as the turbolift door opened.

"If this doesn't work, and you have to... y'know... all over again... I'll understand."

Spera nodded, understanding. "I'd want you to come with me this time."

Tw'eak shook her head. "I wish I could... but my place is here." She took a deep breath. "Tell me. Before you do. If you do, I mean. Please."

Spera stepped into the turbolift and gave a quick wave, then the doors closed. Tw'eak remained stuck in place for a moment before, from the science console, Bianca came over. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Just... a funny feeling." Tw'eak turned to Bianca and whispered. "Like I'm never going to see her again."

"Oh." Bianca smiled. "I'm sure you will."

"You are?"

"Yeah. And I'm usually not wrong about these things." She patted Tw'eak on the shoulder, a gesture which Tw'eak found immensely reassuring for no practical reason.

"Thank you," she found herself saying to Bianca, before the sight of the forward viewscreen made her mind fully return to duty. "What's our status, Octavia?"

"All systems nominal. Temporal shielding in place and holding. _Annorax_ is set to begin firing in twelve minutes."

Tw'eak turned to Oulius. "Tactical?"

"Aside from _Annorax_ , _Lleiset_ and _Silhouette_ , nothing but empty space around us. And... a great ball of rock, full of unremarkable ores, twelve o'clock."

"I feel like I should ask Chief Sandoval to beam us over some rocks from there," Bianca said aloud. "They'd be the only ones from this asteroid anyone would ever get to see, once it's no longer part of our timestream."

"They would be solely of sentimental significance, then," Octavia replied. "Their practical use would be severely limited otherwise. As the subcommander noted, they are "

"You've never heard of souvenirs before?" Bianca said with a smile.

"Now there's a question I hadn't considered," Tw'eak said. "How will transporters work with temporal shielding?"

Bianca nodded. "Yes, we figured that out. Once we've altered the timestream, in order to keep from being absorbed into the timestream, we'll have to integrate temporal shields into the personal shielding device matrix. In this way, we'll be able to remain synchronized in time. It's a bit like warp-speed transport in that way. We have to be at the same speed for it to work in that case, and we have to be in the same stream."

"What about physical contact - our boots, for instance?"

"They'd be under the same temporal shield matrix. Anything we touch we'd still be able to interact with. There'd be some slight chromodynamic resonance, but nothing we couldn't handle - it's not like you're going to leave a finger in the other timeline by pressing a button."

Tw'eak nodded. "Complicated stuff."

"You don't know the half of it," Bianca said with a laugh.

Tw'eak walked about the bridge for the remaining few minutes, patiently waiting. Octavia remained in her chair, as did Lieutenant Aewon at the helm. Tw'eak furtively used this walkabout as an excuse to peek at Subcommander Oulius, whom she noted was staring repeatedly at his console, then looking up with a scowl. On her fourth or fifth lap around, she finally managed to gain a glimpse at the console, and saw a portrait of a woman seated in a grassy field, haircut, ears and forehead unmistakably Romulan, bright green eyes and olive skin, dark hair at precise angles being caressed by the wind. The grass in which she sat was blue-purple, and she wore a cream-coloured dress with a grey-green tunic. "She's beautiful," Tw'eak said quietly.

"My wife," Oulius replied after a moment, clearing the console of her image. "Cressia."

"Have you had any word?"

Oulius gnashed his teeth and growled, "no."

"You have a son, as well."

Oulius nodded, looking downward. "He was with her."

Tw'eak patted Oulius on the back, much as Bianca had done for her. "We'll find them." She gave Oulius a slight squeeze. "I promise you."

"No," Oulius replied. "They are fallen into the clutches of the Elachi. I am certain."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'm sorry." She gestured a hand towards the viewscreen. "This mission... isn't going to be a problem for you?"

"I am more than capable of handling my duties. I know my place."

"That's not what I'm asking," Tw'eak said, not for the first time that day. "I'm asking if you're going to be okay with us changing the timeline."

"If it restores me to my wife and child, then... so much the better."

Tw'eak smiled at Oulius, noting that he refused to look away from his console, even though Cressia's face was a mere afterimage now. She pointed to her place on the console. "Bring her back up."

This caught Oulius' attention. "I'm sorry?"

"Your wife. If it helps. I obviously don't want it taking your full attention, but I also don't want you to feel like she's not welcome here." Tw'eak smiled. "She's family, too. I can't tell you what it'd mean to know that, if anything ever happened to me, that - that someone would remember me, the way you remember her." Tw'eak grimaced slightly at the thought of Va'kel Shon staring solemnly at her picture in memorial. The very idea of it hurt to think of. "She's one of us. She... should be here. She belongs here. As you do."

Oulius reacted to Tw'eak's last phrase like a knife had been twisted in his heart, lowering his head and looking away. "It's my fault she isn't here," he exhaled, gripping the console.

"You're not the Elachi," Tw'eak replied. "The only things that are your fault, Subcommander, are your excellent service record, and your high regard among this crew. That's all I blame you for - and 'blame' isn't the right word for it."

"I should have been there," Oulius continued.

"Then you'd be with them, wherever they are. Maybe they'd be safer for it - maybe not. But this I can tell you. We'd have a harder time on this mission, if you were with her."

Oulius looked at Tw'eak, not understanding.

"Because there is a whole crew here that would go to hell and back to find you."

"Damn right," Bianca added from several steps over from the science console, for good measure. It appeared she had moved into position in order to overhear their conversation. "I - uh, _Silhouette_ reports all systems go. They're standing by, Admiral."

Tw'eak gave Bianca a dirty look. "Appreciate that. Man your station, please."

"Yes, ma'am." Bianca turned and found her way back to science.

From the captain's seat, Octavia pointed to the screen. " _Annorax_ is firing."

The viewscreen showed an enormous rainbow surge of power in the forward diamond-shaped third of the _Annorax_. Moments later, the viewscreen went dead. "Sensors offline per automatic shutdown sequence," Oulius noted. "They will return in three, two, one..."

The viewscreen was restored, showing an empty space where previously there had been a massive asteroid.

"Sorry you won't be getting any souvenirs," Tw'eak quipped to Bianca.

"It's alright," Bianca replied. "I have plenty of rocks I've collected already over the years."

"The _Lleiset_ is hailing us," Oulius noted.

"On screen."

The screen shifted to show Commander Jarok. "I'd like to recommend we set course for the Romulus system. Our long-range sensors show that the Hobus star remains intact."

"Very well. I can imagine you're curious to see what's there. Once _Annorax_ is ready, we'll head out."

Jarok let out a sigh. "It will be good to see the world of my birth again."

"Indeed. We'll be on our way there, shortly. Sh'abbas out." Tw'eak turned to Oulius as the viewscreen disengaged. "Get me the timeship."

" _Annorax_?"

" _Silhouette_ ," Tw'eak corrected.

Oulius nodded, and hailed the _Silhouette_. Aurora responded right away. "Hey, Admiral!"

"Everything in place there?"

"Yup! One temporal anchor, in place and holding. This ship's even more powerful than I thought. I've got Spera running a few quick diagnostics - we should have about three and a half hours or so for you guys to see what's changed. Don't quote me on that yet, though. We'll have a more specific timeframe in a little bit."

"Alright. Let us know if you have any trouble. _Warspite_ out." The screen disconnected again, showing Aurora's cheerful face nodding as it did. "Status of _Annorax_?"

Oulius checked his console. "They're powering up thrusters and moving into formation with _Lleiset_."

"Aewon, set a course for the Romulus system."

"Course laid in and plotted," the helmsman replied.

Tw'eak turned to Oulius. "Activate cloaking device, if you will."

"I'm afraid I can't, ma'am."

"Why not?"

"Temporal shielding interferes with the cloak. There would be no point - we'd be lowering our shields for no reason, essentially."

Tw'eak nodded. She looked up at the screen where Lleiset leapt to warp. "Alright, we'll go visibly, then. Helm - let's do this."

 _Warspite_ and _Annorax_ both went into warp at the same time, leaving _Silhouette_ behind and glowing a bright blue with chroniton-infused warp energy, as the two ships made their way to Romulus, just behind the Republic flagship.

* * *

The first sign was Bianca's to detect. She had brought it to Tw'eak's attention beforehand. The light of the star which Romulus orbited was oscillating slightly on sensors.

"It could be the sensors," she offered, "but it also could be some mass or even another planetary body in-system."

"Not a Dyson sphere, though," Tw'eak inquired.

"No, that'd be orders of magnitude bigger in size - and it'd enclose the star completely."

Tw'eak nodded. "Run a sensor diagnostic - just see if they're working."

The minutes passed as _Warspite_ closed the distance to Romulus. Bianca's diagnostic had come back without any flaws to report. Now, with Romulus on long-range sensors, Tw'eak felt herself at a level of anxiety unlike she'd previously experienced. Perhaps there had been an Iconian gateway in the Romulus system; the detonation of the Hobus star must have disabled or destroyed it before it could reveal itself from its hiding place. This seemed the likeliest explanation. If that were the case, then the long-range sensor readings would seem to be confirmation of Iconian presence in advance of when they would have been expected. Perhaps the Romulans in this timeline had also become collaborators, and the gateway's presence seemed -

"Admiral?" Oulius' tone from the tactical console seemed equal parts surprised and alarmed. "I'm... getting a definite reading from the Romulus system."

"What kind of reading, Subcommander?"

"Sensors are detecting a subspace dampening field present in nearly the entire system, the kind that we'd usually expect from - "

"The Borg." It was Octavia who made the pronouncement. "They are here."

Tw'eak's head swung around to the _Warspite_ 's captain. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Octavia said, two fingers to her ocular implant. "I can sense the presence of a great multitude of drones. The Collective ...is in full possession of the Romulan Star Empire."

"How - " Oulius gripped the console. "No."

"What are you hearing, Octavia?"

"They are aware of the timeship's approach." Octavia looked at Tw'eak, intently. "Probes are being dispatched to intercept."

"Contact the _Annorax_ \- and the Lleiset," Tw'eak ordered Oulius, then turned to the helm. "How long until we arrive in the Romulus system, Aewon?"

"Twenty-six seconds," Aewon replied.

Tw'eak grimaced at Octavia.

"Take us to red alert, Subcommander," the captain ordered. Within seconds, the sound of the klaxon reverberated across the bridge. As it did, Octavia looked to Tw'eak. "They are... well versed in the Alpha Quadrant's weapons and systems. They will attempt to assimilate us."

"And if they succeed in assimilating the _Annorax_ , we'll be handing them a weapon that lets them direct the timeline as they please."

"Precisely," Octavia replied grimly.

"Now arriving in Romulus system," Aewon announced from the helm. On the screen, in a ring about the planet, a series of interconnected tetrahedral structures floated in space - a Borg unicomplex.

"We need to get out of here," Tw'eak whispered to Octavia.

"Not recommended."

"What?"

"Should we attempt to flee, the Borg will pursue us. They are aware we are here, and that we pose a threat. Their next direction will be to attempt our assimilation."

"That sounds like a perfect reason to flee."

"On the contrary - I consider the odds of their successfully assimiliating at least one ship to be approximately eight-point-two-five percent. We are capable of defending ourselves. _Annorax_ \- and _Silhouette_ \- are not."

"So you're suggesting we provide a diversion?" Tw'eak conjectured.

"Our mission was to retrieve information as to the Iconian presence within the present timeline. Perhaps the fulfillment of that mission should be given primary responsibility."

"Captain." Bianca's voice was ashen. "Admiral. Come - come see this."

Octavia rose from her chair, following Tw'eak to the science console. Tw'eak made a noise as her teeth clicked together, her jaw clenching at the sight of Romulus. Octavia followed the readout. "Population, twelve billion... all Borg."

"How?" Bianca asked.

"They must have overwhelmed us," Oulius figured, his voice flat in tone. "We had first encountered the Borg some three or four years before the battle at Wolf 359. At the time, the Star Empire was able to hold back the few Borg incursions which happened. In this timeline, clearly, we were not so fortunate."

Tw'eak took a deep breath, unable to process this turn of events. "Can we determine how recently this happened? Or how long this process took?"

"I'll try," Bianca said. "We'll need to get closer to the planet."

Tw'eak stepped back forward towards the captain's chair. Octavia followed. "We will also need to ascertain the location of data interface points still operable on the planet's surface. Our only way of learning of Iconian presence in this timeline will be to rely upon the Collective's knowledge of the subject."

"It helps that they learn what everyone they assimilate knows," Tw'eak reasoned. "It'll take less time to find out since all that information will be centralized."

Octavia froze in place for a moment. "Correct. Yet I find myself concerned with the moral implications of our discovery."

"Wait." Oulius leaned over his console, incensed. "You're not seriously suggesting we just - we just treat this as though it's a better option."

"I'm not sure I follow," Tw'eak replied.

"Our mission, as I understood it, was to alter the timeline and prevent an Iconian takeover. Even if that's true... this is a thousand times worse." He gestured a hand to the viewscreen.

Tw'eak looked to Octavia. "He makes a good point. Even if we just look at this in terms of the strategic implications - no Republic, no chance Earth or Qo'noS wouldn't fall as easily, a fully operational Borg transwarp network..."

Octavia interrupted. "Nevertheless, we should attempt to ascertain the level of Iconian or Herald activity. In this way, we may be able to alter the timeline in another manner upon our return."

Oulius' console made a noise. "The _Lleiset_ is engaging Borg probes."

"On screen."

The viewer flickered and magnified the _Lleiset_ 's profile, showing it being swarmed by at least four Borg probes.

"Where'd they come from?" Tw'eak asked Oulius.

"Sensors indicate the Borg probes are equipped with cloaking device technology."

Octavia tilted her head slightly. "The Collective has had access to this technology in previous incarnations. Its usage here is..." She raised an eyebrow. "Strictly of tactical utility."

"Lower our cloak, Subcommander - engage those probes. I want us in position to take a team down to the surface and get some answers."

"Engaging," Oulius replied.

 _Warspite_ targeted the probe at _Lleiset_ 's eight o'clock and opened fire once it came in range. Antiproton beam energy surged through the space between them, crushing the probe's light shielding and annihilating the surface of the probe's hull. After a moment, the regeneration process began, but the explosion of the quantum torpedo spread which struck the probe made that process futile. The probe rolled over on its back and detonated with a force that lowered a shield facing on another probe, just in time for _Lleiset_ 's plasma cannons to rend it asunder. The raging fire of the plasma energy mitigated the effects of regeneration, making _Lleiset_ 's second salvo count. Another probe had been accounted for in the meantime by _Warspite_ 's beams, by which time the starship slashed past on full thrusters, drawing off the final probe from pursuit of _Lleiset_. The mighty warbird now had no other targets, and it slowly brought its cannons to bear, hitting the probe hard enough to throw it off course. _Warspite_ 's aft torpedoes struck home moments thereafter, a joint kill.

"Spheres decloaking," Oulius observed. "Both aft."

"Bring us about and engage," Octavia ordered.

"With pleasure," the subcommander affirmed.

 _Lleiset_ and _Warspite_ targeted the same sphere in their initial assault, while the two spheres split their tachyon beams between the two targets. There was a moment of jarring shield energy loss before Bianca was able to transfer power to the shields. Within moments, the dual strike caused one sphere to collapse on itself in a massive explosion. This left the second sphere between two targets, overwhelmed. _Warspite_ took a turning approach, using its beam arrays to soften the target as _Lleiset_ engaged its cloaking device. Within a few moments, the warbird reappeared, cutting through the exposed facing of the sphere's shields, destroying it utterly.

"Message from _Annorax_ ," Oulius advised. "They're withdrawing beyond Borg sensor range until the coast is clear."

"Their temporal capacitors are just about burned out," Bianca added. "Not sure we'll be able to rely on them for much."

"That's fine, let them go," Tw'eak said. "Everything else we have to get done, we'll have to do on the planet anyway." She looked to Oulius. "And to do that, we'll need someone who can get into Romulan networks."

"You're assuming the networks are still intact."

"I am. But I also know that, if it were my homeworld down there, I'd want to know what happened."

"But it isn't my homeworld," Oulius noted. "Because this isn't my timeline."

"You're telling me that there isn't a little part of you that wants to see Romulus again?"

"Not like this." The subcommander looked down at his instruments. "Never like this."

Tw'eak nodded. "Alright. Bianca, have Medic Tlhosh and the Jem'Hadar - no, belay that. Just Pal. We don't want the Borg to feel threatened. Transporter room one in ten minutes"

"Got it."

Tw'eak turned to Oulius. "Request a specialist from the _Lleiset_ , please."

"Commander Jarok has asked to join the landing party."

"I'm not surprised. She was the specialist I had in mind. Send her our co-ordinates." Tw'eak headed for the turbolift.

"Admiral." Octavia's call made Tw'eak stop in mid-step and turn. "May I accompany you?"

"I'm already taking Bianca."

"I am ...adapted to be of greater use, both in a tactical sense and as a trained operations officer."

"It's alright. I can stay here, I suppose," Bianca replied. "It'll give me more time to scan around with ship's sensors. And the captain can handle a tricorder as well as I can."

Tw'eak mulled it over, then nodded. "Alright. But no unnecessary risks."

"Admiral." It was Oulius' turn to request Tw'eak's attention. "I withdraw my earlier objection. Request permission to join you."

"I was hoping you'd say that. Let's go lightly armed - sidearms only. If we need backup, we'll call them in."

"Right."

Tw'eak saw the approach of Lieutenant Farnlan. She looked to Oulius, her expression slightly aggrieved. "Normally... it'd be dos Santos who would relieve you." Lieutenant dos Santos had recently been killed in action.

"Lieutenant Farnlan has my full confidence," Oulius replied, loud enough for the lieutenant to hear. She smiled and gave a brief nod to the admiral as she settled in at her station.

"Of course she will," Tw'eak said. "Take care of that duty station, Lieutenant - it's my favourite."

"I know it is, ma'am," Farnlan said with a laugh and a smile. "I'll keep it warm for you."

From the bridge's left, a purple-skinned Saurian, Lieutenant Horanto, came to the science station. "Good luck down there," Bianca called from beside the captain's chair.

Tw'eak stepped into the turbolift with Octavia and Oulius. "To us all," she replied as the door closed.


	99. Part VII, Chapter 2

The surface of the planet Romulus only resembled itself in its skyline. To Tw'eak's eyes, it was just like many others which had been fully assimilated - and as it was, too many planets bore the same scars for her liking. Yet this was the otherwise-destroyed homeworld of one of the Federation's greatest adversaries. It only existed in the timeline at present through their intervention, yet in its present form, it was merely another node of data in the vast Collective, another point in space which was comprehensively Borg. The landing party - Tw'eak, Octavia, Commander Jarok, Oulius and Pal - materialized in what once had been the courtyard of a major complex in a Tal Shiar installation. All wore sidearms, except for Pal, who had both his polearm and pulse rifle across his back. Tw'eak, too, wore a weapon slung over her shoulder - a pulsewave assault rifle, her weapon of choice for close-combat encounters. For some reason, it felt a bit smaller in her hands at the moment.

Immediately, both Tlhosh and Octavia began to take scans of the surrounding area. Yet Octavia's tricorder did not inform her statement as she said, "The Borg are aware of our presence here."

"Then we haven't much time," Jarok replied. "This way." She pointed towards an adjacent doorway, upon either side of which were alcoves, some with regenerating Borg drones present within them.

"Standard Borg contact procedures, everyone," Tw'eak advised. "Keep your weapons down until they present as a threat. Everyone has a frequency remodulator for their weapons, right?"

All nodded or replied in the affirmative.

"Good. Oulius, stay with the commander."

"Agreed." Both Romulans led the six-person column as they moved towards the complex's entrance. The first door opened, leading down a corridor which linked to another. The signs of assimilation were clear at every turn. A Borg drone passed by them as it went about its business, seemingly uninterested in the team.

"Stay close," Tw'eak whispered.

"duBois to Sh'abbas." Bianca's voice through Tw'eak's commbadge echoed slightly in the room.

Tw'eak tapped her badge. "Go ahead, Bianca."

"We've completed our scan of the surface. Different areas vary slightly in the details, but it looks as though the planet as a whole was assimilated over the course of a couple of months, about twenty years ago."

"So that explains why the structures are familiar," Tw'eak said to Jarok, who neither looked back nor acknowledged.

"We're detecting sixteen Borg in the chamber just ahead. Be careful."

"Don't worry about us, Bianca - it's the Borg who should be worried. Sh'abbas out."

The team emerged in the chamber. True to Bianca's word, there were about sixteen Borg present. "The mainframe behind that door has the data we need," Jarok said. "It'll be protected by a lock, but I can bypass it - I just need your team to cover me."

"Just a moment," Octavia said, raising a hand. "Subcommander..." She raised a hand and indicated one of the Borg drones on the far left alcove.

Oulius took a step over towards it, drawing his disruptor pistol, then sheathing it again. "Elements preserve me," he exclaimed, looking back towards the Admiral. "Look!"

In the alcove was a heavily modified Borg, a high armoured collar and a pair of cybernetically-enhanced arms mounted in a frame that was more skeletal than was healthy for a Romulan, its exoskeleton aglow with assimilated energy. But the facial features that were visible were unmistakable.

"It is the subcommander's equivalent in this timeline," Octavia informed Tw'eak.

Commander Jarok came to a momentary halt. "That's - horrifying..."

But Oulius was looking at an altogether different drone, one also docked and regenerating in an adjacent alcove. "It can't be!" he cried, voice filled with anguish. "No..." He ran to its side. The face of this drone was not as extensively modified - more than half of the female drone's face was as it had appeared to Tw'eak earlier, although with a cranial implant series embedded into barren scalp rather than the long flowing hair Tw'eak recalled being caressed by the breeze. "Cressia, what have they done to you?" he asked the drone, as though expecting an answer.

"We've got to move," Pal muttered to Tw'eak. "These temporal shields are of limited duration - even more limited if we take any damage!"

"Agreed. Move out, Commander. Subcommander, come along."

"But - Admiral - my wife -"

"No," Tw'eak corrected sharply. "She's not. She's a drone."

"The alteration in the timeline hasss merely created this sssituation," Tlhosh added. "Your ssssentiment is noble, but misssplaced."

"No!" Oulius exclaimed, reaching for the drone. "I've got to help her."

Tw'eak was left with little choice. She drew her phaser sidearm and aimed it at Oulius, setting it to stun. "Subcommander, I'm warning you. You touch that drone and you'll bring half the Collective down upon us."

"Admiral." Octavia intervened. "I believe we should permit the subcommander the opportunity to try. Given the advances we have made in Borg reclamation, it may be possible to return his wife to him."

"You both heard Bianca. She said this planet has been assimilated for the past twenty years." Tw'eak looked at Oulius. "How long have you known your wife?"

Oulius' hand fell away. "Seven years."

"So she's not your Cressia. Even if she was, Oulius, we can't take that risk. We'd have to subdue her, secure this site, and then disconnect her from the Collective. Assuming we could even do that here - we'd have to take her back to _Warspite_. And then every Borg probe, sphere, cube, whatever - within half a light-year would have her location on their sensors."

Oulius' hand became a fist. "It's just... I've already lost her once. I can't stand seeing her this way."

Tw'eak took a step towards Oulius, and holstered her phaser. She put a hand on his shoulder, both reassuring him and drawing him a few steps back from the alcove. "C'mon." Oulius withdrew to a safe distance, and Tw'eak nodded to Commander Jarok. "Tactical positions, everyone. Commander, if you can, let's have that door open."

Jarok nodded, and Octavia followed closely behind, setting up a defensive position in the the doorway by utilizing her fabrication kit. Within moments, a shield generator and a phaser turret materialized. The interface with the door caused the Borg drones to begin moving from their alcoves. Tw'eak signalled Tlhosh to protect Commander Jarok, while with a second hand motion, she directed Pal to the side of their perimeter closest to the drones which had once been Oulius and Cressia.

From all sides, the sounds of activated machinery, the red glow of laser sights and the grinding of mechanical joints became omnipresent. Tw'eak quietly reached around and grabbed her pulsewave, positioning herself to aim along a wall of the corridor. As the Borg began to step out of their alcoves, into their shambling attack mode, she activated the arcwave setting and unleashed a solid blast of antiproton energy, knocking back at least six of them into a jumbled collective of body parts and modules. Two or three began to emerge slowly from this pile.

"Oulius!" she called, drawing the subcommander's attention away from the relatively distant Cressia drone. He made quick work of one which was staggering to its feet, while the other had already adapted to his weapon as he fired. He took to one knee, remodulating. As he did, Tw'eak looked over to Pal, who merely nodded, having subdued the drones on his flank with Tlhosh's help. Meanwhile, Octavia had moved into a forward position, placing another phaser turret there. One of the drones gripped her arm with its hand, a menacing presence looming over her. Undaunted, Octavia twisted around and activated a sort of green energy blast from her ocular implant. The drone staggered, released its grip, then fell away. As it did, the phaser turret turned and fired into it at point-blank range. She calmly stepped away from the remains.

"You alright?" Tw'eak asked.

"I am unharmed," Octavia replied. The general level of noise subsided in the corridor as the Borg were subdued. "And unassimilated," she noted for further measure.

"Good," Tw'eak said. "That thing you did with your eye... I'd never seen you do anything like that before."

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Ah. That."

"Yes, that. "

"A neuralytic overload, delivered directly into the drone's optical network. I did not expect it to work. Strictly an option of last resort. I will study its future effectiveness and possible other adaptations."

Pal made a slight growling noise. Commander Jarok, who was now standing in the opened doorway leading to the computer mainframe, merely laughed.

"You do that," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Let's get going."

* * *

The central chamber housed four stations, only one of which was presently active - the largest, and lowest, of the consoles. Beyond, a massive core spun visibly before them, once the repository for all intelligence and information routed to the Romulan Tal Shiar, prior to its assimilation. Two Borg drones stood at the console, interfacing with it, when they were made aware of the threat emerging into their presence by the Collective. They had disengaged and turned partway around when a cascading blast of antiproton energy sent both of them tumbling helplessly over the console. In the doorway, Tw'eak held her pulsewave in her hands, having fired the shot that killed them.

"Let's go," she said, and the six-member team fanned out.

"It won't be long before more Borg beam in," Pal advised.

"Noted." Tw'eak saw Oulius' temporal shield flicker slightly. "How much longer do we have for these shields?"

"Approximately ten minutes at minimum." Octavia created a shield generator and placed it right in front of the main console. "I would recommend staying no longer."

"What about adapting a shield generator to boost the temporal field?"

"Inadvisable," Octavia replied. "Temporal shields do not function in the same fashion as a defensive energy shield - it functions merely as a barrier against alterations in the timeline. To enhance its harmonics would be inadvisable, as the temporal harmonics are far more difficult to balance properly. Our generators currently only apply shield energy to existing fields based upon a recursive -"

"Just 'no' is fine," Tw'eak helpfully suggested.

"No, then." Octavia took a few steps and produced a quantum mortar, placing it on the lower ledge.

Tw'eak nodded. "Alright." She went to the main console, where Oulius and Jarok had begun working. "How are we doing?"

"Not great. The main computer junction circuitry is independently controlled through those three consoles around there." Jarok pointed up around a circular walkway. "Typical Tal Shiar thinking - you need three people to say 'yes' before you're allowed to input your computer query."

"Right."

"We'll need you to move around and activate each console in turn. We'll be able to download the information into our tricorders as you do."

"And if the Borg beam in while you're down here?"

"I will protect the commander," Oulius asserted.

Tw'eak gave a slight frown. "Tlhosh - I want you here."

"Underssstood." The massive Gorn took a position directly behind the two Romulans, and faced the other way. "I am ready."

Tw'eak looked over to her Jem'Hadar protector. "We cover Octavia - and Octavia, you can reroute the power to the junction once we reach them."

"I will endeavour to do so. The subcommander may be a better choice, however, as he has greater familiarity with these systems. Were I to remain here, I could operate the console with Commander Jarok's assistance. The rest is merely tricorder recording, and could be accomplished regardless."

Tw'eak mused this over for a moment. She set aside her growing anxiety - that the future of both this timeline and her own depended upon her decision. The time was against them - and, indeed, if they were to learn anything from the computer core that dominated the room, they would have to act quickly. Tw'eak looked at Subcommander Oulius. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think Octavia's a bit more suited to holding a fixed position."

"I'd rather keep the subcommander safe, if that's alright."

"You are - by coming with Pal and me. We'll be faster that way. Octavia's never been much good running. The Borg ruined her mobility."

"An accurate assessment," Octavia commented. "My muscular flexibility is considerably reduced relative to - "

Oulius shook his head. "The two of you can handle it."

Tw'eak looked in and stared hard into Oulius' eyes. "You didn't let her down, Oulius. You need to know that."

Oulius looked at Commander Jarok. "I should be here to protect her."

"Her - who, Tiaru? Octavia? Or Cressia?"

"We don't have time for this," Pal insisted.

Tw'eak slung her pulsewave under her arm. "Look at me." Oulius refused. "That's an order, Subcommander." Oulius gritted his teeth and turned. "Look at me. I need you here." She reached out a hand to him, then gestured to the consoles. "And up there." Tw'eak pointed to the computer core. "Up there is access to information that could change our entire future. The one we came from, not this hellscape. But I can't get that information by myself. I need an officer experienced in infiltrating Tal Shiar intelligence consoles to operate it for me. I have Commander Jarok to handle this end - thank you, Tiaru."

"Jolan tru," the commander replied.

Tw'eak continued. "Now, I would understand if you chose to withdraw from this mission - fighting like this, here, after all you've been through? It'd drive any of us mad to see their homeworld, their family, assimilated. I'm authorizing you to return to the ship if you feel you need to. I get it. It wasn't so long ago that you and the captain, and a few others, put me in my place for acting unlike myself. Well, it's your turn."

"That isn't the issue," Oulius insisted.

"For me, it is. Now, I need an officer who's trained in handling Borg resistance and an officer who's able to work those consoles. For me, there's only one man for both those tasks, and you're it. Are you with me?"

Oulius looked over, doubting, hesitating, then nodding his head. "Let's go."

"Alright. Pal, take - "

" _Warspite_ to Sh'abbas!"

Bianca's voice was frantic. "Bianca. What's wrong?"

"About twenty Borg vessels are on an intercept course - with the _Annorax_."

"They're not even bothering to cloak themselves?" Commander Jarok inquired.

"That's correct - I don't know why, we know they can. _Lleiset_ is moving to protect the _Annorax_. Should I move out of position?"

"Not yet. We're almost done here. We'll have to hope _Lleiset_ can hold them for a few more minutes - just stay in position and beam us out as soon as I signal."

"And if we're detected in the meantime?"

"Remain evasive and hold them off as best you can. Keep those temporal shields up at all costs."

"Will do. _Warspite_ out."

Tw'eak looked around at the five officers assembled around her. "Alright. Tiaru, you and Octavia get that console working. Octavia, watch the fabrications, replace them if they need it." Both Jarok and Octavia nodded in turn. "Tlhosh, you keep your eyes open. Whatever it takes, you keep these two safe."

"I sssshall," Tlhosh replied.

Tw'eak turned to Oulius. "Fast as you can on those consoles. Pal, stay behind - protect one side, I'll cover the other." She looked around. "Questions."

"We shall reconvene here at the conclusion of your circuit?" Octavia asked.

"I'm presuming, yes. This is our beam-out point. That also makes this our fall-back point. Get back here or you're out of time. Tlhosh tends to the wounded, or assimilated, if he can. One way or another, one of us gets this data back to the ship. Put your commbadge on your tricorder in the worst case - but you make sure they get this data." There was a murmur of approval.

"Here goes," Jarok said, activating her console access.

"Good luck," Tw'eak continued, then turned. "Let's do this."

She climbed the ramp to the first station. Borg began to materialize in front of her. Oulius and Pal opened fire, as she did, knocking back or knocking down all three Borg the moment they appeared. The sound of the quantum mortar firing made her take a step back, but it did not land near Tw'eak's position. Rather, it took out one of two Borg which had beamed in near the main console. "Done!" Oulius called out from the console on the high ground.

"Accessing mainframe directories one through forty-seven," Jarok called out before leveling the other Borg to her right with her plasma pistol.

Tw'eak moved up the ramp, and saw three more Borg standing between her and the console. Two of them were displaced by a quantum mortar detonation, but the third moved forward in typical drone fashion. Tw'eak took to her knee and fired the arcwave setting, sending the drone skyward, its arms crashing down on the two which the mortar had struck. One of them came up just as Tw'eak charged towards its position, and she felled it from the upper deck. It tumbled away downwards to land next to one of Octavia's phaser turrets, which put a few bolts in the drone for good measure before finding another target - two more Borg who had beamed in on the main level. Oulius moved to the console and activated it, with a bit of difficulty. Behind Tw'eak, Pal brought his boot down on a still-active drone pinned beneath another, snapping its neck.

"Ready?" Tw'eak called to Oulius.

"Done!" Oulius yelled.

"Access to directories forty-eight through eighty-three," Jarok noted. "One more set."

"C'mon, Pal," Tw'eak said. Ahead of them, four Borg materialized between their position and the platform. Without a moment's hesitation, Tw'eak and Pal both ran up, extended themselves, and landed flying drop-kicks from their elevated positions on the ramps. One of the Borg clumsily tumbled over the nearby railing, while a third staggered back into the fourth. Tw'eak recovered herself, grabbed Pal by the shoulder as he rose, and, drawing him back, finished off the two still standing with her pulsewave. Oulius leveled his disruptor pistol at the last of them and vapourized it before it could recover its feet. "Go," Tw'eak said, indicating the console with a nod of the head.

"Admiral!" Jarok cried out. "We could use some help here!"

Tw'eak looked up and over - an elite tactical Borg drone. She tapped Pal and sent him on his way to help, then looked back at the drone. Surely the coincidence was an impossible one. The face was unmistakably that of Hakeev - Tal Shiar master Hakeev, puppet of the Iconians, one-time tormentor of Tw'eak, whose execution she had witnessed first-hand in their timeline. But this was not Tw'eak's timeline, and here, he too was now a slave to the Borg. She heard the familiar cadence, 'resistance is futile', emanate from his mouth, but the voice was nothing like Hakeev's - the soulless chorus was undeniably that of the Collective.

Oulius completed his work at the last console. "Go!" he cried. Tw'eak sprang from her position and maneuvered into position behind the Borg drone, cutting loose the arcwave yet again - with no effect. Her eyes widening, she realized she had skipped the critical step of remodulating her weapon, and did so - a brief second of an automated process that felt like an eternity as the elite drone pivoted and moved toward her. This gave her enough time to raise her rifle, take a knee, and carefully aim at the former Hakeev's armoured midsection.

But she held her fire. From behind came the lunging, grasping arms of an angry Gorn medic. He leapt upon the drone's back, clawed feet piercing as they clutched on, and opened wide. A monstrous bite was applied to the drone's neck, and as the drone raised its arms to defend itself, its assimiliation tubules clanked off of Tlhosh's scaly skin. The crashing thud of the drone hitting the deck was followed in short order by a savage snap. Not only had Tlhosh succeeded in knocking down the Borg, he had used the continued motion - and the counter-pressure of his teeth bearing down - to effortlessly sever its head. From one side of the Gorn's mouth dangled a lengthy mechanical spinal column, while the other side was abloom with the extensive cranial modifications which the Hakeev drone had sported. With relish, Tlhosh turned his head hard to the right and spat the cranium, its face permanently fixed in a shocked expression, into a far corner. Tlhosh took a moment to wipe the spittle and fluids from his lower jaw as his eyes darted about, mouth held in a toothy grin.

"I'm glad you're on our side," Jarok said breathlessly.

"Everyone alright?" Tw'eak asked.

Octavia held her arm at her side. "I have been slightly wounded," she informed Tw'eak. Oulius and Jarok both moved to check on her.

"All othersss are unharmed," Tlhosh reported. He stood tall as Pal approached, gave him a curt nod of approval, and continued to scan the interior for further threat. This was all the compliment Tlhosh needed, and he gave a satisfied hiss, then picked a Borg component from between his teeth.

Jarok moved back, and Tw'eak looked Octavia in the eye. "Your shields are in place?"

"Yes, but..." Octavia lowered her hand from her side. Twin injection marks were present. "I have been compromised."

Tw'eak's eyes widened, and she pushed Oulius back from her side. "Tlhosh!" she called. "Octavia's been injected!"

The Gorn came to Octavia's side, and reached into his medical kit. "Jussst a moment." He held out a hypospray.

"Immunosupport nanites," Octavia remarked.

"Yesss."

She held out a hand. "To inject me with those would be fatal."

"But it issss a sssstandard method of treating - "

"You misunderstand. I am Borg. My nanites are currently adapting to the nanites of this timeline's Borg. Mine are..." Octavia's eyes fluttered. "Encountering difficulty at present."

"Let us help you," Tw'eak implored.

"Such help may be beyond me at this juncture in time. If the Borg nanites are successful in deactivating my temporal shield, such questions are meaningless regardless of outcome. You have the information. Return to the ship."

Tw'eak shook her head. "We're not leaving without you."

"Return to _Warspite_ ," Octavia insisted. "I am expendable."

"I won't return to _Warspite_ without her captain, Captain."

"Please, Admiral. This is no time for foolish sentiment. I will be assimilated. I will once again become Borg." She looked up at Tw'eak. "It matters little. I was able to learn that, in this time, there is no Eight of Twelve resident within the Collective. I was... unable to contact myself." She gave Tw'eak a slight hint of a smile. "My former self continues to live, unassimilated. That will be comfort enough for me during my assimilation."

"Like hell, it will."

This comment came not from Tw'eak, but from Oulius. "Elements preserve me," he said as he stepped into Octavia's side. "Forgive me, Captain, but I refuse to accept this timeline as my own. And neither should you." He reached over and tapped Octavia's commbadge. "Two to beam directly to sickbay."

Before another word could be spoken, the two _Warspite_ officers dematerialized, leaving Tlhosh holding a hypospray in hand for no reason. He tucked it back into his kit. "We mussst go," he said.

"Just a moment," Jarok said, hand raised. "I realize the state it's in, but... this is my last chance to stand upon my homeworld." She closed her eyes. "Let me just take a moment to remember it as it was."

"Tal Shiar, and all?" Tw'eak couldn't help but ask.

"I know it wasn't perfect," Jarok replied. "But it was home."

Tw'eak smiled, and after a moment, Jarok turned and nodded.

"I hope your friend is able to recover," Jarok said quickly.

"Me too." Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. "Four to beam up, _Warspite_."

Together - Romulan, Andorian, Jem'Hadar and Gorn - the quartet returned to the waiting starship above.

* * *

"Come on, people, we've got to work faster!"

The atmosphere inside of _Warspite_ 's sickbay was at normal pressure, life support systems functioning nominally. However, it didn't feel that way at all. Tension was fraught like static electricity throughout the room, as even the other patients - injured in some non-critical fashion during the skirmish with the Borg ships - gave their full attention to the desperate action at the far end of the room. Down there, the bio-bed on the right was placed within a quarantine field. Two nurses, medic Tlhosh, and Doc were working frantically to re-balance the process going on within their patient, the ship's captain. On the bio-bed, Octavia did not move, made no sound, and on occasion, twitched or opened her eye.

"Assimilation functions are now beginning to occupy critical zones of her renal tissues," one of the nurses, tricorder at the ready, reported.

"Damn. If they'd jabbed her in the arm or the leg with that stuff, we'd be having a different conversation." Doc looked to Tlhosh. "How are we making out with the replicator?"

"I am unable to duplicate the captain'sss nanoprobesss precisssely," the Gorn replied.

"Let's try a different approach - see if you can analyze their reproduction, figure out what they need to create more of them. Maybe if we give her a shot full of resources, they'll know exactly what to make with them."

"Very well," Tlhosh replied, moving into the nearby lab.

Into this melee stepped Tw'eak and Subcommander Oulius. "How's your patient, Doc?" Tw'eak asked.

"Not good," Doc replied. "I'm not even sure I'm helping. This whole assimilation process is entirely different. Whatever these Borg give you, it happens a lot faster."

"Doctor!" The nurse stared at the tricorder with horror. "Exo-plating is starting to develop around the injection site."

"That's alright, it's expected." Doc looked at Tw'eak. "We'll get that with micro-surgery later. Right now, I need more of her nanoprobes to be effective."

Tw'eak looked over to see that Bianca duBois had joined them. "C'mon," she said, ushering the acting captain to her side.

"Lieutenant Farnham is doing fine, protecting the _Annorax_ up there," Bianca said. "I hope I'm not too late."

"She's still here," Tw'eak said. "We're doing everything we can."

"Admiral..." Octavia's voice sounded hoarse.

This startled Doc so badly that she nearly lost balance. "That's the first thing she's said since she got here - stay still now, Captain. You're in sickbay."

"Doctor. Commander. Admiral. I would advise you of your duty to the - "

"Not now, Octavia," Doc chided gently. "They're here out of concern. The ship's not in any danger."

"That's right," Bianca said, wiping a tear from her eye.

Octavia looked to Doc. "Doctor. I must... advise you of my nanoprobe fail-safe."

"Your what?" Tw'eak stepped closer, her leg contacting the edge of the quarantine field. She shuffled back a half-step.

Octavia's tone was slow, deliberate, in every word. "In order to ...preclude my re-integration into the Collective, my nanoprobes will intentionally sever my nervous system from my mind in order to preserve my function. This process will begin only once twenty-five percent of myself is fully assimilated."

"How bad is it now?" It felt odd for Tw'eak to hear Doc ask that question, but the good doctor was at a loss as to how to proceed.

"I estimate approximately thirteen point seven five percent assimilation. Thus, time is short. Should the Borg infestation secure a connection to my nervous system, my nanoprobes will cordon it off and automate all function."

"Sort of like a coma," Tw'eak considered.

"Precisely. Should this process begin, I will lose consciousness. I recommend that disposal of my remains take place immediately once that happens."

"I can't sign your death certificate if you're not actually dead," Doc protested.

"Let me take this opportunity to say what an honour it has been to serve with you all." Octavia's halting cadence paused for a moment, and her eye darted to Oulius. "Subcommander. Thank you for saving me."

"I... I wouldn't say that I have, yet." Oulius frowned, his emotion plain to see.

"Don't grieve," Octavia said. "I will make every effort to prevail and return to duty as soon - "

Her words halted, and her body went limp. Doc looked up at the bio-bed readout, then over at the nurse. "Report."

The nurse shook her head. "Her neural function is non-existent. All lifesigns are reducing to a minimum." She closed the tricorder. "I'm sorry."

Doc turned to Tw'eak. "Now what? If I keep her here, she'll become one of them."

"But we can't abandon her either," Tw'eak replied. "We do that, without a temporal shield, and that's it, we'll never get her back."

Oulius grabbed Tw'eak's arm. "That's it!"

Tw'eak was startled. "What's it?"

"Without a temporal shield - Admiral. Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone, but maybe we can save her."

"Explain."

Oulius looked to Bianca. "If we put the captain in something small, say a shuttlecraft or even a pressurized container, and put her out in space, outside our temporal shield, she'll become a part of this timeline."

"That's horrible!" Bianca was repulsed by the notion.

"Hear me out. We then alter the timeline - say we have the _Annorax_ do it. Make it so that the Borg don't get to Romulus. No Borg, no drones - no drones, no accelerated assimilation of the captain."

"But that'd mean we couldn't bring her back into our timeline," Tw'eak mused.

"Why not?" Bianca countered. "If we'd beamed aboard that rock earlier, before we altered our timeline, we'd still have it here. A temporal shield only protects from changes to the timeline. We can have things pass between it, even organic substances, without any damage."

"This is what Octavia was trying to explain to me on the surface," Tw'eak said. "That a temporal shield isn't a shield in the typical sense."

Bianca shook her head. "It's more of a chronometric barrier, it doesn't act the same way as a shield at all."

"So if we put her on the other side of that barrier, alter the timeline - we alter her without altering anything else."

"That's right." Bianca pointed upward. "What the subcommander's saying is that, in her current temporal state, she's being assimilated. Remove the Borg from this timeline's Romulus, and remove this timeline's Borg nanoprobes from the captain. Our temporal shield won't need to be up or down in order to use the transporter - it can remain active throughout the process."

Doc frowned. "Wait, won't that mean meddling in their timeline to do that, though?"

"I don't know that it's much worth saving, do you? It's certainly not our own."

"Not even a little," Doc said with a sigh.

Oulius touched a hand to his lips again. "But we could still get home - to our timeline, I mean, afterwards. _Silhouette_ would be able to use its temporal sink to reverse the changes to the timeline - as long as we had the captain safely aboard, behind our temporal shield again, before that happened - "

"Then I could reactivate her synaptic pathways and repair whatever damage they've done," Doc exclaimed. "It just might work."

"Make the preparations. This will require careful synchronization if we're going to succeed." Tw'eak bit her lip. "We don't want to create yet another timeline because of this - we just want Octavia restored, and then we go home."

"Our captain," Bianca corrected.

Tw'eak nodded at Bianca. "Our friend," Tw'eak added, and the two of them turned and headed towards the bridge, leaving Oulius to assist Doc, a fierce smile on his face again. Tw'eak tapped her commbadge as she went through the sickbay door. "Sh'abbas to bridge."

"Bridge here, Admiral - Lieutenant Farnham speaking."

"Lieutenant, hail the _Annorax_ , and the _Silhouette_. Tell them to prepare for temporal incursion."

* * *

The turbolift doors opened, revealing _Warspite_ 's bridge to be a busy place. Both Bianca and Tw'eak moved in the space behind the captain's chair, neither of them daring to seat themselves in it. Bianca quickly darted over to the science console to check on things, passing the operations console as she did, where a Tellarite lieutenant deftly managed shield nutations. Beside the operations console, at tactical, Tw'eak came to stand alongside Lieutenant Farnham, who competently executed a swift series of attacks to neutralize a Borg cube, in concert with the mighty guns of the warbird _Lleiset_.

Lieutenant Aewon turned slightly. "I'll have to keep her steady for a few moments once the temporal incursion begins," he advised Tw'eak and Bianca.

"Good idea, Lieutenant," Bianca said. "That'll give Chief Sandoval one less set of variables to worry about."

"No time for simulations!" Tw'eak overhead via subspace communication with the _Annorax_. The voice was that of one of the Krenim researchers, named Noye. "Prepare to fire!"

"We're out of time!" Tw'eak heard Captain Nog say from the bridge of the _Annorax_. "Our temporal capacitors are failing - our temporal shields are almost gone!"

"Oulius, what's the hold-up?"

In sickbay, Oulius and Pal sealed the torpedo casing around Octavia, the process of her assimilation causing her skin to ripple with deep green veins. "We're ready." He placed a commbadge on the case and activated it. "Transporter room, energize."

Behind _Warspite_ , a torpedo casing materialized in space - inert, and in an area that was devoid of either Borg or allied weapons fire. In a moment, the rainbow surge of _Annorax_ 's primary weapon, like an angry prism unleashing its spectrum in a narrow beam, connected with the Borg transwarp conduit located in the Romulus system. In a flash, the planet and its Borg unicomplex vanished from sight. The sensors went dark once again.

"Status?" Tw'eak asked.

"Sandoval here," the transporter chief said quickly. "Sensors are back online - I'm energizing now."

A flickering confinement beam began to grow in intensity, and within a few moments, a section of the floor was once again occupied by an inert torpedo casing, re-materializing within _Warspite_ 's sickbay and containing Octavia. Oulius reached for a button on the nearest console. "Bridge - we have her."

Doc and her team moved in as Pal began unsealing the torpedo. "And now my work begins. Excuse me, gentlemen."

Pal broke open the case and, as he did, produced the scanner he had brought with him to Romulus. He activated his communicator. "No signs of hostile nanoprobes in the captain's system, Admiral."

Oulius gripped the console he had used to contact the bridge, overwhelmed by the day's events. "Thank the Elements," he sputtered.

"Good work, everyone," Tw'eak said, relieved.

* * *

The brief flickering sight of the Romulan homeworld vanished again as the sensors dimmed, replaced moments later by the devastated asteroids and emanations of the destroyed planet which had once been home to the great star empire - just as it should be.

"Spacetime indicators are returning to normal... We're in the Romulus system... looks to be present-day. Confirmed - subspace relays are confirming present stardate to be 99615.4." Lieutenant Farnham halted her narrative as her console blinked. "We're receiving a hail from the starship _Lleiset_."

"On screen," Tw'eak and Bianca said at the same time.

"Sorry, Admiral," Bianca said.

"No, no," Tw'eak corrected, stepping back from the command chair. "Your bridge."

Bianca smiled sweetly at Tw'eak. "My bridge," she said softly. "I could get used to that." She nodded to Lieutenant Farnham, and the screen showed Commander Jarok, on her command deck.

"Did you see it?" she asked. "The homeworld. It was exactly like I remembered it - like we all remember it."

"I wish we could've offered you more than a few minutes of that sight," Bianca replied. "But I don't really know if it's worth the effort."

"Agreed," Jarok said with a sigh. "I got so caught up in the possibilities, that I was blind to the potential for disaster. I can't believe it turned out like this, but I suppose we'll all have to have faith that we'll find another way to defeat the Iconians."

Bianca nodded. "It was an honour working with you and your crew, Commander."

"Likewise. Please give my regards to your admiral."

Bianca looked up at Tw'eak. "I'm just over here, Tiaru."

"Oh, Admiral - sorry, I didn't see you there. We'll contact Alliance Command with our report - assuming nothing else has changed in the timeline while we've been gone."

"I should hope not," Tw'eak replied. "With any luck, everything will be right where it should be when we get back. Still, if you notice anything unusual, people eating with their tongues, that sort of thing, let me know right away."

Jarok made a quirky face, then smiled. "Of course. _Lleiset_ out."

On the main viewer, the massive bulk of the _Scimitar_ -class warbird concealed itself in its cloak and vanished from view. As it did, another smaller dark-skinned craft approached - the timeship _Silhouette_.

Lieutenant Farnham checked the beeping notification on her console. " _Silhouette_ on comms, Captain duBois for you, ma'am."

Tw'eak laughed, and looked at Bianca. "Your bridge," she said again.

"On screen," Bianca said, then turned to see her sister on the main viewscreen. "Captain duBois."

"Acting Captain duBois," Aurora said with a giggle. "Hey, Admiral."

"Good work on the temporal anchor," Tw'eak said.

"Oh, it was easy. This ship's got so many things it can do! I wish there wasn't a war on, we could get back to it. How did everything go for you guys? Where's the captain?"

Tw'eak and Bianca looked at each other, the mirth gone from their expressions. Out of her peripheral vision, Tw'eak could see Spera step forward on the _Silhouette_ 's bridge, standing within the frame of the viewer. "Sickbay," Tw'eak said after a moment.

Spera gasped, and Aurora's usual sparkling manner turned ashen. "No."

The turbolift doors opened, allowing Oulius and Pal access to the bridge. Both of them stepped forward. "How is she?" Bianca asked immediately.

"She's alive," Oulius replied, then smiled. "There are no traces of any nanoprobes but her own. Doc says it'll take a few hours to repair the damage and get her back up to her usual self, but she's going to come through it."

"Oh, thank God," Aurora said from the viewer. "I'm so happy for you guys. I was so worried for a second - she would be the last person I'd want anything to happen to - other than you, Bia. And you too, Admiral. And, um... you know, everyone."

"We felt terrible," Spera concluded as she stepped to Aurora's side.

"Yeah." Aurora laughed, and looked up at Oulius. "I thought for sure you were going to be her just walking back onto the bridge, like nothing happened."

Oulius smiled. "My apologies," he offered.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Tw'eak countered, then looked over at the screen as she walked over to his side. "Octavia wouldn't have even made it home without some quick thinking from our subcommander here." She put her arm around him. "Would've made her proud."

"I'm sure the captain will find my action to be ...suitable to the situation," Oulius said, imitating Octavia's manner, to the amusement of both bridge crews.

"That's not who I mean," Tw'eak said after a moment.

Oulius took her meaning. "Cressia," he said softly, his manner becoming subdued.

"We'll find her," Tw'eak said. "In our timeline. We'll do everything we can."

"I think..." Oulius clenched his jaw, and closed his eyes, for a moment before looking up at Tw'eak. "I think there's been enough wishful thinking for one day, ma'am. With all due respect, and perhaps with Counselor Derret's assistance, I will accept the present situation and make the best of it." He closed his eyes. "It's... what she would've wanted."

Tw'eak nodded and released the subcommander from her embrace. "Couldn't have said it better myself," she said. "Let's lay in a course for the Kyana system and make sure the _Annorax_ gets home safely."

"You got it, boss!"

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. "O'Leary!" she said after a moment.

The focus of the viewscreen pulled back to reveal the forward stations of _Silhouette_ 's bridge. "Alive and kickin'!" he said to the screen, giving a big thumbs-up. "This is seriously the sweetest ship I've ever flown. WOW! This puppy's got power like you wouldn't believe!"

"Glad to hear it meets your standard," Tw'eak replied.

"And then some! Oh baby - now that we're not sitting stock-still in space I'm gonna have me some fun! She puts the old _Silhouette_ in the shade! Seriously - every ship should be this sexy."

"Y'know, if the captain were here," Bianca said, "she'd probably correct your use of the word 'sexy'."

"She could correct any part of him she wanted," Aurora added.

"She'll be back on duty soon enough." Tw'eak nodded to the assembled bridge crew of the _Silhouette_ , giving a brief twinkle of the eye specifically to Spera, and said, "Good work, people. See you in the Kyana system. _Warspite_ out."

The viewscreen returned to the forward view, and Silhouette deftly turned away at impulse, then took off into warp. "Course laid in and plotted," Lieutenant Aewon said from the helm.

"Such a contrast," Oulius noted as he returned to his console, relieving Lieutenant Farnham - who, for her part, received a grateful nod of acknowledgement from Tw'eak as she departed. "On a Romulan warbird, such positions as 'helmsman' or 'science officer' are carried out by a variety of individuals, each performing a role to the commander's satisfaction, without further input. Yet here, the individual personalities of each are such a... key part of the fabric of what makes each starship its own."

Tw'eak nodded. "It's one of our greatest strengths - we come to depend upon each other, as a crew. Can't do that unless you're comfortable with each other, quirks and all." She smiled. "And between this ship and _Silhouette_ are some of the best officers I've ever served with. It makes a difference. We all have our parts to play in making this happen."

Oulius made an approving noise. "I can see that now. I'm... I'm glad I was wrong about things. About a great many things, actually." His face fell as he realized he was being a bit too sincere. "My apologies."

"No, don't apologize. I appreciate your candour - just as I do from all my best officers."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Tw'eak placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just... be who you are, here. And we'll get through it, together."

Oulius nodded, silently, and returned to his console, unable to get past his embarrassment.

"Now, then, if there's nothing further, I'm going to go put together my report for Captain Kagran, and have a nice cup of katheka." Tw'eak turned and made her way towards the turbolift. "Maybe a hot shower." She caught Bianca's eye. "Borg. They always have that effect on me."

"Me, too. Aurora always calls them 'creepy'."

"She calls lots of things 'creepy'."

"She does," Bianca replied with a laugh. "I'll let you know when I have the chance to analyze the data that your team brought back from the other timeline. Hopefully it's of value."

"When you have time," Tw'eak said with a slight irony. "Until then, the bridge is yours... Captain."

Despite herself, and despite the gravitas and poise which was typically associated with the captain's chair, Bianca permitted herself a few moments of bouncing in her seat at the sound of being called the captain. Perhaps it was the thought of Octavia's survival that made her giddy - and the understanding that Bianca's time in command would be limited as a result. Perhaps it was just the delirium of being fully in command that was affecting her. Or perhaps it was the thought that she, and her sister, were both presently in command of two of the Federation's most capable vessels, at high warp, on a heading towards the next great adventure. Either way, the levity broke as Bianca became acutely aware of her presence and its importance. Then she recovered herself, adjusted her uniform tunic, and cleared her throat. "Steady as she goes, helm," she said in an appropriately captain-like tone, studiously fitting herself to the stage management of her place in the captain's chair. Within herself, however, she felt like bursting out into song - her anxieties over the timeline changes having vanished, her shoulders rose without the burden of concerns, and her starship - her very own _Warspite_ , under her very own command for the time being - continued on course, faster than light, for the gateway to the Delta Quadrant, and beyond that, the Kyana system.


	100. Part VII, Chapter 3

**_Author's note:_** This is, somewhat unbelievably, the hundredth chapter of the story. I don't quite know how that happened, but I'm really, really glad you've read this far. Thanks so much for reading - hopefully the story's conclusion is everything you've hoped it would be. Cheers.

* * *

 _Admiral's log, stardate 99619.7 - With the_ Annorax _safely returned to the Alliance-Krenim facility in the Kyana system, I've called the Eleventh Fleet - my fleet - together in the nearby Kendren system in order to discuss next options and how best to proceed. At present, the ships under my command number thirty-nine; it's not as many as I'd hoped, I admit. Everything seems to be going against us lately, but I feel I owe it to each of my captains to hear them out, and give them a proper forum to make themselves heard. It's what I'd want, in their place. Fortunately, with a little help from an old friend, I've figured out a way to have the conversation I want to have, with everyone._

The decks of the starship _Bonaventure_ were much as Tw'eak remembered - narrow corridors, crew members endlessly pacing about, limited room to maneuver, and a sense of comfort which being aboard her old command provided. She walked in the company of Captain Lio'wan, the massively-built Caitian who had once been her flight deck officer, now the _Akira_ -class heavy escort carrier's commanding officer.

"She's a good ship," Tw'eak said as they turned a corner in the corridor. "As I'm sure you've found."

"Best ship I've ever served aboard," Lio'wan replied. "And a good crew. It's all a captain can ask for."

"Agreed." Tw'eak smiled at a passing ensign.

"I'm glad to have kept her together - it's been touch and go, these past couple months."

"And I'm glad I was able to arrange for you to join the Eleventh Fleet."

"Well, now... after they disbanded the Twenty-Ninth, we were just waiting for reassignment. Lucky for us, you needed escort carrier. And now, here we are. And, may I add, it's good to see you aboard again."

"Good to be aboard. This ship has a special place in my heart - as I'm sure it does in yours."

The burly Caitian's tail twitched, his ears forward proudly. "My first command. I was worried, a couple of times, that it'd be my last and only command."

"I remember that feeling," Tw'eak said with a smile. "All too well. Fortunately, I was wrong - this ship's gotten me through many a close call."

"Quite a few of those," Lio'wan replied.

"My good-luck charm," she continued. "I hope it will be again."

"Undoubtedly." Lio'wan came to a halt at the side of a door marked 'PILOTS READY ROOM'. "Are you ready?"

Tw'eak nodded, swallowing hard. Her antennae angled outwards in expectation of the challenge of getting her captains to agree upon their next move. "I hope so."

Lio'wan stepped through the door, into a room with eight rows of six chairs, separated by an aisle in the middle. Each side of the room gained elevation towards the back, meaning every seated person - in its usual configuration, intended for Bonaventure's flight teams - could have a clear view forward. Tw'eak was reminded of a lecture hall at the Academy. In the rows were forty-seven seated individuals. Her eight admirals in charge of her various formations - three vice-admirals, including Emlyn Downey, and six rear admirals - were seated mostly in the forward section. She caught sight of Captain Lance Caliburn of the _Temeraire_ seated about midway up, on the left. Captain Aurora duBois was seated on the aisle, right-hand side, and waved. Her sister, Commander Bianca duBois, sat next to her.

Standing at the podium, attentively organizing her notes on a padd, was Octavia, poised and alert. At the sight of Tw'eak, she straightened and tucked the padd at her side. "Attention!" she called out to the room.

As one, all forty-eight officers stood at attention, and Tw'eak took her place upon the slightly raised space before the podium. Behind her was a star map indicating the Alpha and Beta quadrants, with the option to scroll over to the Delta quadrant. Somewhere in the back, someone coughed rather intently.

Tw'eak stepped to Octavia's side, surprised to see _Warspite_ 's captain up and about. "How're you feeling?" she asked.

"Nominal," Octavia replied. "As another former drone once reportedly stated, rumours of my assimilation have been greatly exaggerated."

"Good," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Hadn't had a chance to see you since we got back - it's been busy."

"Of course," Octavia said, her eye darting back and forth between the assembled group of captains and her admiral.

"No need to be anxious. These people are good officers, just like you."

"I am - not anxious," Octavia replied, her stutter indicating she felt to the contrary. "Perhaps a little. I will be seated."

Tw'eak nodded, smiling, and looked up. "Please be seated." The rest of the assembled company of captains and admirals took their seats. Octavia and Lio'wan took up corner seats front-row on the right, nearest the door. Tw'eak activated the display on the podium, serving her in the same role a padd typically would.

She looked up warmly at the assembled company. "Admirals, captains... welcome. Fifteen hours ago, I had a conversation via subspace with Admiral Quinn. He's seeking options to present to the Federation Executive Committee as to how we can best proceed. And since he knows who to call in a crisis, he's asked me to assemble five potential plans of engagement which he can bring to the ExComm, and which they can then present to the Alliance. Yes?"

A hand shot up at the back. Tw'eak acknowledged with a point. "Captain Mharb," the Tellarite speaker introduced himself to be. "Why are we being asked for five plans? One or two should be sufficient, if planned properly."

"The way Admiral Quinn explained it to me, if we gave him our best five options, he would be offer it to them, and they'd be the ones to narrow it down - based on political considerations or other reasons beyond our level of clearance."

Captain Caliburn's hand shot up. "Why is Admiral Quinn giving that discretion to the Executive Committee? Starfleet can handle this by itself."

There was a murmur of discontent. "As I'm sure you're aware, Captain, Starfleet Command answers to the executive authority of the office of the Federation President. They tell us what to do. We're just giving them our appraisal of what we think is best to do - and we hope they listen. It's a discretion we won't expect to receive in return. That's what we call, the chain of command."

There was a chuckle in the room, and Caliburn seemed suitably chastened.

"Now that we've gotten the first-year lecture out of the way, does anyone have any other questions?"

No one raised a hand.

"Good. So. We currently have thirty-nine ships in ten squadrons, all under strength. The One-Fourteenth, Two-Twelfth, Two-Twenty-First, and Two-Nineteenth Attack Squadrons, the Forty-Seventh, Fifty-First, Ninety-Sixth, and Fortieth Independent Cruiser Squadrons, and the Three-Sixty-Fifth Independent Science and Support Squadron." As Tw'eak noted each, a Starfleet chevron with its backing oval differentiated in colour - crimson for attack squadrons, mustard for cruisers, and teal for the S&S team - came up in a list upon the side of the viewer behind her, each with its associated numeral listed beside.

"Now, I've re-shuffled it so that every ship in the fleet is allocated - you count as part of a squadron. This moves _Foch_ to become the heavy escort carrier of the Two-Twenty-First, _Stalingrad_ will do likewise by joining the Two-Nineteenth, the starship _Ranger_ moves from the Fortieth to the Ninety-Sixth to balance that formation, and the new ships fill in - _Bonaventure_ into the Two-Twelfth, _Polaris_ into Three-Sixty-Fifth, _Charioteer_ , _Bardiche_ and _Halberd_ into One-Fourteenth, and _Estoc_ and _Kukri_ balancing out Two-Twelfth as well." She looked up and took a deep breath. "And that's our fleet, as it stands. Welcome, to the new captains," she said, her eyes turning to Lio'wan, "we're glad you're with us in the Eleventh. and please make sure your respective admirals know who you are before you leave the room today."

There was a chuckle in the room, a nervous laugh that belied a dangerous fact. Three of the new ships - _Charioteer_ , _Estoc_ and _Halberd_ \- all had captains on their first assignment, at least two of them rapidly promoted into the role based on their continued existence, after combat operations necessitated their promotions for being senior officer left alive. The captain of the _Halberd_ , for instance, had scarcely been out of the Academy six months. Now, he commanded a _Sabre_ -class escort and was responsible for fifty-six lives as well as his own. Tw'eak looked at the _Halberd_ 's captain, who was shaking hands with the captain of the _Roosevelt_ \- the latter looked old enough to be his grandfather. It occurred to Tw'eak that she could scarcely recall seeing a younger - or perhaps 'more youthful-looking' might be the term - officer in command rank.

"Now, then," she continued. "I've whittled this down to three potential variations of theme - plans involving the Krenim timeship's direct involvement, plans that involve it being used as a diversion or 'bait', and plans that don't involve it at all. In the first category, we've more or less run the course of what we think we can accomplish by temporal incursion. The Krenim have exhausted all options in terms of what we can use the _Annorax_ against as an offensive weapon, and aside from some long-odds incursions, nothing stands out as being particularly viable. I want to make clear in advance - we can't simply remove the Iconians from the timeline directly. That is absolutely not a viable option, and I will not entertain any discussion of it. Any of you who were banking on getting payback by eradicating them from the timeline... the Krenim tried that, in simulation. Doing so would set back all of galactic civilization, on a scale of tens of thousands of years. It's not going to work." There were a few disappointed voices in the room - Captain Caliburn in particular could be seen to slump, disappointed, in his chair. One hand shot up near the back. "Yes?"

A reluctant Rigelian stood up. "Uh, Captain Syexoonchie, starship _Charioteer_." He hesitated for a moment. "Uh, so why not... um... just target the sphere when we know the Iconians aren't there? Or maybe just target one Iconian, like we did with M'Tara?"

Tw'eak nodded. "Good question - the reason is largely one to do with scale. The Krenim believe that removing the Herald Sphere from the timeline means the Iconians would just designate another sphere as their main operational base. Let's remember they command many, many spheres. While it might perhaps deprive them of the Heralds, they would find other thralls - possibly even more effective ones. It's also too great a risk to take unless we know for certain what happens when the _Annorax_ removes the Herald Sphere from the timeline. In that regard, there are too many variables for the Krenim to simulate to give us a clear picture. As for targeting a particular Iconian, they would have to be exposed and in a clear line of fire - the _Annorax_ 's weapon wouldn't work on the ground, it requires too much power and again, we can't targeting the Iconians directly with it because it would mean that our civilization would never develop."

Another hand shot up. An older human, this one the rear admiral commanding the Two-Nineteenth, stood up. "Admiral Wayland, Two-Nineteenth. Let's discount the use of the weapon for offensive purposes - is there anything we can do with it for defensive purposes? Say, use it as a threat of deterrent - a sort of 'mutually assured destruction'. Inform the Iconians of its existence, and then let them work out the consequences."

"Starfleet has only directed me to consider options that preserve the present timeline. Besides which, if the Iconians launched a concerted attack on the _Annorax_ , even in the most heavily fortified of our star systems, they'd destroy it and we'd have no chance of using it."

"But if we're going to lose either way, why not at least make it worth our while?" Wayland gave a sort of chuckle. "If we're going down anyway, I mean."

"Again, we're to restrict any collateral damage to the timeline, wherever possible. In the event of the Federation's total collapse, we would follow Plan Dusk, which I believe you've all been briefed upon, correct?" Murmurs of acknowledgement echoed around the room. No one wanted to discuss Plan Dusk. "I'd like to remind you that the first listed order in that plan involves no retaliatory or 'vengeance' actions are to be exacted upon the Iconians. The primary priority under Plan Dusk becomes the preservation of our way of life and civilization, whatever remains of it. Use of the _Annorax_ as some kind of 'doomsday device' will not be authorized by Starfleet, the Alliance, or the Krenim, for that matter."

Wayland sat back down, his face frustrated. Another hand was raised, this time that of a petite Betazoid captain in a sciences uniform. Tw'eak recognized her, and beckoned her to stand. "Captain Dyxarta Nazza, starship _Paladin_."

"Yes, I remember you," Tw'eak said. "Go ahead."

"May I suggest that perhaps we utilize the _Annorax_ for an inversion of its purpose?"

"Explain."

"In its present configuration - and I admit, I've only got technical schematics, not practical experience with it, but... in its present configuration, _Annorax_ is designed to channel chronokinetic forces through its temporal capacitors in order to alter the fabric of a target, whether that be living or inert matter, and remove it from the timeline. If we utilized this energy upon the fabric of space itself, we could - and again, I'm theorizing here - we could open a gateway in time."

"To what end?" This question came not from Tw'eak but from Admiral Wayland.

"That's the thing. We don't really know." Nazza shrugged. "It would take a lot of energy, and it might irreparably damage the fabric of space-time by doing so, but my historical department - and the files we still have on board from our time in Task Force Silhouette - suggest that maybe we can prevent this war by intervening at some point in the Iconians' history, to give them less incentive to be so angry in our time."

"But the best we can do is a few hundred years one way or another," Admiral Wayland countered. "It's far from perfect."

"My point exactly. Our present time-travel technology mainly consists of star-looping maneuvers or utilizing the Guardian of Forever. Neither of these methods are particularly efficient. One is restricted by Federation law, in fact. The Krenim have a stronger understanding of time and the chronodymanic forces at work therein, but with all their expertise, they themselves don't travel in time."

"Probably for good reason," Tw'eak mused.

"Yet the weapon they have selected requires pinpoint accuracy, exhaustive simulation, and enormous energy. It's the difference between a deflector-dish scan and a long-range sensor scan. The changes that the _Annorax_ makes are inflicted. We could use the weapon to send, say, a shuttlecraft or a diplomatic envoy ship back to a point in time, where it could find the Iconians and communicate with them."

"It won't work," Admiral Downey said from further down in front. "We don't have enough specific information to even know what to say. We'd run the risk of sending that single shuttlecraft into a whole galaxy's worth of potential hostiles, with little to no chance of success. Even a fully crewed starship would be hopeless in that scenario."

"Perhaps," Tw'eak countered, "but it is a decent option. Let's bear in mind that none of our conventional options are likely to do much more than slow down the Iconian advance. We tried a frontal assault on the Herald Sphere, with everything we had - and the Heralds shrugged it off and doubled their efforts. That restricts me to suggesting holding efforts or defensive patterns, none of which will do enough to change our outcome. In fact, one of the plans I have slated to offer involves us dispersing our strength to key systems for as long as we can hold out there, while another is simply to park everyone over Earth, once again, for as long as we can hold out there. They're holding actions - and I hate holding actions. I think a good number of us do."

"Hear, hear," Captain Caliburn called from further back in the room, amidst murmurs of approval.

"We need to turn this war around, and our weapons that actually work are relatively few." Tw'eak saw the duBois sisters huddled together, chattering away emphatically. "So if anyone can think of a way we can do that, just... let me know."

"Have we considered asking the Dominion for help?" an Andorian captain, a chaan-male, asked from down front. "Sorry, I'm Captain Tinlan Ch'alla, starship _Austerlitz_."

"I'm told that the Federation Diplomatic Corps has made overtures, but the Founders weren't receptive. I don't know if that means 'no', or if we're trying other overtures, or what that means. I also know I'd be wary, on a personal level, of asking the Jem'Hadar back into the Alpha Quadrant for any reason, even on a short-term basis. The repercussions of the last time someone did that are still haunting the Cardassians to this day."

"I see." Captain Ch'alla gave a quick nod, his antennae angling inwards slightly.

Tw'eak looked back towards the duBois sisters, still busily talking to each other. "Does anyone else have any recommendations or suggestions?"

A Vulcan captain, dark-haired and narrowly built, raised her hand. "Captain T'Vela, starship _Arrowhead_. May I suggest utilizing the _Annorax_ as a means by which to venture backwards in time, for the purpose of assassinating the surviving Iconians?"

"Explain."

"One imagines that the logical consequence of the Iconian bombardment is their flight from their homeworld, presumably to Dewa III, the present-day Romulan homeworld. Perhaps by preventing that flight at the moment it occurs, or intervening with a strike team, we might, as the human expression runs, 'finish the job'." The chatter in the room rose at this phrase, some voices in favour, while others frowned or looked appalled. T'vela continued. "In this fashion, it follows that, logically, we would preclude the current conflict from occurring, without temporal erasure taking place."

Admiral Wayland spoke up. "But that targets the Iconians directly - the admiral's already told us, that's not an option."

"This would target the surviving Iconians only. Their empire would have fallen already at that point, but their deaths at that point would be well in advance of their present development into their vengeful states of pure energy. They would be vulnerable."

Tw'eak gritted her teeth. "You do realize that such an action would run contrary to the guiding principles of Starfleet."

"It would reverse the progress of the Iconian war." T'Vela raised an eyebrow. "Thus, their deaths would reverse the losses of billions."

"Maybe even more than that," Admiral Wayland added, coming around to agreement. "We don't know how many other actions in Starfleet's history we could be positively affecting with the Iconians no longer active. The Solanae, the Bluegills, the Elachi... maybe they'd all become just... phantoms. Science fiction."

"Or they could become even greater menaces than they presently represent," Captain Nazza of the _Polaris_ countered. "We don't know that the Iconians didn't continue to shape our galaxy's development before they moved beyond it. We also don't know that the Iconians aren't serving as a check on the ambitions of their servitor races - the way we know they were with the Vaadwaur."

"That's another point," Wayland said, ignoring Nazza's other points completely. "The Vaadwaur wouldn't become as clear and present a threat as they have."

"Which might make forming an alliance of Delta Quadrant powers that much harder," Tw'eak responded, remembering the simulation in which the Hierarchy worked with the Iconians in the Vaadwaur's stead - to everyone's chagrin. "The captain's point is fairly taken."

"Well... there must be some way to find out."

"The Krenim," Admiral Downey suggested. "Ask them to run the suggestion. If Captain T'Vela's plan works as intended, and killing the Iconians at the lowest point is all we need to do, then it could have positive effects in our timeline in other ways. We know the Iconians were provoking the Undine, and the Undine provocations and infiltrations set the Klingons on the path to war with us. It's possible we could reverse the entire timeline of events for the past ten years - no war with the Klingons, with the Undine, with the Iconians."

"You know, I'm reminded..." Tw'eak shook her head. "I'm reminded of a conversation I had with Commander Jarok of the Romulan Republic. I know many of you have worked with her, and I've offered my report previously to all of you regarding the events of the recent temporal incursion we attempted with the _Annorax_. She reminded me that the possibilities were so great, were so intoxicating, that she blinded herself to the potential for disaster." Tw'eak looked up at T'Vela. "I concede that, yes, on the face of it, going after the Iconians in their moment of weakness, two-hundred-thousand years ago, is something that we could use the _Annorax_ in order to do. But the question then becomes who to send. If we send diplomats, they may not be given much of an audience - but if we send assassins... well. I don't know about all of you, but I traditionally associate 'assassination' with the Federation's enemies, not its agents."

A hand went up midway down the right-hand side. Tw'eak pointed to it, and Bianca duBois stood up. "Admiral. Hello everyone, I'm Commander Bianca duBois, from the _Warspite_ , this is my sister, Captain Aurora duBois." Bianca tucked a hand under Aurora's armpit and tried to lift her. "C'mon, 'rora."

"Hi," Aurora said as she stood up. "Commanding officer, _Silhouette_."

"We - well, we were talking while you were all talking, and, well... it seemed to us like you guys are all thinking about this as an either-or. Send diplomats, as Captain Nazza suggests, or send assassins, according to Captain T'Vela's idea. We have a slightly modified proposal. We'd like to recommend sending both."

There was a tumult of voices in the room. "Explain," Tw'eak said after quieting the crowd.

"Well, you see... it's kind of wonderful, don't you think? Maybe I've just been working with the intelligence people for too long here, but a big part of the problem in our fight against the Iconians is how hard we've had to work to understand them. And we still don't. Which is why we both think maybe we send back a team - and a very particular team - to study and better understand the Iconians, as they existed way back when. We'll try to show up at the right time, of course, in advance of their homeworld being destroyed, if we can. Then, we learn about them. Then we'll know for sure - not from a simulation, but from our own people - whether we negotiate or what."

"And if they kill our team," Captain Caliburn interrupted to say, "then we just go to Dewa and wait."

Bianca turned slowly and stared intently at Caliburn. "That's right." She looked back to Tw'eak. "While I realize that everyone's looking at the Iconians in light of their present attitude, we're Starfleet officers. This is an opportunity to explore their civilization - the Iconian civilization, unknown to us, as it was just before its destruction. And we should really take that opportunity. And again - if it means we have no choice but to destroy them, whether because they threaten us or because we learn they can't be reasoned with, then we do it - and we're justified in doing it. But we should exhaust all options before we resort to use of force - it's always been the Federation's way." She gave a half-smile to Tw'eak, then nudged her sister. "Your turn."

"Right - I ...wow, there's a lot of people. Hi." Aurora half-turned. "Wow, um, so you know my ship, the _Silhouette_ , right? It's really awesome, it's not a starship, it's a timeship. It's got, like, a temporal transporter and everything - "

"Aurora," Tw'eak admonished.

"Right, the point." Aurora gave a little snort. "Sorry, I'm just really nervous. I haven't done a presentation like this since the Academy."

"Go on," she encouraged.

"Well, 'kay, so Bia and I figure - that's my sister, Bianca, I mean, sorry - but we figure that _Annorax_ is just one part of this. We need to be able to send our team, whether that means 'science team' or 'strike team' or both or whatever, and be able to bring them back to our time as well. Don't leave anyone behind. And there's only one way we can do that - we're going to need _Silhouette_." She raised a hand. "See, most starships, they've got structural integrity down fine, but they don't have temporal integrity. They can configure their shields, but shields aren't perfectly reliable. If anything goes wrong, they'll just either break up in space and be destroyed, or worse, completely vanish."

"So we need temporal shields for our ships, then!" Captain Caliburn demanded.

"Normally, yes. But my guess is that the temporal current from that _Annorax_ ship's weapon will be too strong for just any ship to handle. _Silhouette_ can extend its temporal integrity field, probably take one, maybe two more ships along with us. We'll have to make sure we're not traveling at warp when we reach the threshold, either - so we'll need the _Annorax_ to be stationary. Hopefully that'll be all that needs to happen. We could ask the Klingons and Romulans to send one of their ships along with us."

Tw'eak mused over the plan. It made sense. To use the _Silhouette_ for its intended purpose - namely, to travel in time - fit its intended role, even if the time-travel in question was far beyond what had probably been imagined whenever the timeship had been designed. It also was the only ship that could be expected to do that job effectively. She foresaw bringing a Klingon warship along - Kagran's command vessel? - and possibly _Lleiset_ as well. One ship from each of the major three powers of the Alpha Quadrant, to either work with the Iconians or take up arms against them, situation-dependent. It made sense.

"There's still one question to answer," Admiral Downey asked. "Who do we send?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Bianca replied. Almost as one, all eyes fell upon Tw'eak. Her eyebrows raised, as did the hairs on the back of her neck. With her antennae angling inwards, Tw'eak looked up to see people nodding, smiling, or just gazing upon her hopefully. The feeling of being cornered - or perhaps pinned and wriggling - came over Tw'eak, and she cleared her throat with intent.

"I'll want your plans in detail by... twenty-one hundred, Commander, Captain." She narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'll have my ground squad from _Warspite_ transport over to _Silhouette_ as soon as possible. If you wouldn't mind, Captain, I'd like your first officer to join that squad."

Aurora smiled. "I don't think Spera would be very happy if you left her behind."

"I think you're right," Tw'eak said. "Alright people - let's formulate how best to proceed with this plan, and use the full fleet to screen or block our flight to the appropriate co-ordinates... wait, that's a good question: we know from when to when, but where? We can't exactly go to the Iconia system and open a portal."

"Recommend we ask the Krenim about that," Captain Nazza suggested.

"Good idea."

Caliburn's hand was waggling in the air. "Admiral!"

"Yes, Captain."

"Request permission for _Temeraire_ to accompany _Silhouette_ to the past."

"I don't think that'll be necessary. I was already thinking of asking Captain Kagran to come along, and possibly Commander Jarok as well."

"Well, then let me join the landing party."

Tw'eak fought the urge to smack Caliburn down with another witticism. "You have your ship, and it has its place in our formation. Let's get the planning done so we can get on with this - before it's too late." She saw Caliburn shrink into his seat. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, Captain. We all do. But we also all have our own distinct parts to play in this operation, if it's to be a success. Let's each look to our own responsibilities and make this count." She turned back to the viewscreen. "Now, we'll create a hypothetical waypoint here - wherever the Krenim want us to be - and from there, we'll need to have the various squadrons of the fleet in different positions to both protect the Annorax for as long as it takes, and to shield against..."

The discussion of the finer points took an hour. By the time it was over, where Starfleet had asked for recommendations, Tw'eak had four tepid plans revolving around limited offensives and holding actions, and a fifth plan that boldly re-worked the Annorax's weapon into a means of potentially altering the conflict two hundred thousand years before it had even begun. She knew exactly which one Admiral Quinn would wind up approving when she sent the plans along that evening, before spending a restless night grappling with the paramount importance her conduct during this mission would have on the unfolding of the entirety of the future. And for the first time in a very long time, she spent part of that evening in prayer to the Infinite for guidance, for luck, and for serenity enough to grant her a few hours' sleep before morning.

* * *

The next day, Tw'eak slept a little longer than usual. She woke up feeling exhausted, never a good sign. She skipped her morning run, against her better judgment, and once ready for the day, took a walk around the _Warspite_ 's decks, nodding and smiling at people as she did. She had criss-crossed a couple of decks when her commbadge sounded.

"Bridge to Sh'abbas."

"Go ahead, Bianca."

"We've arrived in the Kyana system alongside _Silhouette_. Briefing will apparently begin at eleven-thirty."

"That's good." Tw'eak found herself confused. "What briefing?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you," Bianca corrected herself. "Starfleet Command contacted us in the middle of the night, the Executive Committee has cleared us to begin our operation, as discussed."

"Which one? There were five."

There was a moment's hesitation. "I think it should be obvious, ma'am. The only one that stood out, let's say. This is an open channel after all."

"Right - right." Tw'eak shook her head. "Just wanted to be clear. Anyway, let me know when we're in-system."

Another moment's hesitation. "I just did, ma'am. We've arrived in the - Is everything alright?"

"Yes, just fine."

"I should also let you know that Captain Shon's aboard. I think he was on his way to find you, before the briefing."

Tw'eak smiled briefly, then caught herself. "Let the captain know I'll be in my quarters."

"Will do, ma'am."

"And... let Kagran know I won't be available until fourteen-thirty at the earliest."

Bianca chuckled. "I'm sure he'll understand. Bridge out."

"I don't care if he doesn't," Tw'eak murmured to herself with a smile.

* * *

Tw'eak returned to her quarters to change. She rifled through the closet, trying to find something suitable. She had barely made it past her dress uniform when the chime sounded. "Come in."

Va'kel Shon stepped through the opened door. "I hope I'm not intruding," Shon said as he noticed her in the bedroom.

Tw'eak caught his eye glancing across the bed, which was still unmade from her earlier rest. "Not - not at all." She stepped away from the closet and came over to embrace him. The door closed as he met her halfway, and after an introductory kiss, she leaned back in his arms. "We've been busy today - I had a hell of a night trying to sleep."

"I can imagine. I received a mission brief about three hours ago. Still not sure I follow it."

"I didn't realize they'd be assigning _Enterprise_ to Eleventh Fleet for it." Tw'eak was suddenly professional in tone. "I was clear with Admiral Quinn that I wanted to avoid that from happening."

Shon shook his head. "They have a diversionary attack planned in the Dinasia system. We're to feign a ground assault force landing there while the _Annorax_ ...sends you back to whenever."

"That's what they came up with?"

"Yeah. The Klingons are all-in on it; Kagran told me he came up with the diversion idea himself. Intelligence says they're massing in numbers across a number of systems. We won't really know what that means, but if we can throw them off-balance, then we should try."

Tw'eak pulled herself closer to Shon for a moment. "Tell me again that we can be honest with each other."

"Always," Shon replied. "Unless it's a matter for your rank, that isn't for mine."

She stepped away, and sat down in a chair nearby. "I don't think this plan is going to work."

Shon was, understandably, perturbed. "But this was your plan."

"It was Eleventh Fleet's plan. The variables... there are so many variables involved - almost none of which we know ahead of time. We're basically going back to conduct a first-contact mission which might result in me blowing away the species we just met."

"I know. On the face of it, this mission goes against everything Starfleet was founded upon. But, that being said, I can't think of any better options - we've been unable to turn the tide by any other means."

"I wish we had," Tw'eak replied. "Don't much care how - well, that's not true. Or otherwise I would've just proposed the 'kill' option. Am I crazy, Va'kel? I just want to be sure that, if we win, we do so without becoming everything we're fighting against. I don't know if we can help it anymore."

"We always can. Self-determination - it's one of the most important values in the Federation." Shon shifted his weight to one foot and looked her in the eye. "I really doubt you'd be one to forget that."

"Not a chance. You think I want to be the one committing the act that turns us against what we are?" Tw'eak chuckled. "But I could be - I may have to be. I don't know. I don't even know how to tell. What's to say that their attitudes towards every other species won't be shaped in those moments, because we try to kill them? Maybe - maybe I'm the one that causes those attitudes to become hardened against us."

"It's a possibility. As is the idea that this is a temporal paradox, that whatever you decide at that point in time has already happened in ours, and nothing will change." Shon smiled. "Hey, I think I get it after all. Jirelle explained it earlier, and apparently my understanding of a temporal paradox makes another paradox out of itself."

Tw'eak laughed. "Yeah, time travel was never a particular interest of mine, so I don't really know if I get it, either. Threat assessment, control, response - that I can handle. Everything else depends upon my team."

"Sounds like that's the sort of thing you'll be doing with the Iconians." Shon leaned against an adjacent chair. "I wonder if they'll look the same - or if the theories about their evolution will prove correct, that they were once fully organic."

Tw'eak nodded. "Maybe. But I think you're right - I can't look at this like it's a mission of vital importance. It's just another ground operation. First contact protocols - same as ever. Threat assessment and response- same as ever. The only difference is we'll be doing those things, two hundred thousand years before those protocols are written down."

Shon smiled. "And hopefully completing your mission with as few complications as possible."

Tw'eak looked up, her eyes shining at the man she loved. "You know my luck - there will probably be as many complications as possible."

"No doubt," Shon said with a laugh. Tw'eak stood up as he asked, "Have you sorted out your team?"

"Probably two teams - one from _Warspite_ , the other from Kagran's command ship. I'll be in overall command. I'll bring Bianca duBois and Spera, along with Pal, maybe Tlhosh - haven't decided if bringing a medic will be strictly necessary."

"Let alone a Gorn," Shon said, his eyes widening. "The sheer size of him might be enough to provoke the Iconians."

"No idea." Tw'eak pondered for a moment. "I should probably bring Subcommander Oulius on the team as well. Makes sense - the Republic won't be sending any ships back - D'Tan can't spare the _Lleiset_ from defense duties. That'd mean if Kagran's team doesn't include anyone from the Republic, no other Romulans will be coming. No Remans, either."

"It's too bad that couldn't be arranged."

Tw'eak looked down and closed her eyes. "Probably my fault - once the Proconsul saw who'd be in overall command he probably ordered the _Lleiset_ to be anywhere else."

"That's not true - they're in-system right now."

"Are they? Well. I'll have to give my regards to Commander Jarok." She shook her head. "It must be a terrible thing to lose your homeworld - and Tiaru had to not only witness its destruction but then give it away a second time."

"I can't imagine. Then again, I feel so far from Andoria these days, it's hard to even remember." Shon's glare extended into the distance, beyond the bulkhead he was staring at. "What I wouldn't give to feel snow under my boots right about now."

Tw'eak put her hand in Shon's. "Close your eyes for a minute."

This got Shon's full attention. "What are you - "

"Just do it."

Shon closed his eyes, skeptical. As if on cue, his antennae began drifting about, sensing and searching.

Tw'eak held onto his hand, and stepped over so she stood next to him. "Picture it."

"What?"

"Andoria." She took a deep breath.

"Which part?"

"Of Andoria? I don't know, Lai'bok. The Northern Wastes. Any of it."

"Okay." Shon shook his head. "I don't think I can do this."

"Why not?"

"I just - I'd rather not."

Tw'eak gave Shon a look of sincere concern. "What is it?"

Shon shook his head again. He opened his eyes, and they softened at the sight of Tw'eak's face. "I can't picture it."

"It's been that long?"

"That's not it - it's that I can't picture it for long without... without seeing it all go up in flames. Or assimilated. Or watching as the planet gets torn apart."

Tw'eak's jaw hung open. "Va'kel... that's horrible."

"I know. I've... been working with Phillipa. It's a recurring nightmare of mine. It's either Andoria, or Vega colony, or Earth - but I'm there, and... and I see myself standing, on the bridge in San Francisco harbour, or on a mountain looking down at the northern colony on Vega, or in any number of places on Andoria. And I see it coming, over the horizon - this time it's a cube coming into view, or a Herald vessel bearing down. Another time, it's a shockwave out in space that's visible in the light of day. Sometimes it's... it's just a wall of fire, along the horizon, smoke in the air, everything in flames. And the urge comes, for me to run, to call _Enterprise_ , to just... just do something. But it's already too late." His eyes widened. "For everyone."

Tw'eak took Shon's other hand in hers. "Look at me. Va'kel. Look at me." She peered upwards into his eyes. "It's a nightmare - what you described. And I admit, we're pretty much living out that nightmare in slow motion. But a while ago, I promised you that, one day, you and I would take a walk together on Andoria."

"I didn't want to mention that. I remember when you said it, how it made me feel to imagine that. Sometimes I do. It... helps. But I felt like, if I said anything about it, you'd think I didn't really believe you can do this."

"Because of that? No, I would never - "

"You know what I mean. Every time we see each other - including this time - could be... it."

"I know," Tw'eak replied meekly. "I worry about that - I worry about you, all the time."

"Phillipa tells me that worrying is just a way of trying to take control of a situation you can't."

"She's right."

"She usually is." Shon chuckled. "Still... I never want you to think I doubt you can do this - whatever 'this' happens to be today. In fact, sometimes, I think you're the only thing I trust to get the job done - other than my crew, I mean."

"I know exactly how you feel - I feel the same way about you. You're captain of the _Enterprise_ , for Uzaveh's sake. They don't give just anyone a turn in that chair."

Shon smiled. "I'd like to think we'll still get to have that walk together."

"Me too. It's why the thought of it is never far from my mind." Tw'eak reciprocated Shon's smile with a warm grin. "As long as the man who promised it to me keeps showing up here, I'll still believe in it." She placed a hand over her heart. "Because you'll always be in here."

Shon took Tw'eak's shoulders in his hands. "Listen." Tw'eak gave Shon her full attention, his eyes tender with fondness, his antennae broadly angled with sincerity. "We'll have that walk, you and I - once this is all over. I'm... going to hold onto that. If I do, I gotta believe that the Infinite will bring us through this, so we can share that." He squeezed her shoulders. "Together."

"I really like that thought, Va'kel." She felt herself tearing up, and put her hands around his waist, pulling him tightly towards herself. "I am so thankful that we found each other. Just the thought of you... sometimes, it's the only thing that keeps me focused, knowing you're out there, along with me."

"I know just what you mean," Shon replied. "And no matter what happens during your mission, I'm proud of you."

Tw'eak closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Oh, you... you know just what to say, don't you."

"Actually, I didn't. It just was something I... didn't want to left unsaid between us." He lowered his hands onto her hips. "Just in case."

"Somehow, I don't think you'll have to worry about 'just in case'," Tw'eak said confidently.

"That's not how you felt when I came in here."

"You're right." She gave him a wry grin. "But that was before you came in here."

Shon looked at her, his eyes smouldering. "Now that I'm here, there was one thing I was hoping we could get up to doing together, before the briefing. If there's time."

"Oh, well - that depends." Tw'eak let a wry smirk play over her face. "Would this 'thing' be in an official capacity, or otherwise?"

"Very, very much otherwise," Shon replied, and he leaned in to her waiting lips with a kiss as a declaration of his intentions - intentions she shared, and reciprocated with interest.


	101. Part VII, Chapter 4

"One way or another, this war ends _today_."

The briefing room on the Kyana system station was packed. Tw'eak stood next to Va'kel Shon and Spera on one side, with Aurora duBois, her sister Bianca, and Pal to her left. Across the table, chief Krenim researcher Noye, Captain Nog of the USS _Chimera_ , and an assortment of other captains of the Eleventh Fleet - Tw'eak spotted Lance Caliburn of the _Temeraire_ and Dyzarta Nazza of the _Polaris_ among them - as well as Republic and KDF captains, among them Captain Koren of the _Bortasqu_ ' and Commander Jarok of the _Lleiset_. The room was crowded, and the various officers sat or stood against the enormous windows looking out on the station's curvature, and beyond, the Krenim vessel _Annorax_. At the head of the table, Captain Kagran had begun his briefing, his opening line far more definitive - fatalistic? she wondered - in its language than Tw'eak would've liked.

Kagran looked around, taking in the room, before he continued. "The Iconians are massing for a final push towards the key worlds of the Alliance. We are gathering any remaining forces to mount a defense. And perhaps, if we are fortunate, we will be able to turn back time." He took a step forward, activating a holo-display above the table. "We have defeated one Iconian, but the cost to do so was too high. The Iconian forces are too numerous for us to sustain such a strategy. We have been forced to our last resort." He took a step towards the window, looking out at the _Annorax_ before gesturing to it and returning his eyes to the assembled company. "The Krenim timeship has been modified, and we can use it to generate a portal to send us back to the ancient time of Iconia. Once there, we must prevent any Iconians from escaping the destruction of their homeworld." There was a growing murmur of discontent from the officers in the room. Kagran's voice rose. "If necessary, we must kill the remaining Iconians themselves."

"But our time travel experiments have all failed so far," someone to Tw'eak's left blurted out. "What makes you sure this will work?"

Noye, the Krenim researcher, stood up. "We're proposing we actually send someone back in time, to the past, where they can directly affect the timeline and help to guide it along the desired path." There was more discontent in the room, and Noye, unaccustomed to public discourse, glowered at those talking for a moment before continuing, his nasal voice becoming slightly higher-pitched in annoyance. "We've been running some basic scenarios that leave us quite hopeful that we can aid in the attacks upon ancient Iconia, to ensure there are no survivors for us to deal with in the present." Noye concluded with an awkward smile, reminiscent of the face a Ferengi used-freighter dealer might wear in seeking to close the deal.

"Not a chance." Tw'eak recognized the voice of Vice Admiral Emlyn Downey, Octavia's friend and one of her sub-admirals. "This plan is exceedingly risky, and even if it works, we'd be engaging in genocide."

Kagran took a step forward and slammed his fist onto the table, silencing some of the discontent. "We cannot sustain this war," he seethed. "The Iconians will conquer or destroy every species in the galaxy if we do not stop them now. There is no guarantee this plan will work" - here his fist rose into a sweeping gesture, a negating motion - "but if we do not try, we will certainly lose everything. Our long-range sensors have detected signs of transit from the Iconian spheres. The Iconians must be preparing their Heralds for another large-scale invasion."

"I grant you that they hold the advantage," Downey retorted, "but this cannot be our only option."

"There is only one move left to us, and it is to move this war to a battlefield of our own design. We will attack the Iconians in the past. We've identified that the Iconians were forced from their homeworld in an attack two hundred thousand years ago. We will take part in that attack, and ensure there are no survivors left to fight us in the present. Noye's team have been busy reconfiguring the timeship. But there are no guarantees, even with time travel on our side. We must hold out long enough for a ship to pass through a temporal portal. That means fighting this fight, and every other, until the technology is complete."

"How will we know?" Captain Nazza asked. "Assuming anyone survives, that is - how will we know we've held out long enough?"

"We won't," Admiral Downey replied, pre-empting Kagran's reply. "I'm sorry, I won't take my squadron into this fight - I refuse to honour these orders. It goes against everything we stand for, everything we've been fighting for."

"You talk of honour, and duty, and freedom," Kagran replied angrily, even though no one had spoken of such things. "All of these will just be words if we fail. We can try to live up to those ideals - if we survive."

Even the Klingons in the room shifted uncomfortably at this talk - from the officer responsible for planning the upcoming operation, no less. It was Commander Tiaru Jarok's moment to intervene in the discussion. "All of this talk of staying true to some grand principles is meaningless. Let's first win this war, by whatever means are necessary. I'd be happy to let my descendants worry about asking forgiveness for my action."

"Are you - "

Admiral Downey's words were cut off by a loud harrumph from Captain Koren of the _Bortasqu_ '. Her voice was little above a growl, but her meaning was plain. "We have a tremendous fight ahead of us that we need to prepare for. Do not distract yourself with philosophical debate. If you are doing right by yourself and your crew, those are the ONLY measures necessary for determining honour." She spun on her heel and pushed past the crowd, turning in the doorway as she exited. "I will see you in battle."

The tumult in the briefing room that erupted as a result of Koren's departure was a pure cacophony. Several Klingon - and Romulan - commanders were properly invigorated by either Koren's action or their own disgust at what they saw as Starfleet's equivocating, and departed in like fashion, abruptly and with disgust on their faces. They were met in turn by equally upset expressions on more than a few faces of the Starfleet captains - the situation left Shon and Tw'eak standing together, looking at each other with exasperation.

Emlyn Downey approached Tw'eak. "With your permission, of course, Admiral."

"You don't need my permission to follow your conscience," Tw'eak replied.

"Nevertheless, I cannot possibly countenance participating in a mission such as this." Downey was adamant. "It's unconscionable!"

"I wouldn't speak so soon," Shon responded to Downey. "We don't know that this mission is going to result in the deaths of any Iconians."

"What makes you so sure?" Downey made a disapproving grunt.

"The team that's traveling back has a mandate to pursue peaceful solutions before ...opting for a permanent settlement to the issue."

"And who's the poor bugger they've got lined up for genocide duty, then?" Downey said with a snicker.

Tw'eak looked incredulously at Downey. "Hello. That'd be me."

Downey's blue eyes bulged out of her skull. "Oh - my God - you mean - "

" _Silhouette_. The timeship. That's how." Aurora and Bianca duBois approached now, as did Dyzarta Nazza. To the latter's credit, she realized the confrontation was probably about to kick off, and took a few steps back - her Betazoid senses reading the hostility of the moment. Tw'eak narrowed her eyes at Downey. "Permission to opt out of 'genocide duty' is granted, Vice-Admiral." Tw'eak turned away, giving Aurora an intent look as she did.

"Admiral - I didn't mean to imply - "

Tw'eak stopped her motion and gave Downey a sideways glance. "Your concern is well-founded, Admiral. Please understand - that's exactly why I'm leading this mission. This has to be done the right way. That's the way you'd do it - and that's the same way I would." Dyzarta Nazza approached the group again. "As any of us would. This is what Starfleet trained us to do - to handle any situation, to defuse conflict before it starts - "

"And if that fails, kill everything." Downey sounded exasperated.

"Not necessarily," Tw'eak responded. "Absolutely a last resort option."

Downey was unconvinced. "Too right."

Tw'eak nodded. "It is. Believe me."

An alarm sounded on the briefing room table. Kagran stepped forward to receive a message. His face turned downcast. "The Iconians have picked our next battlefield and it is the Sol system." There was a sudden murmur of concern throughout the room as Kagran's eyes scanned the faces before him. Several Starfleet captains left abruptly to return to their vessels. Kagran continued, raising his hand and pointing towards the viewport. "If Earth falls, we have lost this war. This is our moment - gather our remaining forces. To the Sol system - to make our stand."

Tw'eak's commbadge sounded. " _Warspite_ to Sh'abbas."

Tw'eak tapped in response. "Go ahead."

Shon's commbadge sounded. "Stand by, _Enterprise_ ," he said.

"Admiral." Oulius' voice was grave. "We've just received a distress signal - "

"Yes. I know. Earth."

"Will we be proceeding with the mission as arranged?"

Tw'eak looked at Downey, responding to her moreso than Oulius. "Absolutely." She turned to Bianca. "Commander duBois and I will be transporting to _Silhouette_ momentarily. Please return the captain to _Warspite_ and prepare for departure. Get underway as soon as you can."

"Yes, ma'am."

Tw'eak looked over to Octavia. "Whatever happens," she said to the two of them, "remember we're Starfleet officers."

"Of course," Octavia replied. "Should it become necessary to express the sentiment, I wish you to know that it has been an honour to serve with you, Admiral."

"Not yet, Captain," Bianca admonished. "This is the part where you wish us luck."

"Ah, my apologies." Octavia raised her chin slightly. "I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you," Tw'eak said softly. "We'll need it."

Octavia tapped her commbadge. " _Warspite_ , energize." The sight of her friend's dematerialization made Tw'eak realize that the moment was at hand. She immediately regretted not reciprocating Octavia's sentiments - in the unlikely event of their never seeing each other again, she wondered if the _Warspite_ 's captain knew how much of an honour Tw'eak felt it had been to know her.

"I should get going as well," Shon said. Tw'eak turned and took his hand in hers. "There's... more I wanted to say. I'd hoped I'd get more time."

"We will," Tw'eak responded, her heart breaking. Now the man she loved was departing as well. There was never enough time. "Won't be long now and we'll have all the time in the universe. Just... do me a favour."

"Anything."

"If we come back through and the timeline's changed in some way that... that means I can't look at you like this..." Tw'eak shook her head. "You'll have no way of knowing."

"No, but you will." Shon gave Tw'eak a grin. "And if I'm the same Va'kel Shon in any other timeline, I'd imagine my feelings would work the same way. Besides, you're persistent enough to make this work. All of it."

Tw'eak squeezed Shon's hand and took a step back. "May the light of the Infinite shine over you as you go, and cast the shadows asunder before you."

Shon shook his head, smiling. "It's been a long time since I've heard the incantation. But thank you."

Tw'eak gave Shon a nod. "Thank you." She leaned forward and whispered, "I love you, Va'kel."

Shon reached out and took Tw'eak into a fond embrace, and whispered in her ear, "And I love you, Twaiheak. Always have. Always will."

Tw'eak giggled softly at the sound of it. "Yeah, me too," she replied.

Shon pressed his commbadge after a moment too brief for Tw'eak's liking. "Shon here. Directly to the bridge, please. We have work to do." Tw'eak watched as he dematerialized and returned to the bridge of the _Enterprise_. His eyes never wavered, looking right back at her.

Downey took a deep breath. "I take it all back." Tw'eak turned to look at her. "If I ever had anyone look at me like that, I'd do whatever it takes."

"Absolutely," Nazza added, blowing out her cheeks.

Tw'eak laughed, as did Bianca. "Thank you. I'd best let you both get back to your ships."

Nazza gave Tw'eak a nod. "We're with you, Admiral. To the end." Several other captains of the Eleventh Fleet had gathered around Admiral Downey, and they each nodded or mumbled words of similar tone.

"Thanks." Tw'eak hadn't realized she and Shon had been granted such an audience - the room had essentially dissolved to non-existence around them, and the space between them had felt a lot more private than it'd actually been. The embarrassment of their witnessing her intimate moment until now, when she realized they had been watching intently, as if this were some sordid holo-novel romance. Several of them were nodding appreciatively, with smiles on their faces. Tw'eak straightened her uniform tunic and resumed her professional stature. "Good luck - to all of you. We'll be counting on you."

"And we'll all be counting on you," Downey replied. She then turned to the group. "All right, people, let's be about it."

Tw'eak turned to Aurora. "We're ready."

"Where's Pal?" Aurora asked.

"Present," the First said, materializing at Tw'eak's side.

"He's never going to stop doing that, is he," Aurora remarked, startled at his appearance.

Pal merely gave Aurora a look of confusion. "I will defend my admiral to the death, for she will bring us victory."

"And victory is life," Bianca concluded. Pal beamed at the response. Bianca turned to her sister. "C'mon, 'rora, we've been over this."

"I know, it's just... sorry, I don't do well with invisibility." She tapped her commbadge. "duBois to _Silhouette_."

" _Silhouette_. Spera here."

"Four to beam up."

As Aurora, Bianca, Tw'eak and Pal faded into the transporter beam, Tw'eak saw Kagran's eyes searching for hers. He gave her a bow of honour as she faded out, which Tw'eak reciprocated with a nod of her own in acknowledgement. Moments later, the room began to empty as the personnel of Eleventh Fleet, and the other captains assembled in the briefing room, returned to their various ships and set out for the ultimate battle with the Iconians and their Heralds, in the space around humanity's cradle, the Sol system. The day of final glory - or final defeat - was at hand.

* * *

The bridge of the timeship _Silhouette_ was small, its design neat, clean. The shape of the bridge was unlike the standard Starfleet 'bubble' atop the hull - this bridge was curved slightly and incorporated a temporal transporter at the far end. The interior of the bridge extended away from this point in the shape of a hook, with the viewscreen appearing at the far end. Science, temporal, operations and engineering stations sat alongside each other along the far wall, between the transporter and a corridor which led to the turbolift.

Various officers oversaw the functions of these stations, while on the bridge itself, the helm was manned by Lieutenant Commander Denver O'Leary, who was also in overall command for the moment. He turned at the sound of the turbolift doors opening after checking to ensure that the ship was still on course for Earth at maximum warp - which, to be certain, it was. Out from this turbolift stepped the Eleventh Fleet's flag officer, and overall mission leader, Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas. At the sight of O'Leary, her face broke into an enormous smile. "Hello," she said.

"Hey, boss - just like old times, huh."

"How've you been?"

"Well, if you just ignore the absolute armageddon we're sailing into? Hey, I've got no complaints." O'Leary looked to his console. "We're still on course for the end of all things, just so y'know."

"...right." Tw'eak fought the urge to correct her former helmsman - this, after all, was his way of expressing his concerns. Behind her, Bianca, Oulius and Tlhosh came onto the bridge, as did Aurora, who had met them in the transporter room. "I'd like to introduce Tlhosh, ground team combat medic, and Commander Bianca duBois, first officer of the starship _Warspite_."

"And the captain's sister," O'Leary added, getting up to approach and shake hands with Bianca. "Great meeting you - I've known her since she was Lieutenant duBois, y'know."

"I've known her since she was three," Bianca replied. "Well, not really - I'd only just been born then."

"Really? I thought you two were twins."

"She's just tall for her age," Aurora said from the captain's chair, oblivious to Bianca's withering glare which followed her remark.

All too familiar with sibling snark, Tw'eak continued her introductions. "And I don't know if you remember Subcommander Oulius, of the Romulan Republic."

"No, but it's always nice to meet one of the good guys," O'Leary said, shaking Oulius' hand. "Tactical officer, right?"

"I am," Oulius responded.

Tlhosh took a step towards the wall, leaning against it. There was a slight grunt, and Pal appeared in the space between him and the wall. "Excuse me," he said automatically, stepping aside and resuming his shroud. For his part, the big Gorn nearly fell over at the sight of the shorter Jem'Hadar suddenly appearing almost in his armpit.

"And you remember Pal," Tw'eak deadpanned.

Pal gave a hasty nod before re-activating his shroud.

"Don't see that everyday," O'Leary quipped.

A door opened on the opposite side of the bridge, leading to the captain's ready room. Through this door came Spera and another officer, a tall male Bajoran in an engineering uniform, whom Tw'eak did not recognize.

Spera's smile at seeing her mother was effusive. Tw'eak grinned in response, with a nod. Spera cleared her throat as she approached. "Commander Celes Ram, chief engineer and temporal operations specialist, this is Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas, my _shreya_."

Celes came to attention. "Admiral."

Tw'eak nodded and smiled. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Just wanted to tell you how honoured we all are to be a part of this mission, ma'am." Celes relaxed his stance, his voice and bearing both brimming with confidence. "This ship, and her crew, won't let you down."

Tw'eak raised an eyebrow. " 'Chief engineer and temporal operations specialist', you said. That's not a role I'm familiar with."

"That's right. Ram was assigned to us from the Corps of Engineers. He's worked with a couple of derelict timeships before, so he has experience."

"Not with this particular type of timeship," Celes said. "There are quite a few variations we've encountered."

"Really," Tw'eak replied.

"And the captain tends to handle engineering issues herself," Celes added, with a quick glance over at Aurora.

"Big surprise, right," Aurora said with a smile.

"Tends to handle every issue herself, more like," O'Leary corrected.

Aurora cleared her throat. "Let's return to our stations, Mister O'Leary. I'll be in my ready room with the ground team and Commander Celes if our situation changes at all."

"Sure thing," O'Leary replied, looking to his console. "Hey, big news, everyone, we're still on course for Earth."

"Just monitor the situation," Aurora admonished. "Honestly, how I get anything done with you around..."

Tw'eak led the way into Aurora's ready room. One wall was taken up by a single plush couch, which ended about two-thirds of the way down. Aurora's desk extended along the rest of the length of that wall, curving outwards into the centre space of the room. A viewscreen monitor sat in the centre of the opposite wall, next to a short corridor that led to a restroom. To Tw'eak's surprise, this ready room was a lot smaller than Octavia's aboard Warspite, or even hers had been aboard Bonaventure, years ago. She was used to the difference in space aboard a smaller ship - _Silhouette_ was classified as a 'temporal destroyer' after all - and a larger vessel like a cruiser, but as Tlhosh, Oulius, Bianca and Spera came after Aurora, Tw'eak found that the seating along one wall was occupied by the time she turned around.

Aurora seated herself at her desk, atop which was a small model of an airplane in flight. It was brown and green, with coloured roundels upon its side and the top of each wing. "Oh, you put it up here?" Bianca, who sat on the edge of the couch closest to Aurora's desk, remarked.

"Yeah. You did a good job replicating it - just like I remember it," Aurora replied, then turned to Tw'eak, who stood in the midst of it all. "This is a model Bia made for me of our old Spitfire."

"It was a sort of going-away present," Bianca explained. "I have one just like it on _Warspite_."

"I put it in my quarters, but I'm never really there that often, so I brought it up here." She smiled at her sister. "It was always so beautiful."

"Yeah," Bianca replied. She looked up at Spera and Celes, who stood on either side of the monitor.

Tw'eak carefully slid the Spitfire model to one side, then sat along the edge of the desk. "So." She nodded to Spera. "Situation report?"

Celes activated the monitor, displaying a screen showing Earth's sun on one side, with each of the planets overlaid in a scientifically-inaccurate alignment. Within that space were blue, red and green dots, outnumbered by pink dots. "Second, Third, Fifth and Sixth Fleets are all currently co-ordinating Sol system defense - Sixth Fleet is attempting to establish a defensive perimeter around Mars to protect the shipyards, Fifth is doing likewise between Jupiter and Neptune, while Second and Third are engaging targets surrounding Luna and Earth. Their reports indicate at least fifteen hundred Herald vessels, with about two hundred _Vonph_ -type battleships and ten of the larger dreadnoughts. More of their ships are gating in constantly. We have reports that Seventh and Tenth are both en route, as is Eleventh. Elements of the Klingon Defense Force and Republic Navy are also en route, and are being directed to participation by Second Fleet's CO."

"Second Fleet - not Earth Spacedock?"

Celes frowned at Spera, who swallowed, then looked at Tw'eak and answered. "Earth Spacedock may already be destroyed. We've been monitoring channel traffic and there are no references to it at all - they're either treating it as disabled, or destroyed."

Tw'eak nodded, watching as Bianca's face fell and Tlhosh clenched his jaw. "What's our intention, then?"

Celes pointed to a yellow line over Earth, projecting in towards it. "Eleventh Fleet is following Emergency Sol Approach Vector Beta, en route to ESD at maximum warp. They're being accompanied by several vessels of the KDF and Republic Navy... and us."

"Not the _Annorax_?" Bianca inquired.

"Last we checked, _Annorax_ is going through final checks," Spera replied. "They should be joining us very shortly."

"Do we know who the overall commander is of the Republic forces?" Oulius inquired.

Celes looked to Spera, who shook her head. "Just a moment." He turned to the viewscreen.

"It's not important, I..." Oulius shrugged at Tw'eak. "I just hope it's one of our best."

"Fleet Admiral Aetius Konsab," Celes reported.

Oulius smiled and gave a slow, appreciative nod. "Not just one of, but _the_ best. I'm relieved to hear it. Thank you."

"Let's go over the approach plan," Tw'eak said, returning to the business at hand. "We'll just have to hope that _Annorax_ makes it in time."

"Wait," Aurora interrupted. "What should we do while we're waiting?"

"Good question," Celes responded, looking to Tw'eak. "Admiral?"

"Well, this ship's armed, right? No sense in us hiding in a Lagrange point if we can offer support in the meantime." Tw'eak pointed to the screen. "This is the very heart of the Federation here. If Earth falls, that's..." Her voice trailed off.

"That's the ballgame," Bianca said, staring at the Spitfire model on Aurora's desk.

"Thank you," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Saves me from having to ask O'Leary for the proper expression."

"How many Klingon vesssselsss will be made available for Earth'sss defensssse?" Tlhosh inquired.

"One of the KDF command ships in the Sol system reported that Chancellor J'mpok was fully committing the entire KDF to Earth's defense." Celes activated a filter on the screen that showed just the red dots. "There are two hundred KDF vessels active in-system that Starfleet channels are able to track. This data's about twenty minutes out of date - we're getting updates constantly, so the pattern's going to shift."

"But we're holding." Tw'eak could read the map as well as anyone else in the room.

"Indeed," Oulius affirmed. "For now."

"Issss thissss possssssibly nothing more than a diverssssion?" Tlhosh asked. "We have sssseen this tactic employed previoussssly, by the Undine."

"Good point," Tw'eak said in response.

Celes shook his head. "The Heralds have used that trick before themselves - it's how we lost Lae'nas III. But we're sure they're not. Long-range sensor systems are active throughout Alliance space, seeking gateway activity. So far, this sector is the only one reporting active vectors of gateways. Even the other planets - Vulcan, Andoria, Tellar Prime - all report negative for gateway presence."

"Starfleet Command's last orders were to prioritize the defense of Earth," Spera added. "The whole Alliance is coming. Even other ships from the Delta Quadrant are on their way - in fact, the Kobali have already sent a couple of their cruisers. They're defending Earth - them, the Benthans, the Zahl... we'd even consider asking the Borg for help at this point."

"Well, at least we know they know the way to Earth," Bianca quipped. "They've made that trip far too often."

"I think he meant the Cooperative," Spera noted, "rather than the Collective."

"Let's - let's get back to the operational plan." Tw'eak nodded towards the screen.

"Right." Celes cleared the viewer, then brought up a separate diagram that showed a cut-out shape of the _Annorax_ in top view, along with a similar view of the Silhouette and two other ships - _Warspite_ and Captain Kagran's command ship, the _An'quat_. "Eleventh Fleet will assist in clearing a space around Emergency Approach Beta's exit point. _Annorax_ will arrive at a time to be specified later."

Aurora giggled. "Because it's a timeship, right?" She cleared her throat. "Sorry, obvious joke."

Celes chuckled and nodded. Clearly he was already used to his captain's sense of humour. "Once they arrive, _Annorax_ will create the temporal vortex. It'll take them about two minutes or so to triangulate the precise temporal co-ordinates. If they're off, even slightly, it could put us years out of position. We can probably triangulate temporal co-ordinates from there, but I don't know if we'll be able to make it back to this time without them."

"So we'll need the _Annorax_ to remain safe, there and back. Eleventh Fleet can defend _Annorax_ around that point, then - keep it clear of Herald ships and protect the _Annorax_."

"Precisely. Once that's accomplished, _Silhouette_ will create a temporal integrity field utilizing its primary deflector. This will require the starship _Warspite_ and the war cruiser _An'quat_ to form up within a thousand metres of _Silhouette_. At that point we'll re-materialize at a point in time which we hope will be just prior to the destruction of Iconia."

"Right over Iconia?" Bianca asked. "Shouldn't we be taking this trip over Iconia itself, then?"

"It's a practical impossibility given the presence of a Dyson sphere currently around the Iconia system. We'd have to transit both space and time to do this - and given the sheer amount of energy required, the _Annorax_ is the only way to bridge space-time in such a manner with any hope of reliable return."

Tw'eak nodded. "Which is why we're not asking the Guardian of Forever, for example."

"Exactly." Celes smiled at Tw'eak. "I did my graduate thesis on the Guardian."

"How did you manage that?" Bianca asked. "There's no access permitted to the Guardian's planet under Federation quarantine."

"I know, I had to use the word 'inconclusive' regularly - but it's a topic I know well." Celes straightened a bit, looking at Spera. "As is the Celestial Temple, which I understand was responsible for getting the commander back to this point in time."

"That's right," Tw'eak replied, then pointed to the map. "So you're sure this plan will get all three ships there and back again from ancient Iconia."

"Theoretically, yes. If for whatever reason, the temporal integrity field should falter, or even flicker, we'll lose someone, maybe a whole vessel - maybe all of us will be displaced in time."

"If that doesn't happen, though?"

"Then we arrive over ancient Iconia, and commence landing party procedures."

"Which is where we come in." Tw'eak turned slightly to look at Oulius, Tlhosh and Bianca. "We're going in first and foremost to gather intelligence. From there we'll proceed as required. If that means we neutralize the gateway and let things take their course, that's what we'll do. If that means we have to join in attacks upon the Iconians, that's what we'll do."

"And if the Iconians are completely different?" Bianca asked.

"A distinct possibility," Celes added. "We know so little about them."

"You let me decide what to do in that case," Tw'eak replied flatly.

"If anyone knows what to do in that kind of situation, it'll be Shreya," Spera added confidently.

"You've got that right," Bianca affirmed. Tlhosh also offered a noise of approval, and nodded.

"I hope you're right," Tw'eak sighed. "I don't mind admitting to all of you that... this is more pressure than I've ever faced in my entire life."

"I'm sure you'll do the right thing," Aurora said. "We all are."

"Oh, so am I," Tw'eak replied. "Look at who I'm bringing with me." She smiled, and her eyes went from Tlhosh, to Bianca, and then to Spera.

* * *

Moments later, the team returned to the _Silhouette_ 's bridge. O'Leary's console blinked, and he turned to see Tw'eak emerge from the ready room. "Hey, Admiral - I've got Captain Koren on subspace." "Put her on screen."

Koren's intent, searching eyes and gritted expression filled the screen. "Admiral."

"Captain."

"I wanted to tell you, personally, that the Klingon Empire stands together with the Federation this day."

"I'm glad to hear it," Tw'eak replied, letting Aurora cross to seat herself in her command chair. She stepped just in front of Aurora. "In fact, I've never doubted it."

"The High Command is still intact and Qo'noS remains unconquered. Even so, this war cannot be won if we lose Earth. The _Bortasqu_ ' will fight until she can fight no more, as will I. If this is to be our end, then I will meet it with blade in hand and blood in my teeth." Her eyes widened and a smile crossed her lips. "I can ask for no greater honour than to fight beside an ally who has shown her courage time and again."

"Nor can I," Tw'eak replied. "Thank you for contacting us - and, may you die well." Her lips took on a fiendish smile of her own.

" _Qapla_ '!" Koren replied, and the channel faded. The fast-passing stars connecting the Silhouette's present location to Earth resumed their faintly visible path.

"Time?" Tw'eak asked.

"Four minutes, seven seconds," Celes reported from the temporal operations station.

"Hey, Admiral, we've got another hail - the war cruiser _An'quat_. General Sh'abbas commanding." O'Leary did a double-take. "Who the hell?"

"Put her on screen," Tw'eak advised O'Leary. Moments later, she faced her sister Sassil. "Hello again, General."

"Admiral." Sassil grinned. "Good to see you again."

"Whoa," O'Leary said involuntarily. "Family reunion."

Tw'eak nodded at her sister. "New ship, I see."

"You too." Sassil wrinkled her nose. "Mine's better."

"Maybe, but mine's prettier." Tw'eak smiled fiercely. "You never put enough emphasis on aesthetic value, did you."

"That was always your department. Warriors of the Empire die well - you can die pretty if you want." Sassil's smile faded. "Kagran wanted me to tell you that he's ready to commence operations."

"Any word from _Annorax_?"

"Not yet. Noye should be signalling us any time now."

"It's... going to be messy." Tw'eak's antennae angled inwards slowly. "You take care of yourself."

Sassil gave a nod. "You too... _shi_." She smiled as she gave Tw'eak yet another nod, with special emphasis on her final syllable.

Tw'eak let a smile play upon her lips for a moment, personally satisfied, before returning to her usual professionalism. "Be ready to move into close formation on my mark - just as we planned."

"Acknowledged. And may the light of the Infinite shine upon us all." She turned her head to one side and barked out an order in Klingon. "We will join the battle momentarily."

"Good luck. Hopefully I'll see you again two hundred thousand years ago."

Sassil looked momentarily confused before offering another nod. "Warriors do not hope - we strike. And our steel forges our reality into a shape that suits us best. So we shall, on this day - for the good of our home, our people, and our entire galaxy."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Tw'eak replied after a moment. "Stand by for our signal - and advise me if _Annorax_ is en route."

"So we shall. Take care of yourself, _shi_."

"You too. I'll see you after. _Silhouette_ out."

O'Leary was still shaking his head. "What a day. First I see a Gorn step on a Jem'Hadar, now this. Holy cow."

"I see your ability to inspire a crew is genetically endowed," Oulius said to Tw'eak.

"Must have skipped my generation," Spera said with a laugh.

Tw'eak patted Spera on the shoulder. "Comes with age, if it is. Consider yourself lucky not to have it yet."

Oulius took a half-step closer. "May I speak with you briefly, Admiral?"

"In private?"

"Not necessarily."

Tw'eak took a few steps away from the centre of the action just the same, and Oulius followed.

"I... wanted to apologize. If my recent conduct has been less satisfactory than usual due to my having been personally compromised - "

"Then I wouldn't have asked you along on this mission."

"That was what I wanted to talk to you about. If we... if our mission is to be a success, then it will depend upon the co-ordination and precise understanding of each member of the away team."

"I'm aware of that. It's another reason I wanted you along. You saved the life of one of my friends not three days ago, at immense risk to yourself. I would trust your instincts as much as I would anyone's. I'm glad you're with us."

"I must admit to you, that I am overcome with fear - a fear of failure, specifically, like I have never experienced. If we fail today, all our suffering and struggles will be rendered meaningless. You know what my people have been through."

"Yes," Tw'eak replied. "The Republic has had to deal with more grief caused by Iconian influence than any others. But it's affected you personally."

"I swear to you, by my honour as a Romulan, that I will not fail you this day." Oulius' whisper snarled with anger. "The ...grief the Iconians have caused me - have caused all of us - will be quelled at last with their destruction. We will succeed in killing every last one of them - I shall see to it."

"If it comes to that," Tw'eak corrected. "And only _if_. Is that clear?"

Oulius brought himself back to normal bearing, straightening his shoulders. "Upon your orders, exclusively, of course."

"Good. In the meantime, it looks like Aurora could use a hand at tactical."

"I would typically defer to your experience, but your rank demands otherwise."

"Yeah, I would love to," Tw'eak said, wistfully glancing over at the empty tactical station. "Like you said, it'd feel good to put a few holes in a Herald ship after all they've done, after all the friends they've taken from us. But that's exactly why I'm giving the job to you." She gave Oulius a pat on the shoulder. "You're our specialist in payback."

Oulius' dark eyes smouldered at the viewscreen. "I would like nothing more."

Tw'eak smiled, and her hand gave Oulius a slight nudge towards tactical. Moments later, O'Leary turned around. "Two minutes to Sol system."

"Red alert," Aurora ordered. The sound of the alarm blared across the bridge. "Battle stations."

Bianca moved to the science station, while Tw'eak walked down the two steps to stand herself behind Aurora's command chair. Once again, there wasn't enough room anywhere for her to seat herself. Standing between the tactical station and the command chair seemed a good option - plenty of things to brace herself against, and an ability to direct action as required. The lack of a fleet co-ordination ability bothered her - she was an admiral, after all - so she quickly ventured over to the engineering station, next to Celes Ram, and called it up. In a moment, she had a fleet-wide hail.

"This is Admiral Sh'abbas aboard USS _Silhouette_ , calling all vessels of the Eleventh Fleet." She paused for a moment. "In a few moments, you and I will be joining the great battle of our time - and, win or lose, this may be our final battle. Or at least, I hope so. If we're successful, and if we're lucky, this whole war will become a thing of the past." Tw'eak looked over at Bianca, who snickered in acknowledgement of the pun.

"In order to prevail today," she continued, "I'm going to have to ask you all, once again, to give it everything you've got. I realize that most of you have already lost something, maybe someone, as a result of the fighting. We've all been hurt in some way by the Iconians. But should we fail today, then everything, starting with Earth and from there the Federation, the Alliance... everything will be lost. It's our job not to let that happen.

"I know that I can count on each of you to perform your duties, to engage the enemy, and to make each shot, each action, each moment, count. We're all depending on you. We're all depending on each other. Stay strong, work together, fight hard. And I'll see you all on the other side." A sudden cheeky sense of bravado came over Tw'eak. "The victory party starts at..." She checked the chronometer. "Nineteen-hundred hours. And you're all invited. Good luck and good hunting. _Silhouette_ out."

There was laughter, even applause, from the officers on the bridge. "You didn't tell them where we're having the victory party!" O'Leary roared from the conn.

At that moment, Earth came into view on the screen, and _Silhouette_ dropped out of warp. The silhouette of Earth Spacedock that was visible was riven through with burning sections, some parts of it clearly heavily damaged. Winking in the space beyond was a multicoloured latticework - the spaceframes of Herald ships, intercrossed and interconnected with intermittent weapons fire.

"Down there," Tw'eak pointed. "We'll have to book a place." She gritted her teeth at the gravity of the situation. A thought crossed her mind, and she looked to her helmsman. "Does your mom still have that restaurant, down on Earth?"

"Yeah, her and Emma still run it - it's a bit harder now with the baby..." The laughter, the boisterous tone, that typically accompanied O'Leary's every utterance, faded with the gravity of the moment, his eyes riveted to the viewer and the burning spacedock. "You know, busy." He set his feelings aside and turned back to his console.

"We'll have to stop by," Tw'eak said, her voice warm, full of fond remembrance. "What was it that I had when we were there? Earth dish - spicy, meaty."

"Oh - ribs," O'Leary said, matter-of-factly.

"Ribs. That was it. Simple name - anatomical. They were delicious."

"Yeah. Mom's place is famous for ribs. And breakfast."

"Permission to engage Herald targets?" Oulius requested.

"Begin your attack run," Tw'eak said with a nonchalance completely at odds to her feelings, before turning back to O'Leary. She knew the entire bridge crew was listening to their conversation, and strove to keep her voice conversational despite the urgency of the situation. "And she had real katheka, too. I remember that. I was surprised."

"She keeps a bunch of off-world stuff around," O'Leary replied. "Just in case we have company. The raktajino helps when the little guy's cranky."

"I can imagine." Tw'eak patted O'Leary on the shoulder. "You'll see them again, soon enough," she said. She looked up at the duBois sisters. "And that Spitfire you helped build, too. In fact, I'd like to see that for myself, once this is over. Sounds like quite a machine." Aurora's face became flush, and Tw'eak saw Bianca choke back a sob. "Earth is too important a part of the galaxy - for the Federation, for our allies, for all of us. Earth will not fall today. I truly believe that. And I believe it - because I believe in each one of you. Like my sister said, believe in yourself, and strike the blow that shapes our future. We can do it - I know we can, together. "

"Damn right," Celes affirmed.

"Gotta say, shreya," Spera said after a moment, "it looks pretty bad. This... could be it."

"If you mean 'our finest hour', I think the commander said it best - you're damn right. This could be it." Tw'eak looked up to Oulius. "Target and engage at will, Subcommander."

"My pleasure," Oulius replied. "Selecting targets. Weapons range in forty-five seconds."

From her command chair, Aurora advised, "Eleventh Fleet has responded, Admiral - they're coming out of warp now."

In the space above Earth, the sudden materialization of the timeship _Silhouette_ , itself dark-hued and scarcely visible, was sharply contrasted to invisibility by the immediate pursuit of some forty-seven other vessels. This was the Eleventh Fleet, including Vice Admiral Downey's Fifty-First Independent Cruiser Squadron and every other element of its surviving complement. They had arrived - and their phasers whined to life, their deflectors on maximum, their shields to full.

"Signal _Temeraire_ and _Warspite_ to come along either side of us," Tw'eak said. On the screen before her, the Herald vessels present between Eleventh Fleet and Earth began to regroup and take aggressive posture. "I want them looking after us until _Annorax_ gets here."

"Right," Aurora said, sending the signal. "They're moving into position."

Oulius stared intently at the viewer. "Contact with Herald vessels in ten seconds."

"Hit 'em where it hurts, Subcommander." Tw'eak moved back quickly from beside the conn and put one hand on the captain's headrest, the other gripping the base of the tactical console behind her. "All right, people. The time is now. Let's do this," she uttered, her face chiseled with determination.


	102. Part VII, Chapter 5

To reach space, specifically this particular region of space just beyond Earth's atmosphere, had been the goal of innumerable human beings over millennia of civilization. Reaching space had eventually been achieved in time, through great hardship - first Yuri Gagarin, later Alan Shepard, John Glenn, the Apollo astronauts and then Zefram Cochrane and the Vulcan crew of the _T'Plana-Hath_ had all crossed through this section of the planet's exosphere. That last momentous achievement of first contact had been followed, less than a century later, by the foundation of the United Federation of Planets with its central capital planet being the selfsame Earth, with its major space installations both in this space and in the orbit of its nearest planetary neighbour, Mars, over Utopia Planitia. These installations had, in their time, made this space one which was of primacy to defend for the Federation and its Starfleet - against all adversaries, always.

There had been probes, weapons, cubes, bio-ships and Breen in this space, all of them poised to wreak terrible destruction upon humanity's cradle. With each new threat resident in this space, numerous brave souls, not all of them from the species originally resident to Earth, vaulted into action to prevent the fall of this one particular world. Lives had been lost in this space, heroic actions associated with certain co-ordinates and locations, and legends devised to give this space a property beyond the simple astrometric. To a new ensign or a young junior-grade lieutenant, this was pedestrian space - four years at the Academy and a lifelong ambition led most young officers in Starfleet with a burning desire to leap beyond this space, and into that final frontier.

Yet today, once again, the adversaries were dominant within that space, and Earth bore witness yet again to a battle there which would decide the fate of both the planet and its inhabitants. The terrifying Herald presence, in its tens of thousands of ships, now pitted their forces against the desperate defenses of the Alliance. Klingon, Romulan and Federation vessels alike vindicated or were vanquished across a broad swath of this space, hundreds of billions of cubic kilometres of space, vast and yet concentrated by the velocities and weapons fire within its confines.

In a very narrow section of that space, a series of some hundred or so Herald ships which had been vectoring towards finishing the job and fatally wounding the spacedock which was Earth's most prominent artificial satellite now found themselves rounding to face an impending strike from newfound defenders of that space - the Eleventh Fleet. In the vanguard of that attack, the timeship _Silhouette_ , with the starships _Warspite_ and _Temeraire_ in echelon formation alongside, readied itself, powered its weapons, and began an attack run on a Herald _Quas_ -type through-deck cruiser that was at the leading-edge of the enemy formation.

On her bridge, Subcommander Oulius gave a slow count. "Weapons range in... three... two... one..."

As one, energy weapons from all three ships opened fire upon the Herald cruiser, which turned and attempted to respond with a gateway, by launching probes, and by vectoring fighters. Its own weapons faltered for a moment under _Silhouette_ 's targeted phaser fire, and the heavy burden of suffering damage from both _Temeraire_ and _Warspite_ , both of which had been retrofitted with antiproton weapons from their launch. The _Quas'_ shields began to buckle and its hull burst into flame. A moment afterwards, the projectiles finished the job - quantum and photon torpedo spreads rending that flaming hull completely asunder.

Without hesitating, the three ships designated a new target - a larger _Vonph_ -type battleship - and continued their attack run. That _Vonph_ , however, had its targeting sensors (and here, one imagines the reticle at the physical centre of this ship as an evil eye, seeking by looking for a new target) firmly locked onto the starship _Australia_ , its _Odyssey_ -class spaceframe slightly slower but every bit as powerful as either of the two _Avenger_ -class ships which preceded it in attack. _Temeraire_ , _Silhouette_ and _Warspite_ gave a secondary burst of fire before slicing past, drawing off a number of its escorting Baltim-type raiders from the _Vonph_ 's defense. The battleship's weapons now opened fire upon the _Australia_ , which was hardly affected, returning fire in kind. A deliberate slugging match opened up - first bringing a second _Vonph_ into the fight, then the dreadnoughts _Roosevelt_ and _Musashi_ joined _Australia_. So, now, did a selection of other vessels in their formations, among them the starships _Polaris_ and _Bonaventure_.

"Six Herald raiders at our six o'clock." _Silhouette_ shook for a moment, causing Oulius to grip his console. "They are firing."

"Signal ' _shamrock_ ' to formation," Tw'eak ordered.

 _Silhouette_ broke upwards - hard. As it did, the _Warspite_ turned to port, and _Temeraire_ veered off hard to starboard. Confused by the separation, the _Baltim_ s scattered, some pursuing the timeship, others selecting either _Avenger_ -class starship to pursue. This put each of them under the guns of the two other ships they hadn't pursued, as the turns became spherical in nature, and as _Temeraire_ fired at two of the raiders in pursuit of _Silhouette_ , _Silhouette_ neutralized the lone raider behind _Warspite_. _Warspite_ , in its turn, took out two of the three raiders under its guns, and the sixth nearly collided with _Temeraire_ as it resumed formation.

"Damn it," Tw'eak muttered, then leaned into Aurora. "Tell Caliburn to watch spacing - that was too close."

"Right," Aurora replied. Her command chair console squealed to life. "Now what?"

"We're getting a distress signal from the _Hood_ \- and the _Cleveland_." Oulius shook his head. " _Cleveland_ is abandoning ship."

"Ask one of the other ships to look after those lifepods," Tw'eak advised. "Get every one of them."

"Starship _Defiant_ now requesting assistance."

Tw'eak looked up at Oulius. "Captain Kurland?"

"He's there." Oulius looked at the viewscreen. " _Defiant_ is by the shipyards presently, organizing a defense there."

"O'Leary - break us off from the main engagement, let's get over there and shore up the _Defiant_ 's support."

"You got it, boss. Twenty seconds to target."

"Aurora, make sure our formation holds - keep an eye on _Temeraire_ , that they don't drift too much."

"They're right alongside us. Same as _Warspite_."

Tw'eak looked back to Oulius. "How is _Enterprise_?"

"Doing very well, ma'am - sensors show they're holding the line near Second Fleet's area of operations."

"Good." Tw'eak looked up at the viewscreen's periphery, silently praying for Va'kel Shon and his crew to be well, and to do well against these fearful odds.

"We're now getting a signal from Earth Spacedock Control." Oulius read the message aloud. "They're attempting to evacuate non-essential personnel. Starship _Chimera_ is responding. Also, IKS _Varanus_ is responding to reports of some kind of massive infrastructure near Jupiter Station."

Tw'eak frowned. "A planet-killer?"

"Could be," Spera said from the operations console. "It'd be consistent with what I remember happening - although that planet-killer in my time was Undine in origin."

"Several other ships are forming up with us," Oulius advised. "I have the USS _Chichen Itza_ , the RRW _Ca'wwr_ , and the IKS _Amw'I_. They're not associated with any formation - and all are requesting orders."

"Aurora, tie them into our fleet co-ordination network. Make sure Emlyn Downey knows they're there - she'll be able to direct them more effectively."

"Got it." Aurora sent the signal, then left the captain's chair and went to the engineering console. "I'm reading damage to the shipyard."

"Imperial Guard vessel _Chelyh_ is also arriving to help," Oulius added.

"An Andorian ship?" Tw'eak said with a smile. "Our chances just improved."

"The shipyards are totally losing integrity," Aurora notified Tw'eak urgently, from engineering. "We need to stabilize them so we can mobilize the ships still in spacedock."

"Let's get over there - signal _Temeraire_ and _Warspite_ \- reinforce those shipyards once in range. That's their top priority. We'll cover them for as long as it takes."

"Right," Aurora replied.

"We're gonna cover our escorts," O'Leary noted. "Fun."

Another Herald _Quas_ -type cruiser attempted to thwart Tw'eak's attack formation, and the disruptor fire from IKS _Amw'I_ drew its attention. It focused on the Klingon ship, but was in turn fired upon, the telltale energy pattern of spiral-wave disruptor beam striking its forward hull.

"Cardassians!" Oulius observed. " _Galor_ -class starship, the _Taced_ , now joining the fight."

"Incredible," Tw'eak noted. She looked up at the screen and saw the long, sleek purple profile of a Kobali cruiser. "What ship is that?"

"Either the _Sotunde_ or the _Manusi_ \- I can't tell," Oulius advised. " _Warspite_ and _Temeraire_ signalling - they're in position to provide power transfers to the shipyards."

"Here we go - whoever else is with us can join us. Let's keep the Heralds busy."

"Acknowledged," Oulius replied.

The _Silhouette_ curved to its left, a _Baltim_ on its tail. The starship _Chichen Itza_ followed behind, a bit slower due to damage it had taken in battle, and its phaser fire rippled across the aft shielding of the _Baltim_. A second _Baltim_ joined the fight, targeting the _Chichen Itza_ as the first maneuvered and accelerated to ramming speed. Oulius' sharp eye caught it, however, and _Silhouette_ angled its nose to launch a full barrage of forward fire into the _Baltim_. Torpedoes and phasers alike rendered the _Baltim_ into a high-speed debris shower raining over the _Chichen Itza_ 's shields. The damage was minimal, and the wounded starship turned to bring its torpedoes to bear on the second _Baltim_. Together, _Silhouette_ and _Chichen Itza_ \- with a little help from the plasma cannons of RRW _Ca'wwr_ \- made quick work of the second, just in time for another _Quas_ -type cruiser to turn up.

The Herald ship generated a solar gateway along _Chichen Itza_ 's damaged upper shield facing, the heat intensifying and creating havoc for its damage control teams. _Silhouette_ and _Ca'wwr_ opened fire - the former breaching the energy threshold of the gateway, collapsing it and saving the _Chichen Itza_ , while the latter targeted the _Quas_ and punched a few holes in it. This aroused the anger of the _Quas_ , which now turned its attention to the _Ca'wwr_ \- along with the attentions of no less than five _Baltim_ s which had just appeared through a nearby gateway.

"There's - Admiral!" Oulius looked up, astonished, to see Jem'Hadar attack ships materialize in numbers - and immediately open fire, phased polaron beams tearing into the Herald ships.

"The hell did they come from?" O'Leary replied.

"USS _Akagi_ reports the Ninety-Ninth Independent Cruiser Squadron is moving out of spacedock to join the fight," Spera noted. "Earth Spacedock has been evacuated of non-essential crew."

"Looks to be in pretty rough shape," Aurora observed from engineering.

"Yeah, but - Jem'Hadar!" O'Leary insisted. "Those guys just pop up in _space_ , too?"

"Oulius?" Tw'eak asked.

"I... oh." Oulius' amazement turned to dismay. "I'm receiving a hail from the lead Jem'Hadar vessel. It's Sela."

"Sela?" Tw'eak and Spera said, almost at once.

"Sela. Shall I put it on-screen?"

"Not yet." Tw'eak straightened her tunic. She looked up at Spera. "No way I'm giving her the satisfaction of thinking she showed up in a desperate hour."

"Yeah, but she kind of did, Shreya."

"Granted." Tw'eak cleared her throat and straightened her short ponytail slightly. "How's that."

"Very typically you," Spera replied. "Nothing out of place."

"That's what I'm going for," Tw'eak said with a smile. She crossed to stand in front of the command chair, then looked to Oulius. "No targets?"

"Not at the moment. Perhaps it's best I don't add, 'thanks to Sela'."

"No, it's only fair. Put her on screen, please."

Sela stood in the station typically reserved for a Vorta on the Jem'Hadar battleship's command deck. "I told you I'd be back," she gloated. "And this time, I brought friends."

"What a pleasant surprise," Tw'eak said, half-lying.

"She has friends?" O'Leary muttered.

Sela's sour reaction indicated she had overheard him. "I hope you're happy to see me. It doesn't look like things have been going too well so far." Sela leaned forward slightly. "I left because I needed to find allies for this war, ones who you couldn't or wouldn't talk to. The Dominion understands the Iconian threat and they are quite eager to protect their stake in this galaxy."

"Your timing is, as always, impeccable," Tw'eak replied.

"My sources inform me you have a mission planned involving a visit to ancient Iconia," Sela declared. "Either my ship accompanies you on that mission or we'll turn around and head back to the Gamma Quadrant."

Tw'eak gave a sarcastic chuckle. "That's your idea of negotiating?" She shook her head. "You've let that imperial title of yours go to your head if you think we'd want you along."

Sela raised her face slightly, nose in the air. "It's of no concern to us if we fight the Iconians here - before or after Earth falls. You might beg to differ, of course."

"Don't do it," Oulius whispered.

"Fine," Tw'eak said.

"Admiral!" Oulius' voice rose in volume, full of indignation.

Tw'eak continued, ignoring him. "Co-ordinate your defense with the Klingon cruiser _An'quat_. We'll signal you when we're ready to proceed."

"I'm glad you see things my way, Admiral. I was -"

Sela's face disappeared from the viewscreen. Tw'eak looked sharply at Oulius, surprised. "I believe the human expression is, 'oops'," he said, arching a vengeful eyebrow.

"Best 'oops' I've seen in a damn long time," O'Leary replied with a laugh.

"Herald ships are regrouping," Oulius noted. "They've disengaged - rallying at co-ordinates between Earth and Luna."

"Pursuit course," Tw'eak replied. "Stay on them - press our advantage."

"They're not rallying. There's a ship coming in, and it's big," Bianca advised. "Strong chronometric influence emanating from its warp field."

"That's got to be the _Annorax_ ," Spera noted.

Sure enough, moments later a general hail was received - audio only. "I am arriving with the timeship!" It was the head Krenim researcher, Noye. "We must be protected until the portal is stable!"

Tw'eak looked over to Aurora. "Order all ships - form up at the _Annorax_ , its protection gets full priority."

"Klingon command ship An'quat is sending out a similar signal," Oulius advised.

"Bring us about - get us back to the _Annorax_."

 _Silhouette_ tore away from a pair of _Baltim_ -type raiders and began a turn towards the _Annorax_ 's co-ordinates.

"Herald ships are forming up," Oulius advised. "Looks like they're trying to get in our way."

"Our way?" Aurora replied. "On purpose?"

"They must have sorted out this is a two-part process," Bianca surmised. "This ship and the _Annorax_ , together."

"We're only going to get one shot at this." Tw'eak watched the viewscreen as _Silhouette_ turned hard over, revealing the midsection of Earth Spacedock to be directly in their path.

"Don't worry," O'Leary said, his voice straining. "I got this."

The timeship _Silhouette_ deftly came around the burning spacedock, followed in short order by the starship _Temeraire_ , and the slightly-damaged _Warspite_. Together, the three ships resumed their spearhead, and the vessels which supported them - Romulan, Klingon, Cardassian, Gorn, Kobali, Jem'Hadar - followed behind. The colossal form of the vessel named _Annorax_ could be seen some distance off, and the blast effects of its defenders' work against the Heralds could be seen flashing around it.

"Elements," Oulius swore.

Tw'eak looked back over the tactical console, her antennae narrowing. "What is it?"

"There's - " Oulius pointed to the screen, where a swirling Iconian gateway discharged a Herald ship larger than any other - nearly half the height of Earth Spacedock in size. His eyes widened in alarm as he read the identification from his tactical console. " _Iaidon_ dreadnought gating in, Admiral."

"Ohhhh baby," Bianca said. "Look at the size of that."

Tw'eak took a half-step towards the viewscreen. "Alright, people. We know what those things can do. We've seen it ourselves, at Lae'nas III. We can't let that happen. Aurora, signal the fleet - neutralize everything around the dreadnought before engaging."

"You don't want us to attack it directly?" Spera inquired.

"There are too many of them," Tw'eak replied. "We've got to thin them out first. Otherwise we'll never reach the _Annorax_."

Noye's voice came over the channel again. "Keep the Iconians off of us! Temporal co-ordinates have been identified."

"They're powering up temporal emitters," Bianca reported.

"We are closing to range with Herald forces," Oulius stated.

The leading ships of Eleventh Fleet had already commenced engagement with the Herald forces. Raiders, cruisers and battleships clashed with starships, warbirds and battlecruisers up and down the line of advance. Gateways to distant stars or subspace netherworlds opened across the battlefield, here and there wreaking havoc upon a damaged Alliance vessel. Somewhere, in the midst of it, _Silhouette_ , still accompanied by _Temeraire_ and _Warspite_ , found itself facing a living, grinding wall of ships, their damaged components, Herald vessels, and fireballs.

Tw'eak reached down to the controls on the captain's chair. " _Silhouette_ to _Warspite_ and _Temeraire_ \- engage at will. I repeat, break off and engage at will."

"Thanks," O'Leary said. "Was hard trying to find holes big enough for all three of us."

"Get us through to the _Annorax_ ," Tw'eak said, pointing. "Now."

In space, the starships _Temeraire_ and _Warspite_ came together into a two-ship formation, engaging and destroying multiple ships, working around each other in a deadly, graceful antiproton ballet. Now and again, a _Baltim_ -type raider would attempt to sneak into their aft quarter, only for the two ships to part, destroy the target in a mutual broadside, and come together again. Some distance away, the _Silhouette_ continued on an evasive course, engaging targets of opportunity who crossed its angle of advance, but otherwise remaining mobile, in the direction of _Annorax_. Elements of other fleets now came into the fight - two Jem'Hadar vessels in close formation, a Klingon warship, a Kobali cruiser, all worked their efforts upon the relentless, innumerable foe. Looming beyond, taking the occasional opportunity to blast one thing or another into oblivion, was the _Iaidon_ -type dreadnought.

Tw'eak walked up the twin steps to the tactical console and configured tracking displays in one corner, designating three ships to monitor - the _Annorax_ , the _Warspite_ , and the _Enterprise_. All three had slight damage, _Warspite_ having borne the worst of the three thus far. All three were engaging nearby ships, _Warspite_ and _Enterprise_ more aggressively so than the stationary _Annorax_. On the screen, a Starfleet escort exploded, a Jem'Hadar ship rammed into a _Vonph_ -type Herald vessel, a series of gateways opened near several damaged starships, and a squad of birds-of-prey swept past in pursuit of a raider squadron. "Keep going," she ordered through gritted teeth.

"We're halfway there!" Noye stated over the channel. "Creating a bridge across space-time!"

"The _Iaidon_ dreadnought is changing course," Oulius advised. "Now appears to be targeting the _Annorax_."

"We can't let that happen," Tw'eak replied. Sure enough, the huge crystalline form of the dreadnought was slowly altering its angle to Tw'eak's eyes, turning slowly away from the Eleventh Fleet and towards the waiting Krenim vessel in the distance. She reached across Oulius' hands and opened the channel. "Anyone within weapons range - stop that dreadnought!"

Within moments, both the Alliance vessels and the Heralds had changed their tactics. The Alliance vessels sought to disentangle themselves of the smaller ships to engage the dreadnought, while the Heralds - especially the nimble raiders - saw the opportunity they'd been waiting for, and began to freely snipe at all targets of opportunity along their rear echelons. A few escorts and smaller Alliance ships, especially the Jem'Hadar strike ships, swept these raiders aside after a few moments, but not before a number of those raiders had been able to open gateways and complicate their efforts - or fire their boosters and ram Alliance vessels as they sped past in compliance to Tw'eak's signal.

Tw'eak witnessed in horror as _Warspite_ 's damage indicator began to blink a bright, fiery red. "No," she muttered, as she called up its damage control indicator. Sure enough, in turning to engage the _Iaidon_ , _Warspite_ had been struck amidships by a Herald raider, the damage extending along the ventral port side saucer along its 'neck' and into its deflector dish. Aghast, Tw'eak reached out for the comms channel. " _Warspite_ \- come in, _Warspite_."

Tw'eak manipulated the display elements of the tactical console so that the reply came directly to the screen in front of her, rather than the main viewscreen. In that small view, a darkened _Warspite_ bridge was barely visible, sparks and emergency lighting providing minimal contrast. In the centre of it could be seen the operations console's leading edge. Octavia pulled herself up with it, using one arm. " _Warspite_ ," she replied matter-of-factly. "Octavia here, Admiral."

"Are you all right?"

The screen flickered, as _Warspite_ 's communications had been damaged in the impact. Octavia's words, still in as placid a tone as she might have used to describe her roses, continued to intermittently come through. " - moment of impact - damage appears severe - working to mitigate - you must proceed with - make no attempt to assist - objective is too - "

The comm channel died. Tw'eak tried to raise the ship again. " _Warspite_? _Warspite_. Come in, _Warspite_."

"I can't find their transponder," Spera observed quietly, her voice lowered with concern. "I'll keep looking. I'm sure they're fine."

Tw'eak nodded. She looked up - the Iconian dreadnought was now accelerating towards the _Annorax_. "Status of dreadnought?"

Oulius gritted his teeth. " _Iaidon_ aft and starboard shields are down to about fifty percent, but they're closing into weapons range. Looks like they're re-distributing their shields to compensate."

" _Bonaventure_ to _Silhouette_." The hail broke Tw'eak out of her reverie. She called it up in the same screen. Captain Lio'wan of the _Bonaventure_ showed up, his ears tucked back, his whiskers forward.

"Sh'abbas here. Go ahead."

"I'd like your permission to keep the escort carriers back and attempt to cover the damaged starships - the raiders and fighters are having a field day destroying anything that's been badly hit."

"Do it," Tw'eak replied. "And if you see _Warspite_ , keep them safe."

"I haven't, but I'll do what I can. I wanted to let you know that a number of armed merchant cruisers are in-system. Looks like Selkirk Rex's people have joined us."

"Good to know our friends are with us. Tell Selkirk I'll owe him a drink at the victory party."

"I'd be happy to. Be safe, Admiral. _Bonaventure_ out."

The screen blinked off. "Be safe yourself, _Bonaventure_." Tw'eak added, unheard.

One of the starships protecting the _Annorax_ was an escort carrier of the same class and configuration as the _Bonaventure_. This was the starship _Thunderchild_. As her bridge crew became aware of the threat from the monstrous Herald vessel pressing down, moments after destroying a _Quas_ -type adversary, she launched all of her fighters and maneuvered to place herself between the _Iaidon_ and the _Annorax_. Closing the range recklessly and without fear for the consequences, her thrusters on maximum, her deflectors fully angled to bear frontal impact, _Thunderchild_ opened fire. Her initial salvo of phasers and torpedoes barely made any sort of impression upon the _Iaidon_ , which continued forward towards the _Annorax_. Other ships - the cruiser _Tecumseh_ , the science vessel _Chandrasekhar_ , the battlecruiser _Koloth_ and the starship _Enterprise_ \- followed suit, destroying their targets and turning to face the _Iaidon_ in a last-ditch effort to defend the Krenim vessel.

 _Thunderchild_ 's guns opened fire again, rousing the _Iaidon_ 's ire this time. Its main cannon began charging, and as it fired, it lanced through the _Akira_ -class starship's forward shields, carving a deep gash in its dorsal saucer and the starboard side of its catamaran hull. Damaged yet undaunted, _Thunderchild_ pressed on, and even while the energy and projectile weapons of all the surviving ships of the Alliance bore down upon the _Iaidon_ , its target remained that stubborn defender. Unwilling to concede the advantage - or perhaps unwilling to succumb to the Iconians by any other means than by going down fighting - _Thunderchild_ fired again, its weapons fire this time diminished by damage, the energy of its attack somewhat blunted. A collision course was ordered upon her bridge in that moment, though whatever words her captain used to rally and inspire her brave crew would never be known beyond her command deck. In that moment, the brave starship gained the full attention of the crews of the myriad vessels working towards the same goal, each closing their own range to join _Thunderchild_ 's attack. Across the void surrounding the Iconian dreadnought, cheers of support and wishes for success echoed in voices and minds in a hundred different languages.

Yet for their mechanical adversary, swatting down a foe such as _Thunderchild_ was a process no more advanced than one might turn towards a mosquito. Its main battery began charging again to fire, and as it did, it struck the fearless heavy escort carrier amidships, almost precisely along her centre line. The bridge was destroyed, as was the upper weapons pod, and the cascading EPS damage throughout the ship melted her valiant heart. The ship became a raging fireball before the remainder of its hull was crushed in an impact with the surface of the _Iaidon_ 's weakened forward shields - its final sacrifice ineffective, yet unquestionably worthy of remembrance.

From behind and slightly above the _Iaidon_ , the timeship _Silhouette_ was unaware of these events, just as it was of the tireless efforts of _Thunderchild_ 's desperate defense. Tw'eak heard Noye's voice again. "Just a little bit longer!" he cried. "Stabilizing the temporal portal now!"

"N - no," Oulius stammered. "Admiral..."

On the screen, as the _Iaidon_ dreadnought became fully engaged on all quarters, a slow cascading conflagration ripping through its decks. Yet all was cruelly proven to be futile in an instant, even as the _Iaidon_ began to suffer its death throes. In the distance - in the space vacated by the defenders who had turned to face and destroy the _Iaidon_ \- appeared a second, even larger, more ornately decorated _Iaidon_ dreadnought.

"This is the _An'quat_ , calling Silhouette." Tw'eak recognized her sister's voice.

"Sassil," Tw'eak said, activating the channel. "Form up with us and Sela's vessel. We've got to get through."

"The plan was for _Warspite_ to join us."

"I'm afraid they're - unavailable," Tw'eak said after a moment.

"Understood - we will be alongside momentarily. _An'quat_ out."

"Energizing temporal emitters," Noye could be heard to say. "That's it - the portal is stable! Enter it now!"

" _Enterprise_ to _Silhouette_." Tw'eak looked up at the sound of Va'kel Shon's voice. "This is your chance, Twaiheak! Get through that portal!"

"We're on our way!" O'Leary replied.

In their thousands, the starships of the Alliance and their adversaries continued to mix it up all around the Iconian flagship.

Somewhere at the back, having been quietly monitoring his temporal station this entire time, the moment temporal operations officer Celes Ram had been waiting for had arrived. "Powering temporal integrity field."

"We've taken a bit of damage," Aurora advised from the engineering console. "Incidental stuff, mostly. Nothing like what's happened to poor _Warspite_ , though." She sighed. "I hope they're alright. I could've helped if I were there."

"We can't focus on that now," Tw'eak admonished. "Can we extend the field to cover both the Jem'Hadar ship and the _An'quat_?"

"I think so," Aurora said, uncertainly, "but there's only one way to find out."

"We'll be fine," Bianca corrected. "I can boost the temporal integrity field with our shield emitters - as long as everyone's within specified range."

"And I can keep it all balanced here," Spera added. "Power levels, temporal field, shield emitters - all ready."

"Alright," Tw'eak said.

"Klingon vessel _An'quat_ now alongside," O'Leary advised. "They're tightening up."

"The Heralds are firing upon the portal," Oulius noted. "Alliance ships are moving to forestall them."

"Come on, come on," Tw'eak said, mentally urging the _An'quat_ 's helmsman to get into position. "Distance to portal?"

"Nineteen seconds," O'Leary advised. "Wow. That Jem'Hadar ship just clicked right into formation - just like that! Those guys are so good!"

"What about _An'quat_?"

"Not there yet." O'Leary looked up from his console. The portal filled the screen. "They got ten seconds - otherwise, problems."

"If they aren't in close enough, I'll try to compensate," Spera called out.

"Me too," Bianca added.

O'Leary looked down at his console. "Entering portal. Three, two, one - "

* * *

The first thing Tw'eak noticed was the calm. The region of space the timeship _Silhouette_ now occupied had, as its most interesting feature, the dense temporal portal swirling behind it - which collapsed, closing shut behind them and the Jem'Hadar warship that escorted them. The second thing she noted was the Jem'Hadar warship. The self-styled empress of the Romulan people, had elbowed her way into participating in this mission - and now, with the apparent full support of the Dominion, had succeeded in crossing through the portal along with _Silhouette_.

That was when Tw'eak noted - or rather, noted the absence of - the war cruiser _An'quat_.

"Evaluating astrometrics," Commander Celes Ram observed from the temporal operations station. "Confirmed. We have traveled back over two hundred thousand years. But only our two ships made it through."

"There are no signs of Captain Kagran or his ship," Oulius acknowledged.

Tw'eak's face became knotted with concern for her sister. "We'll have to continue the mission without them. See if you can find them."

"Certainly." Oulius looked down at his console, which began beeping. "Empress Sela signals she is ready to beam down."

"Can we not call her that, please?"

"Oh - sorry," Oulius said. "Really, though. Me, of all people, calling her that."

Tw'eak took a few steps towards Aurora. "She's all yours again. Thanks for the ride."

"Uh, you're welcome," O'Leary called from the helm. "Times like this, I even amaze myself, y'know."

"Stow it, mister," Aurora said sharply. She then smiled at Tw'eak. "Sometimes I love that I can do that."

But Tw'eak's mind was elsewhere. "If you could - review the sensor and data-link logs from the battle, see if you can determine what happened."

"To the Klingons?"

"No," Tw'eak replied sadly. "To _Warspite_."

"Oh." Aurora's eyes widened. "Ohhh. I really hope they're alright. They are, aren't they?"

"That's what I want you to find out. Check the logs. See what we know."

"C'mon, 'rora," Bianca said to her sister, and turned back to her station.

Tlhosh stepped forward from near the temporal transporter, where he had been waiting. "I doubt we have any reasssson to be upssset. The captain maintained an exemplary efficiency rating in all ssssections."

"He's right," Tw'eak affirmed, offering only a weak smile. "If any ship could take a direct hit like that, it'd be _Warspite_."

"If the timeline we go back to is even the same!" Aurora made a bemused facial gesture. "I mean, we might end up going back and there were never Iconians at all to worry about! So everyone will be fine, and completely not dead! Right, guys?"

"You're the worst at this," Bianca scolded her sister.

"On the contrary," Oulius stated. "On this one occasion, I would like very much to believe what the captain is saying to be true."

"We all would," Tw'eak said. "For most of us here, we've been through so much aboard _Warspite_. It's our home. Many of us owe that ship our lives."

"And her captain," Oulius corrected.

"Damn right." Tw'eak thought fondly of her friend Octavia, of Lieutenant Aewon the helmsman, of Doc Ellington and her wife Kim, of their young daughter Nadezhda - all of whom had been onboard during the battle. She swallowed hard. "I know we all live in hope of seeing our friends aboard. I'm going to ask you all to focus on the time we've traveled to, right now. We have our mission. And if we're successful, maybe... much like with her captain, maybe our being here prevents that damage in the future."

"That'd be great," Aurora gushed with relief.

"It's up to us. So, let's do this. Bianca, Spera, Oulius, Pal - to the transporter room. Pal, I want you visible until I order otherwise."

Pal re-materialized on the far side of the room from where Tlhosh stood. "I must protest," he said angrily. "We have no reason to trust these people."

"We have no reason not to trust them. It'd be out of place on a first-contact mission, so, if it becomes necessary - and only if - That's an order." Pal gave Tw'eak a grumpy look in response, but said no more. She turned to the Gorn medic. "Tlhosh, you be ready to beam down if needed as well. We should be ready for anything."

"I will not be accompanying you to the ssssurface, then."

"Not yet," Tw'eak said. "About the only thing we know for sure about these Iconians is their stature - and given your... height, I don't want to risk intimidating them at first point of contact. But be prepared to make a house call if we need you."

"Undersssstood," Tlhosh said. "I will assssisst at the sssscience ssstation."

Tw'eak then looked to Aurora. "If anything goes wrong, we'll need your transporter chief to be ready."

"I was planning on looking after that myself, actually. We don't have a transporter chief yet. Or a medical team."

"How about a security team?" Tw'eak asked.

"Yeah, I can get one of those ready, why?"

"They might be needed. I want to be ready for anything. Like I told Pal, this is a first-contact mission, until it isn't. If we have to beam down numbers in force in order to get all the Iconians, I may need all hands on deck."

"But won't that go against the Temporal Prime Directive?" Aurora asked.

The irony of her question struck Tw'eak and Bianca at about the same time. Bianca chuckled, amused by the irony. Tw'eak, however, was not. "There is no Temporal Prime Directive today," Tw'eak muttered flatly. "Let's go." At her signal, she and the landing party ventured into the turbolift.


	103. Part VII, Chapter 6

To call the surface of Iconia unique would be something of a misrepresentation of the term. That would be because of the fact that the surface onto which the away team materialized was not, in fact, the surface of Iconia. Instead, this surface was in fact that of a floating platform - one of a series of them linked together into a cityscape by an interconnecting network of energy walkways. The structures that floated around were gold-hued, curvaceous in their architecture, aesthetically not unlike the clustered units of an Andorian city, yet these were far above ground rather than beneath the ice.

Trees grew from some of these platforms, in concentric rings of soil placed carefully around the central axis and planted in uniform patterns of six. The trees themselves had multi-part trunks, extending high above into a canopy of branches with thick green foliage. No creatures seemed to live among these trees - Tw'eak had become used to the idea of trees having birds in them from her time on Earth and other planets than Andoria - but the trees themselves stood tall just the same.

In the distance, other platforms, seemingly all grouped together by the energy walkways, were visible. Some were tall spires, stretching upwards with architecture reminiscent of the Solanae Dyson sphere's spires. They were smooth along their exterior, save for perhaps a lighted ring or loop along their surface. Others were saucer-topped domes, while others merely extended straight upwards. Their functions were not obvious - there were no antennae, no exterior gun mounts, no heating or cooling features that Tw'eak could discern.

All about them, in the air, a series of triangular energy bursts were visible - it took Tw'eak a moment to realize that these were in fact some sort of autonomous drones, perhaps not unlike Octavia's bees, moving about and altering their shape for purposes unknown. Much like the spires, their function was not clear from their structure. The landing party had arrived in a city truly unlike any other in the known galaxy - one which they'd had to venture backwards through time to a point before human civilization in order to witness.

Bianca produced a tricorder, and swept the area. "Incredible," she murmured.

"Look," Oulius said from Tw'eak's left. "This is a gateway portal."

Indeed, the two short pillars which extended on either side of where Tw'eak stood were accompanied by a gateway control console and were much like those which they had seen in artifact form. "Not much different from ones we've seen elsewhere," Tw'eak noted.

"Nice change, to see one in pristine condition like this," Bianca acknowledged. "I'm so used to having to dig them out first."

Yet on the far side of this platform, near its edge, Sela was taking a look around. The blonde Romulan now approached Tw'eak and addressed her directly, her tone one she reserved for situations in which she preferred not to negotiate. "Perfect," she said. "This will give us a moment to get our bearings and figure out how best to prevent the Iconians from escaping their doom." She held out a hand. "There are only twelve Iconians that we've encountered, so trying to deal with just twelve will be a much easier task than trying to take on this whole world."

"Let's hope it's as easy as all that," Tw'eak said, before turning to Bianca and whispering, "See what you can learn about these people in the time we have."

"We're right where we need to be, Admiral," Bianca replied. "Noye's co-ordinates put us here on ancient Iconia about two hours' time from the beginning of the final assault."

Tw'eak looked up at the approach of a tall, gaunt, grey-skinned figure in robes much like the Herald machines wore - deep purple, with bright green highlights and a sort of full-length loincloth draped behind. Six small eyes featured around a slim nose on this figure's face, each staring intently, inquiringly. "Greetings of the Whole to you, strangers, and welcome to Iconia." One hand swept aside, indicating the wider city beyond. "My name is M'Tara'ren, and I am a Herald of M'Tara." The sweeping hand now raised in an obvious gesture of warning. "Before I can allow you to pass, I must scan you to ensure that your technology is of a sufficient level for you to be allowed access to our city. This will only take a moment."

Pal bristled. Tw'eak could hear his rumbling disapproval, and turned to give the big Jem'Hadar a dirty look. "Proceed," she said to M'Tara'ren.

"Your technology is sufficient," M'Tara'ren replied after a brief interval, "but your chroniton particles are substantially out of phase."

"Isn't that strange - wonder why?" Bianca quipped.

"Please follow me. You must speak to my mistress."

Tw'eak nodded to M'Tara'ren. "Lead the way."

The team followed the Herald of M'Tara - whom, if it was the same herald, Tw'eak would face in combat and destroy on the surface of Dinasia - down an energy walkway onto a nearby platform. Tw'eak felt a tap on her shoulder, and looked back without breaking her stride. Sela stepped up next to her, quietly saying, "Remember why we're here. Every Iconian must die in the bombardment" - she paused as M'Tara'ren changed direction, thinking she had been overheard - "and their technology cannot be taken." She fell behind Tw'eak for a moment, and settled for tugging on Tw'eak's arm until she came to a stop. "If even one of them escapes, this could all be for nothing."

"I'm aware of our mission," Tw'eak replied. "But I'm also a Starfleet officer."

Sela continued talking without acknowledging Tw'eak's comment. "I recommend we begin by infiltrating their government building. We need access to their data and the gateway controls."

"Fine." Tw'eak poked Sela in the chest to get her attention. "But I recommend you remember that this is my mission. We're doing this my way."

"Suit yourself. You know what we're here to do."

Tw'eak's eyes remained locked with Sela's in a sort of sideways glance as they resumed walking. Tw'eak became aware of Bianca walking along beside her. "This place doesn't look anything like what I expected," the science officer noted.

"You never pictured it being like this?"

"No," Bianca replied. "This is way beyond what I pictured."

"You've seen the ruins of a once-mighty empire," Sela stated grandly. "This is Iconia, at the height of its power."

Tw'eak's annoyance at Sela's interruption faded as she realized that the figure who walked past them in the plaza which they now entered was, unquestionably, Iconian. In her time, the Iconians were beings of pure energy, their minds locked into chroniton states, their ornate metallic headpieces stunning to behold. Contemporary to their own time, the Iconians were tall and slender, with six eyes, much like their Heralds, but their outfits and postures were completely different.

So, too, were the structures of their natural heads - almost like unripened tulips or roses to behold, a tapered bone structure, a weak chin and small mouth at the bottom, leading up to a series of protrusions covered by skin at the crest. Here and there certain Iconians had a jawline technological apparatus mounted against their skin on either side. Others, like the one they now approached, had a v-shaped structure mounted on its head with the symbol of Iconian civilization over her forehead.

The Iconian to its right bore a three-pronged headdress. "M'Tara," Spera said, recognizing the one to the left, then adding, "L'Miren," at the sight of the right-hand one.

"You recognize them?" Tw'eak asked.

"Yes. And that was K'Wenn back over there. We... I knew them, as they are in our time." Spera shook her head. "They're so different here."

"Of course they are," Tw'eak replied. "They haven't been broken yet."

"I apologize for the interruption, Exalted One," M'Tara'ren said to his mistress. "These travellers have just arrived at our city. Their chroniton particles are out of phase, and per your instructions I have brought them to you."

The Iconian M'Tara - whose execution Tw'eak had been personally responsible for, two hundred thousand years from now - gave a look over the motley group of species on display, and nodded. "Thank you, M'Tara'ren. You may return to your station."

The Herald gave a bow and left. Tw'eak felt herself to be slightly uncomfortable with the presence of M'Tara, remembering so thoroughly the Iconian's death throes, her cries for her Iconian sisters to join her - and avenge her. She saw from Bianca's facial expression that she wasn't the only one to feel that way.

"Greetings, friends," M'Tara began, "and welcome to Iconia. It is highly unusual to receive visitors with such unusual chroniton signatures, and yet we have had two in less than a cycle. Do you know a being named Kagran?"

The eyes of every member of the away team - except for Pal's, which were still monitoring intently for threats - perked up at the mention. "Kagran?" Tw'eak asked, feigning incredulity. "Ah - yes. We were separated from Kagran while we were on our way here."

"Wonderful." The joy in M'Tara's voice was sincere, appreciative. "He will be quite pleased to reunite with you. You should be able to find him in the residential district. I imagine you passed through the same chroniton-charged nebula he did. That would account for the anomalous readings."

"That's it," Tw'eak said quickly. "Nebula. I told him we should've gone some other way, but - well, that explains everything very nicely. Is there anything else we need to know?"

"Since you are explorers like Kagran, I suggest you speak to L'Miren." M'Tara gestured to her sister, whom Spera had identified earlier, at M'Tara's left-hand side. "She is the keeper of our World Heart - the repository of all knowledge and the genetic record of all the worlds we have visited. The astrometric data in the World Heart could prove quite useful to you. Do you have any questions?"

"Um, not right at the moment," Tw'eak replied. She looked around, then smiled back at M'Tara. "Not the first time we've gotten ourselves lost today. We're usually better at 'exploring' than we have been lately. Anyway. Which way is it to the residential district? We'd like to meet with Kagran right away to review our findings - um, from that nebula. Hopefully that's alright."

"Certainly. He will surely be pleased to see you again. You will find him up another level, in the residential district. Shall I summon a Herald to escort you there?"

"That's alright," Tw'eak said with a nod. "We'll... find our way." She gave a sort of half-bow and turned, heading towards the energy ramp M'Tara had indicated.

"Careful, Admiral," Oulius whispered as they ascended. "Don't make them suspicious."

Pal grunted. "If they suspect nothing of us, they are fools unworthy of their empire."

The away team climbed up the energy walkway, to the residential level, which was topped by a hut-like dome floating over the pathway below. Huddled together for a moment, Pal turned outwards, while Bianca, Oulius and Spera leaned in towards Tw'eak and Sela.

"That was M'Tara - as she was before all of this," Bianca noted. "The same M'Tara who - well."

"The very same," Tw'eak said with a sigh.

"I didn't recognize her. Her energy state was... beautiful."

"She was even more beautiful now," Spera said sadly.

Sela clucked her tongue. "The changes we see in the Iconians are too great to be simple evolution. The Iconians shaped themselves and their Heralds into weapons. Genetic engineering that is both efficient and terrible."

Tw'eak looked up at Oulius. "What's your impression?" she said.

"Nothing to add," Oulius replied, his facial expression troubled. "Let's just be careful - that's all."

"Don't let yourself lose sight of what these people did to us," Sela said to Oulius, before turning to Spera. "Beautiful or otherwise, these are dangerous creatures."

Sela turned to look back at M'Tara, missing the glare of pure hatred directed at her from Spera's face. Tw'eak patted her daughter on the arm as Pal turned and said, "Admiral. Captain Kagran and General Sh'abbas are approaching."

From the far side of the residential plaza, Sassil and Kagran approached, both clad in the crimson fabric and metal armour of Klingon warriors, both of them wearing relieved smiles on their faces. Tw'eak stepped forward, Bianca at her side, to greet them. "You made it!" Kagran called out. He came closer, as did Sassil, and spoke softly. "Something must have gone wrong as we entered the portal that disrupted synchronization."

"You weren't quite in position," Bianca stated. "The _An'quat_ was only slightly out of place, but it was enough to change your telemetry, I suppose."

"We have spent fourteen cycles on or around this world," Sassil told her sister. " _An'quat_ remained cloaked, scanning the planet for several days. We then came to the surface, as explorers, seeking to open diplomatic relations with the Iconians."

"That's why we didn't see them," Bianca said to Tw'eak. "They wouldn't need temporal shielding given the way we came back."

"So you're under cloak," Tw'eak said to Kagran.

"No. My ship is using the magnetic fields above the poles to help conceal its presence."

Tw'eak turned to find Spera, but was surprised to have to turn so far around. Indeed, Spera had not moved any closer than where she had previously stood, and looked off into the distance. "Contact _Silhouette_ ," Tw'eak asked her, "and have them and the Jem'Hadar vessel move into the same magnetic concealment."

"Sure," Spera replied, moving off further than was necessary.

Tw'eak found herself concerned about Spera's behaviour, but merely noted it as something to talk to her about later. She turned back to Sassil and Kagran. "What have you found?"

"The Iconians of this time are nothing like the ones that we know," Sassil began.

"Yes," Kagran agreed. "They... are flesh, and appear to be friendly and peaceful, if a bit arrogant with those they see as lesser. Come. They will allow us to move through the city freely."

"You should see this for yourself," Sassil added.

The two warriors in Klingon garb moved off, Bianca following behind them. Tw'eak then noticed that Sela had been listening at a discreet distance. The Romulan empress stared at Tw'eak, her tone sarcastic. "Kagran is either a fool or he's being manipulated by the Iconians. Either way, he might jeopardize the mission. We'll need to watch him closely." She moved off to follow Kagran, seemingly despite her suspicions.

Oulius stepped next to Tw'eak, shaking his bald head. "They're both jeopardizing the mission," he said. "That's my tactical appraisal."

"Even Kagran?"

The Romulan tapped the side of his head. " 'Rose-coloured glasses', is the human expression. The truth of what the Iconians are will lie somewhere between his impressions and the opinions of the 'empress'." There was a sneer on Oulius' face as he referred to Sela by her self-selected title.

"Agreed," Tw'eak said. "Let's ...just be aware of it for now. And not be convinced by anything yet."

Oulius gave Tw'eak an appreciative smile, then her eyes turned back towards the rest of the team. Kagran seemed to be waving to Tw'eak, so she and Oulius moved over quickly. "Someone's calling for help!" he observed. Indeed, an Iconian was tending to a stricken Herald.

Tw'eak turned back to spot Spera walking a few paced behind. "Who's that?"

"V'Lar," Spera said. "She's nice." She scoffed. "She _was_ nice, I mean."

This gave Tw'eak the opening she needed. "What's gotten into you?"

"Me?" Spera looked incredulous. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"Conflicted," Tw'eak admitted. "Nothing here suggests murder as a fair response."

"Exactly. But then, I don't want to 'jeopardize the mission' by saying so."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Spera rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean, Shreya. These people are victims, not villains. They're about to have their whole world blown out from under them - literally! And we're eyeing the place like we're on combat recon. Do you see any weapons? Any Iconians packing sidearms?"

"No, but that doesn't mean - "

"Yes. It does." Spera shook her head. "You'll see." She stepped past to see what was going on in the cluster of people near V'Lar. Tw'eak followed.

"Hello," V'Lar said, "can you help us? My Herald is injured, and I can't leave him. I need someone to bring us healing supplies."

"From where?" Tw'eak inquired.

"There," V'Lar said, pointing to another Iconian. "That is S'Kenn, our healer. Please request her assistance for me."

"Spera, go," Tw'eak said. Spera made her way across the square. She knelt beside V'Lar. "So this is your Herald."

"One of them," V'Lar explained. "Heralds are also native to this planet. They were not as evolved as we are, so we ... enhanced them. The Heralds are our companions and our helpers. They are our hands and our eyes. And they are our ... children."

"Children?" Tw'eak repeated.

"It is rare for my species to reproduce. In fact, it has been more than a century since a new Iconian was born on this world." V'Lar looked around. "Perhaps we are evolving beyond the need for such things. We will endure here, and our Heralds will spread our word through the stars."

Tw'eak found herself considering V'Lar's words. Much like Andorians, it seemed as though the Iconians were experiencing a sort of reproductive limitation. Unlike Andorians, however, they had augmented an existing species - the Heralds - for their needs. It would be akin to altering a zabathu to become sentient. But what she had said, about enduring upon this world, would be sharply and destructively corrected in short order. "Right," Tw'eak said, not sure what else to say.

"Here comes the healer," Bianca noted. Spera returned with the Iconian S'Kenn at her side. S'Kenn had a purple and dark grey vest, dressed much like V'Lar, with one key difference - her outfit had a tall funnel-like collar, identical to one M'Tara wore. She also wore a belt, two long gauntlets, and had a spherical orb hovering over each of her shoulders.

"Do you require assistance, visitor?" S'Kenn asked as she approached. "I do not detect any injuries or maladies in your physical form."

"It's not for me," Tw'eak corrected, gesturing to V'Lar. "One of V'Lar's Heralds is injured."

"Oh, of course!" S'Kenn, like the other Iconians, sounded warm and sincere in her tone. "It is our duty and our privilege to care for our Heralds. I will tend to the Herald now."

The landing party made room around V'Lar for S'Kenn. Kagran stepped back from the group and approached Tw'eak. "I have spent days among these people. They are very proud, and very strong."

"No doubt," Tw'eak replied.

"Thank you, traveler," the Herald said, getting back on his feet. "I appreciate your assistance."

"A question, if I may," Tw'eak asked the Herald.

"Certainly."

"The Iconians - what do you think of them?"

The Herald hesitated for a moment, aware of V'Lar and S'Kenn, but not afraid of them. He looked at Tw'eak, his voice certain. "How do you feel about your creator?" he asked. Without waiting for a response, he continued. "The Iconians are parent, teacher, master, friend. They are our rulers and our gods, and I am grateful for their guidance. They give purpose and structure to our lives. We would not exist without them." He looked fondly at V'Lar and S'Kenn, who returned a loving gaze of their own.

"That's all for now," Tw'eak responded. "Excuse us." She moved off, her company of officers and warriors scuttling behind. Sela and Kagran remained, watching the Iconian medic at work. Bianca had hoped to stay to see as well, but followed the admiral.

Once they had withdrawn to a discreet distance, Tw'eak turned to face the crew. "Call me crazy, but I don't see anything here that's particularly worthy of apocalyptic bombardment." She looked at Oulius, who studiously avoided eye contact.

"I'm in complete agreement," Spera said. "I can't believe anyone would wanna damage this place."

"The Iconians are the indigenous, dominant civilization of this world," Bianca added. "I know you said before that the Temporal Prime Directive won't be in effect, but I don't know if we should violate it anyway. Maybe we're not seeing the truth of their empire, beyond this place. I'm sure if you... if you walked the streets of London in the Victorian age, you'd get no sense of their actions in far-flung colonies of their empire."

"Was that the place Jack the Ripper was from?" Spera asked. "I read a holo-novel about that once."

Before Bianca could reply, Sela could be heard talking to Kagran and Sassil as they approached. "The Iconians' affection for their pets is a weakness. We can exploit that."

"I am not so sure," Kagran responded. "After all, we've seen how the Iconians will transform their 'pets'. The Herald are merciless killing machines. They have killed multitudes during the war."

"Deaths we will avenge here." Sela looked at Tw'eak, coming to a halt. "No more waiting. We need to finish our mission."

Tw'eak took a moment, then looked around. "I don't see any need to rush into anything."

"What I don't understand is why you're bothering to help these people." Sela pointed to the distant gateway. "We need to find the gateway controls, sabotage them and be done with it. This could all be over if you'd let it."

"I don't regret stopping to help," Tw'eak replied. "It's the duty of a Starfleet officer to assist people in need. The circumstances are irrelevant."

"It's not the right time," Sela insisted. "We have to make sure that nobody escapes."

"But she's right," Sassil interrupted, indicating Tw'eak. "They are right to be suspicious of us - we are outsiders here. Our chroniton particles have told them as much. If we begin acting suspiciously, especially around one of their gateways, they will find us. And our mission here will fail."

Sela was about to interrupt again to counter Sassil's argument, but Tw'eak raised a hand, splitting her circle by walking past in a hurry. "I don't want to hear it," she said to the empress. "Let's keep looking - and not looking suspicious. This is just a walk in the park until we've sorted it out." Tw'eak looked to the next platform below. "That's a good idea, actually. C'mon."

"You're serious," Bianca deadpanned.

"Looks like a park to me," Spera replied.

"Helps us blend in," Tw'eak added. "Let's go." The group began to move down, but Sela hesitated. "You, too," Tw'eak said to her. The empress offered an icy glare in response. Tw'eak merely thrust an ushering hand in the direction she wanted Sela to go, and reluctantly, Sela complied.

The adjacent energy pathway led downwards into a soil-filled area rich in grasses, trees, various tall pylons, and sentient beings. Some were recognizable as Iconians, or their Heralds, while others were not known to Tw'eak. She nodded to Bianca, who opened her tricorder to scan. One species stood tall, with a narrow head covered in a bark-like exterior, great green searching eyes set deep within its skull. The other had spikes in rows along his mottled head, bearing a sprig of hair from the very back, and wore a black cloth over his mouth. Yet another, a squat, green-skinned fellow with broad, extended ears and a thick crust of skin over his brow and nose, was arguing with an Iconian nearby.

"That's T'Lerr," Spera pointed out to Tw'eak, indicating the Iconian in an argument. Another, standing next to a console, she stared at for a moment. "I don't recognize her."

"Clearly the Iconians have a highly-developed sense of the aesthetic," Kagran commented.

"That's fine," Sela replied snarkily, "but we need to know more about their technology. And we're going to a park!"

"When you have technology as advanced as the Iconians," Kagran rumbled in response, "wonders can be found anywhere you look. We should talk to that officer over there."

The Iconian officer, the one Spera could not recognize, wore an outfit much like the others, with purple devices on either side of her thin, grey face and a large, circular badge mounted on her belt buckle. "Do they all wear the same thing?" Sassil mused.

"I don't see much of a problem," Spera replied with a touch of sass. "After all, the three of you are all wearing the same thing."

Sassil looked from herself, to Sela, and then back to Kagran, who roared with laughter. Both KDF officers and the Romulan empress wore dark grey metallic outfits with red capes.

"And we're all in similar uniforms as well," Tw'eak added, looking to Oulius. "All except the subcommander." Indeed, Oulius' Republic uniform was broad-shouldered with dark green fabric outlined with silver thread.

Oulius merely nodded. "Standard Republic issue." He paused for a moment, then added, "I'm not surprised you don't - recognize it."

Sela's head snapped around, her eyes afire. Tw'eak cut off her reply. "Maybe it's just the 'in' fashion right now," she joked. "Who knows."

Bianca, however, had paid no heed to this conversation, and stood admiring a console in the centre of the park. The Iconian stepped forward. "I see you are interested in this device. We are testing a new method of encryption. So far, it has proven to be most effective."

"Yes, I imagine," Bianca said cryptically. "How do you test it?"

"To access the console, you must solve a series of problems that we believe only an Iconian could answer. Unfortunately, I fear the console is stuck in a testing phase, which is why I am protecting it. It may be a waste of time." The Iconian turned to Bianca. "You appear intelligent enough, but I doubt you or any of our other visitors could solve even the easiest of problems in the algorithm."

"I'd certainly like to try," Bianca said.

"We can keep an eye on it for you," Tw'eak suggested.

"Especially since L'Miren was looking for you," Sela added, lying. "After all, you ARE the Iconian known as... what was the name..."

"My name is B'Tren," the Iconian replied.

"That was the name," Sela said, nodding in false acknowledgement. "B'Tren. She asked to see you right away." She looked to Tw'eak and Bianca, as did B'Tren. The two of them both gave nods in reply, albeit reluctantly.

B'Tren hesitated a moment. "I am not supposed to leave this area unwatched, but all of my Heralds are performing other duties. And if L'Miren sent you ... Very well. Thank you, traveller. I will not be long."

"Shouldn't keep her waiting," Sela said, watching B'Tren leave. She then turned to Bianca. "Now's your chance."

Bianca turned to her tricorder. "I've dealt with Iconian encryption once or twice before. We're lucky we have this to rely upon - I wouldn't be able to comprehend seven-dimensional space otherwise."

"Quickly, Bianca," Tw'eak implored. "The more we can learn, the better."

The science officer laughed to herself. "Never thought I'd have to use a tricorder as a cheat sheet, but anyway." A few further inputs, and Bianca gave a victorious nod. "We're in."

"What can you find out?"

"Let's see... there are entries about... the Iccobar - looks like that's one of them over there" - she indicated the shady-looking figure in the blue uniform with his mouth concealed - "and the Dinasians. That walking tree over there." She indicated the tall green-eyed creature. "Looks like the Iccobar are slavers, their access to gateways is off-limits, under Herald monitoring. And the Dinasians... oh, lovely. They're eugenicists. Or at least, they would be - the Iconians rate it as highly probable that if they had the genetic manipulators required, they'd use them for biological warfare."

"It is just as I surmised," Kagran concluded. "The Iconians are following their own version of the Prime Directive. They are attempting to protect lesser-developed species from acquiring technology that they may not use wisely, or well."

"This evidence does seem to point in that direction," Bianca agreed.

"Not so fast," Sela insisted. "We've only heard one side of the story. I'd like to know what some of the other visitors think about the oh-so-noble Iconians."

The group fell silent, overhearing the argument nearby. The Iconian T'Lerr was speaking. "We will gladly give you the medicines you require, but our genetic engineering technology is off-limits."

"The medicine will help with this plague," the thick-skinned visitor replied, "but what about the next one? We need the ability to take care of ourselves, but you won't give us the means to do so!"

"I am sorry, but we have extremely stringent rules about who can use our technology. There are many species who are not yet ready to use our gifts safely and wisely. One moment, Fal Karr." T'Lerr turned to Tw'eak's group. "Yes? May I help you?"

"Oh - uh, we were just... looking for... what was her name again?" Tw'eak asked Spera.

"B'Tren," Spera replied. "Have you seen her around here?"

"She was here a few moments ago," T'Lerr replied, "but I do not presently see her or any of her Heralds. I am sure she will return momentarily."

"Thank you," Tw'eak said, then pointed off into the park. "We'll wait for her over there. C'mon, everyone."

Tw'eak and her cohort moved away from T'Lerr and Fal Karr, who continued to argue his point. "It's just as you said," Tw'eak said to Kagran as they went. "They're letting other species find their own path to advancement."

"Precisely," Kagran muttered. "But listen."

Up ahead, the two individuals Tw'eak had heard Bianca identify as an Iccobar and a Dinasian were in conversation. Tw'eak ushered her hand around an adjacent tree, directing her group to venture in that direction as she, Sela and Kagran leaned in to listen to their conversation.

"We haven't made much headway trying to reverse engineer the gateways," the shifty Iccobar said. "But just imagine what we could do with it!"

"Oh, I have," the Dinasian replied, his hands moving as he spoke. "You could move an army in a blink of an eye. Think about what would happen if all these Heralds just showed up on your planet? They'd take over in a day!" He shook his head. "I'm still trying to ... acquire some of their data. Have you had any luck yet?"

The Iccobar looked downwards. "Nothing yet. Despite all their "openness" and "hospitality," the Iconians have everything on lockdown. I can't even get near the building where they keep the World Heart without some Herald stopping me."

Kagran leaned in towards Tw'eak and Sela. "If I were the Iconians, I too would think twice about giving people like these advanced technology."

Tw'eak leaned back and moved around the tree, with Sela hot on her heels. "This doesn't prove anything! So the Iconians had their reasons for withholding technology. I don't care, and neither do their enemies."

"Maybe you should," Oulius said in reply.

Sela ignored him. "We know the bombardment is imminent. This world will be obliterated, no matter how much you sympathize with the Iconians. And don't forget what we're here to do. There can be no survivors."

Oulius waited until Tw'eak offered Sela frosty silence in reply, then persisted. "You don't see any echoes of us in those people?"

"The Iconians?"

"No," Oulius said. "Your people, and mine. You put Hakeev up to working with them for the same reason - to use their technology, or rather, to use them for their technology."

"That is ridiculous," Sela replied. "Hakeev made his own choices, used his own methods. I had no responsibility for them."

"Yet you knew about them," Tw'eak said. "You had access to his every move - it's how you got us into his secret lab on Nopada Prime. The one where he held me and thousands of other captives - breaking them each in turn for the benefit of his masters."

"His masters," Sela insisted. "Not mine."

"But you could've shut him down at any time. You could've stopped him."

"And saved our homeworld in the process," Oulius said, his eyes full of fury.

Sela was given no chance to reply. Tw'eak's commbadge hummed to life. " _Silhouette_ to Sh'abbas."

Tw'eak took a step away from the group. "Go ahead, Aurora."

"We're picking up an armada of ships on long-range sensors. Multiple configurations."

Tw'eak looked back to the group. "Avoid detection at all costs. Have you moved into the polar region, where the _An'quat_ is located?"

"We have," Aurora confirmed. "That's why we're seeing them on long-range sensors - standard sensors can't see much with all the distortion up here. We may have trouble beaming people up or down if that's the case - just to let you know."

"Remain in polar orbit, no matter what," Tw'eak ordered. "Stay out of sight. We'll let you know if we need any help, and we'll have to sort things out if it comes to that. Just stay safe up there. Sh'abbas out."

"And just how do you propose we stay safe down here?" Sela inquired.

Tw'eak took a look around. The uppermost platforms seemed the safest bet. But for the moment, she turned to Sela. "There are a lot of things I haven't decided yet," she said plainly. "That's one of them. But for now, let's get up there, closer to the entryway to that building - for all we know, no place here is safe." She moved out. "Come on."


	104. Part VII, Chapter 7

Tw'eak and her group returned to the main plaza, where M'Tara and L'Miren were located. Another Iconian stood with B'Tren just a short distance further away, but all of the Iconians wore identical looks of concern.

Spera waved Tw'eak to step away from the main group for a moment. Sela attempted to move to hear what was being said, but her shoulder brushed against Pal's chest, and she came to a halt.

"They're petrified," Spera said to Tw'eak.

"You can tell?"

"Yeah, I can sense it." She grabbed her left arm with her opposite hand. "They know something's up."

"But how?"

"I don't understand it either, Shreya."

"Do they suspect us at all?"

"No. Our being here is a coincidence, as far as they can tell. Some of them wish they had more time to get to know us. But most of them are just realizing that the - they've had reports from their Heralds that this was coming." Spera looked down. "That a reckoning was at hand."

"Reckoning - But where's T'Ket?" Tw'eak asked. "She's their defender, their avenger, in our time - why isn't she present?"

"They're talking to her right now," Spera replied. Tw'eak gave her an intent look. "I can hear them, remember."

"Can they tell you're listening?"

"No, and I won't tip them off by saying anything - but if I need to, I can reach them."

"That's good to know," Tw'eak noted. "What are they saying?"

"Not so much saying as asking. None of them have any answers, just concerns. They can reach each other, even now, with a thought. And that's why they're starting to realize there aren't as many voices in the conversation as there used to be."

"That would put us right where we need to be," Tw'eak stated, then moved back towards the group. "So here we are, at the end of the Iconian age."

"Seems like it," Sela replied. "We already know the evacuation did not save them."

Kagran shook his head. "But the gateway on New Romulus remained active for a time."

"Then we must cut that path off, now, before anyone escapes." Sela was convinced, and nodded decisively. She was the only one who was convinced, however. The exploration of the area they'd undertaken had seemingly turned the group's collective opinions against Sela's viewpoint. Oulius glared at her, Spera and Bianca both looked pointedly in other directions, and Sassil's antennae flared in anger.

Tw'eak looked past Sela, at the gateway. "Okay," she said after a moment. "Anyone else wish to comment?"

To Tw'eak's surprise, L'Miren walked towards the group. "Greetings, travelers," she began. "I apologize for my earlier absence. Did you have questions about our world?"

"We've received disconcerting reports from our ship, that this world is presently under attack. Is that true?"

"I am saddened to admit that those reports appear to be accurate," L'Miren replied.

"Who is attacking you?"

L'Miren dithered briefly before replying. "We have had contact with many worlds in our journeys, but we have found no people equal to our own." There was a sorrow, almost a wistfulness, in L'Miren's tone, as though she regretted her superiority. "Some of the others resent the blessings our people enjoy. They seek to take that which we will not give."

"Why are they resentful?" Bianca asked.

"Our policy is not to share our technology with species who are not sufficiently advanced to use our gifts wisely. When a society encounters advanced technology before they are ready, they often don't have the cultural and social development to handle it appropriately. This leads to war, genocide, and many other ills." Tw'eak was amazed that L'Miren sounded genuinely aggrieved that technology could be utilized for such malicious ends. "We would protect the younger species from those tragedies. Our people believe, also, that each species has a unique destiny. To disrupt their path towards that destiny is wrong. All of the others must develop in their own time."

Tw'eak gave a meaningful nod to Kagran, who then asked, "How will your people respond?"

"While we are an extremely advanced world, we are not, in general, a militant one. T'Ket will coordinate the defense. But I remain hopeful that we can reach a peaceful solution before blood is shed. M'Tara speaks for us, and she is quite a gifted diplomat. If all else fails, there are places known only to us and those who serve us. Our gateways can take us to these refuges to recover and rebuild."

Tw'eak was amazed. Even now, with the threat of total annihilation in-system - literally on their doorstep - L'Miren sounded confident in M'Tara's ability to talk their way out of this bind as though it were a sub-paragraph of a minor clause in a contract. She looked at her group. All except Pal, inscrutable as ever, and Sela wore looks of concern, as though this world mattered to them. It was not an outcome Tw'eak had expected - or, in fact, desired. She had hoped the Iconians' warlike viciousness would have made this easy for her. Now, she found herself - and her team - willing to prepare a defense of these people against their otherwise inevitable destruction.

"Excuse me," L'Miren said, turning and walking back towards M'Tara.

"Your legs," Spera blurted out. L'Miren turned, confused. "Your step, I mean - watch your step."

L'Miren nodded, somewhat confused, then continued on her way. Tw'eak looked at Spera, confused.

"In the - in the form I knew her, in our present... L'Miren doesn't have any legs. The other Iconians do - and they sort of just hang there as part of their form. It's not like they need to walk on them, they can float - but L'Miren - I remember asking her why her lower half was different from her sisters once. And she said it was the choice of the Others that made her this way - a choice she said she forgave, even if T'Ket did not."

Tw'eak nodded. "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough what that means."

"Right. But it was something I remember she -"

A sudden concussion rang out from the residential district - then another in the park - then another closer by. "The attack is beginning," Sassil noted.

"We must decide how to proceed," Kagran said. "I have spoken to these people. Walked their streets. Shared their meals. Regardless of what we know they will do in the future, the Iconians of this time are not evil. They are peaceful. And they are guilty of no crimes worse than standing up for their ideals. The very same ideals, I might point out, as the Federation's Prime Directive."

"So you're not in favour of killing them?" Tw'eak asked.

"You have walked the same streets as I. Spoken to the same people. Can you allow them to die for crimes they have not yet committed? For my part, I find no honour in cold-blooded murder."

"It doesn't matter what these people are now," Sela demanded. "We know what they will become. What they will do. The Iconians will destroy my homeworld. They will bomb the archive in the Lae'nas system and exterminate the Preservers. They will incite the Undine to destroy Kessik IV. They will attack our homeworlds, kill those we love and threaten our very existence."

"Maybe we can change that," Sassil replied. "Through honourable action, now."

"We can change nothing. We know what will happen. In our time, they are poised to destroy or enslave the galaxy. There is no choice." Sela was adamant. "We destroy them now, and save ourselves."

"If it's even possible to do that," Bianca observed. "This could all be a predestination paradox - our choices may already be decided."

"You think I don't understand paradoxes? My mother came from an alternate timeline!" Sela was practically shouting now. "I was born from a paradox! The universe will right itself - it always does. Besides, will the future we create here be any worse than the present waiting for us?"

"I don't know that," Tw'eak replied. "And neither do you. The future that's waiting for us might be bad, but that future is yet to be determined - paradox or otherwise. All we can decide now is what to do with the chance we've been given by being here, at this moment. And I intend to make the most of it. Anyone who disagrees with this intention can say so now, and I'll arrange for them to return to the ship." Tw'eak looked around. Bianca's face was resolute, as was Oulius'. Spera smiled at Tw'eak, Sassil gave a firm nod, and Kagran placed a fist over his chest as a gesture of respect. Pal merely stepped forward and stood ready, drawing his pulse rifle. "Looks like you're the only holdout, Sela."

"Then I'd better come along, in case anyone makes any big mistakes." Sela drew her disruptor and stood ready. So, too, did Sassil and Kagran.

Tw'eak tapped her commbadge. " _Silhouette_ , this is Admiral Sh'abbas."

" _Silhouette_ \- Commander Celes here."

"We're going to need those weapons after all, Commander. Is it safe to transport?"

"Just - give us a minute and I'll put them down at the south edge of the plaza you're in."

"Thanks." She deactivated her commbadge, and turned to Spera. "Go fetch our kit."

L'Miren approached again. "The attack has begun. I thought we'd have more time. We must retrieve the World Heart and escape. Will you help us?"

"What's that?" Tw'eak asked.

"The World Heart contains all of our knowledge and genetic data. With it, we can rebuild, once we have reached our refuge for all those who serve us." L'Miren looked upwards. "We shall go there."

Tw'eak nodded. "We'll just need a minute to get suited up. We've contacted our vessel to request arms and shielding in case they attempt a ground assault."

"Such a possibility now appears inevitable," L'Miren sadly noted. "I will await you in the World Heart chamber."

Tw'eak smiled. "We'll be right behind you." She turned back and marched, determined, to the stack of weapons and shield belts. "Get ready."

"The World Heart is not something I remember them having access to, or even talking about," Spera advised. "It could make all the difference."

Sela spoke over Spera. "We should be able to access the gateway network from there. We could disable all of the gateways at once."

Kagran was incensed. "We offered L'Miren our aid. There is no honour in striking down an ally from behind."

Sela was amused. "The... _honourable_ thing would be to complete our mission and save our galaxy. Or do you not care about what happens to Qo'noS?" She turned to Sassil, who stood next to Tw'eak. "Or Andoria?"

Tw'eak ignored her question and looked to Bianca and Spera. "This 'World Heart' - do either of you remember reference to it in the intelligence files?"

"I don't," Bianca replied. "Whatever format it's in, it's apparently transportable - or capable of being downloaded into a transportable format."

"Or will be," Spera continued. "I doubt they've got it ready to hand for easy removal, if it's that important to them."

"It'll be important to the invaders," Oulius added. "We know they covet the knowledge therein, the same as the Tal Shiar and their allies." His eyes did not leave Sela, who ignored him, as he spoke. "Whoever they are, we know they will seek to gain it for their own - and they will strike down the Iconians to do so."

"Well, I'm glad someone will," Sela quipped. "Since the rest of you have forgotten what we're fighting for."

"A better future," Tw'eak replied, her eyes intent on Sela. "Isn't that what we'll be fighting for, here, today, Sela? Maybe our better future begins by saving Iconian lives instead of taking them. Everyone ready?" She activated her shield belt and brought her phaser pulsewave out, charging it to full.

Spera did likewise, bearing a gleaming, metallic antiproton-emitting version of the pulsewave assault weapon Tw'eak carried. "You bet."

"Bianca, use your tricorder and get me some idea of what we're up against, the interior of that structure, anything and everything you can. Stay close to L'Miren - see what you can learn while we help her out in there."

Bianca tucked her hand phaser into her belt and brought out her tricorder. "Sounds like fun."

"Pal, you stay close to Bianca - keep her safe."

Pal shook his head in protest. "My obligation is to you, Admiral."

"If we want to make it out of this alive, we're going to need eyes to see our way out. Bianca's going to be providing exactly that. We need her and her tricorder if we're going to make it in and out again."

Pal bristled at the notion, but nodded his assent, then activated his shroud.

"The rest of you - stay in tight. Spera, you take the far side of our echelon - Kagran, I want you, Oulius and Sassil to remain between us at all times. You're our firing line. Support either of us with pulsewaves if you see we're taking fire from down range. Or Bianca, for that matter - she's our eyes on this. And we'll need eyes. If we need to flush a corridor, let us handle it - pulsewaves are good for street-sweeping. If we need to, Spera and I can move to flank them while the rest of you hold a firing line."

"No orders for me?" Sela said in mock indignation.

Tw'eak shot her a withering glare. "You do whatever you want - it's what you're best at, isn't it."

Sela clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, but offered no further comment.

"Stay in close formation unless I indicate otherwise. And be prepared for anything - we don't know anything about our adversaries. With any luck, their weapons will be two hundred thousands years out of date."She looked around at the group. "Everybody with me? Good. Let's do this."

The group moved out across the energy ramp L'Miren had crossed, into the building. Pal led the way, with Tw'eak and Spera following in echelon close behind. Immediately behind them, Bianca scanned with a tricorder, hand phaser holstered at her side, while Kagran, Sassil, Oulius and Sela each bore hand weapons of their own, searching the area for invaders and bringing up the rear. They reached the other side and stepped into the building, each hoping to make the right kind of difference for the sake of their future.

* * *

It was some twenty minutes and a number of one-sided firefights later by the time Tw'eak and her party had escorted L'Miren as far as the park. Along the way, a number of other Iconians who had been pinned down under fire had been freed. The assault parties had actually been fairly minor threats - Pal could've taken care of whole groups by himself, if he had been left to his own devices. In fact, as she took cover against the tumbled-down stump of a tree in a moment of relative quiet, Tw'eak's overriding amusement with the Iconians' enemies and their sparse combat abilities forced her to shake her head at their laughable efforts. She looked over to see her sister in good cover beside her.

"It's ironic," she said to Sassil. "We spent so much time upgrading our weapons because of the strength of the Herald ground forces. These guys are like shooting _zabathu_ by comparison."

"Defending the Iconians - with the weapons we forged to combat them," Sassil said with a shake of the head. "Ironic indeed."

A feeling came over Tw'eak. "Just want to say I'm glad you're beside me," she added. "Figured I'd say it now. In case they have something actually threatening waiting for us up on the main platform."

"You were always too quick to speak from your emotions," Sassil replied as she leaned towards her sister, then fired her disruptor from cover, taking down a squad leader. This was the last of the adversaries present in the park. Sassil took a breath. "It is a glorious honour for Kagran and I to join you on this mission. You have done well."

"You don't disagree with my decisions so far, then?"

"No." Sassil's eyes were as serious as her tone. "I would uphold your decisions this day against the most vengeful of our warriors. You have treated these people with honour, and fought in the manner of our people - as warriors. And your daughter as well. She is a fine warrior - a credit to Andoria."

"She learned from the best," Tw'eak replied. She looked up at Pal, who was scanning visually around the park from a point behind another tree, this one still standing. Kagran leaned against it, looking at the gateway platform from the tree's other side. "How are we doing?" Tw'eak asked Pal.

"This platform is cleared." Pal pointed upwards. "Recommend we secure the gateway platform."

"Where did T'Ket go? We should follow her."

"She is there." Indeed, the Iconian defender - unlike in Tw'eak's time, bearing both arms - had been present in the chamber they had entered, standing guard over the World Heart against all comers. Now, she stood, staff in hand, upon the gateway people, shepherding the last of her wounded people into safety. Pal looked over at Tw'eak. "We should move."

"Just a minute." She stood up and called L'Miren to come closer, now that it was safe. In L'Miren's right hand, the perfect sphere that was the World Heart glowed a deep blue, cloudy waveforms and energy visibly manifesting the vast, incomparable knowledge contained therein. Tw'eak looked at it for a moment, unable to fathom the contents of that orb, before making eye contact with L'Miren. "Are you ready to head up to the gateway?" she asked.

"Yes," L'Miren replied. "T'Ket stands guard there. She is our Protector, and there are none who know the ways of our enemy as well as she."

"So I understand."

Sela, Spera, Bianca and Oulius approached.

"We must gather as many of our people as possible and escort them to the gateway platform," L'Miren advised. "Once we are there, I will open the path to our refuge. Many of our people already left for colony worlds, but we have lost contact with them. I fear the worst."

Tw'eak nodded. "I am sorry for your losses. We'll do what we can to cover your escape, then return to our ship."

"We will never forget this tragic day," L'Miren replied. She looked over to where M'Tara approached.

"Thank you, stranger," M'Tara said as she came. "You have shown exceptional kindness and valour in this trying time." She surveyed the burning landscape. "I will miss my home. Iconia is precious to us. But as long as the Whole survives, we can use the World Heart to rebuild."

"The Whole," Tw'eak repeated. That word resonated in her Andorian heart.

"Yes," L'Miren replied. "Our people are few and most of our Heralds are elsewhere. But together, we are the Whole. Iconia may be lost, but so long as the Whole survives, we will remain strong."

"I know you are not one of the Whole," M'Tara asked, "and I have no right to ask for your assistance. But would you help us evacuate the city?"

Tw'eak looked at Sassil, then Spera, both of whom nodded. "We will."

"Thank you," M'Tara replied, "for saving us."

"Lead the way," Tw'eak said, ushering L'Miren and M'Tara up the energy walkway. They joined two other Iconians and made their way to the gateway platform. As they left, Tw'eak and Spera both watched them go. "Alright, people - we're the rearguard."

"Now I see your plan," Sela said as she approached Tw'eak. "We've won their confidence, gathered them together - now we strike."

"Strike?" Kagran waved his hand in a slicing motion. He could hardly believe his ears. "These are not a warlike people."

"Not yet," Sela responded. "That'll change."

"Bloodshed affects everyone differently," Kagran continued. "My people became warriors when an alien species threatened our home."

Sela rolled her eyes. "And the Iconians will become conquerors."

"There's still room for that to change," Bianca corrected.

"They're defenseless," Oulius added.

"Good," Sela snarked, then headed across the platform. Spera followed her closely, as did the rest of the landing party.

"Fan out," Tw'eak said. "Get into cover - expect them to show up in numbers."

The team followed suit, and L'Miren turned from the gateway to Tw'eak. "Once we get through, we will need to destroy the navigation plotter, so we cannot be followed."

"We'll do our best," Tw'eak acknowledged. The sound of the invaders' transporters could be heard. "Incoming!"

A team of some twelve invaders appeared - they spread out, but found themselves in a four-way crossfire from Pal, Kagran, Bianca and Sassil. Spera finished off one of their leaders with an arcwave blast, knocking two others caught in its wake flying across the platform. Tw'eak was about to offer encouragement when the transporter sounded again - right beside her. She turned her pulsewave and fired its secondary mode, an arcwave of phaser blast catapulting at least four of the invaders across the platform - where Pal brought down his weapon to silence one, and Spera fired her weapon into another.

"The gateway is damaged," L'Miren cried. "You will need to reroute the power and reinitialize the gateway open sequence."

"Oulius - Bianca - either side, get going. Spera, Sassil - provide cover over there, I'll cover this side."

There were a series of affirmations. Oulius came over to Tw'eak's side and commenced working on the gateway. "Didn't the 'Others' save the Iconians?" Sela called out from somewhere behind. "Where are they?"

Oulius made a grumbling noise of disapproval at Sela's tone. From his place at Tw'eak's side, Kagran bellowed, "Maybe they are already here."

Another team of adversaries materialized - two of them, in fact, one on either side of the gateway platform. Spera and Sassil made quick work of them, but on Tw'eak's side, one of the invaders managed to bring his weapon to bear upon Oulius. As Pal aimed his weapon, the invader fired, striking Oulius in the chest. Pal had been a split-second too late in killing his foe, and Oulius lurched forward against the gateway.

"Oulius!" Tw'eak cried. An adversary came into her sight, and she did not hesitate - she raised her pulsewave, not to fire, but to bring its butt end upwards to strike it in the face. "Bastards!" she screamed, as Kagran turned and put a shot into its chest, finishing off the enemy. Tw'eak moved over to Oulius. "Are you hurt?"

Oulius looked down, the front of his uniform badly burned, the scorched skin beneath clearly visible. "It's... my own fault. Bad tactics."

"What is?"

"I... the gateway was resonating... with my shield. I turned it off..." He began to cough, blood appearing at the edge of his mouth.

"Uzaveh's name," she cursed. She called for Bianca, who came running over. Pal knelt at her side. "Is there anything you can do?"

"The wound is very severe," Pal said.

Bianca came running over. "I'll take him," she said, throwing an arm under Oulius. "The sequence is reset, Admiral - they're good to go." Her other arm reached for her commbadge. "Aurora - beam us up now! We need a medic!"

"Right!" Aurora replied. Tw'eak stood up and stepped backwards, as did Pal. The two of them de-materialized from the platform. Tw'eak shook her head sadly, leaning against Pal for a moment.

Sassil and Spera came to her side. "Shreya?" Spera inquired.

"The subcommander," she said sullenly, her voice choking up.

Pal continued on her behalf. "He was wounded in the ground assault."

"How bad?" Spera asked. Tw'eak's clouded expression gave her an answer.

"He was a brave warrior," Sassil declared. "A credit to his people."

"He still is," Tw'eak replied. She cleared her throat, straightened her tunic, and turned to L'Miren. "Did it work?"

"Your efforts were successful," she replied from the gateway console. "I am inputting co-ordinates now."

From the edge of the gateway platform, Kagran and Sela continued to trade fire with other assault parties in the park who were attempting to climb the ramp. Pal moved to the perimeter edge, joining the firefight, as did Sassil. "We're losing ground," Kagran said, firing another shot into the grounds below. "We can't hold them off for - "

"That's it," L'Miren said finally, World Heart still in hand. "Send them through."

The gateway glowed and roared to life, an Iconian gateway opening between the arms of the platform. It was the only time Tw'eak could recall being glad at the sight of such a vortex.

But others had their own ideas. "No!" Sela shrieked. "This isn't our mission!" She broke cover, narrowly avoiding being shot in the head from the park below as she did, and turned her disruptor on the Iconians, her face snarling, agony in her voice. "You took EVERYTHING from me!"

Firing repeatedly, blinded with rage, Sela cut down several Iconians, among them B'Tren and S'Kenn. T'Ket turned from the gateway at the sight of her stricken sisters - and then Sela's disruptor bolt found L'Miren, cutting her legs out from under her. Spera gasped - the moment she had discussed earlier with Tw'eak had come to pass -and she watched multiple Iconian casualties hit the deck - and then, out from L'Miren's hand, the orb of knowledge rolled off towards Sela's feet. She, Tw'eak and the others became suspended in place - spectators in cover, rather than participants in the exchange.

"...the... World Heart..." Crippled, L'Miren reached out for her orb, but T'Ket knelt and lifted her from the platform, carrying her towards the gateway.

"There's no time, the gateway is closing," T'Ket informed her sister.

"Only twelve of us are left..." L'Miren pleaded, reaching in vain for the World Heart. "That crystal contains our civilization."

Kagran stepped in between Sela's disruptor's muzzle and T'Ket. "Stop! We are better than this!" For her part, Sela held her fire, but did not lower her weapon.

"I will remember this, Romulan," T'Ket snarled as she crossed the gateway's threshold. "I will extinguish your people in payment for your treachery!"

Then she was gone - as were all twelve surviving Iconians. Sela leaned down and picked up the World Heart, kneeling with it hovering just above her hand.

Tw'eak did not hesitate. She had just watched the near-certain death of a Romulan who had been the best ambassador his people could have wanted - a thoughtful, courageous, professional and thoroughly noble young man who had suffered more greatly than anyone else she had ever known. She had just watched Sela's hand strike down at least six Iconians whose bodies lay in a grotesque pile - like so many grotesque piles of corpses their Heralds would be responsible for in the present day. She had just fought a battle to attempt to safeguard a future whose existence was now very much in jeopardy. And now, all the pain, all the destruction, all the suffering - Oulius' suffering, Romulus' suffering, all of it - could be laid at the feet of the arrogant, relentless half-Romulan 'empress' kneeling five metres away.

Sela straightened as she saw Tw'eak approach, swinging her pulsewave under her arm as she did. "I know what you're going to say," she began, but Tw'eak didn't permit her the luxury of speech. She had said enough already.

Tw'eak struck Sela with the back of her hand right across the face, knocking the World Heart to the floor - again - and sending the empress reeling. Sela hit the ground with full force, landing on her back next to Sassil. "Even now," Tw'eak roared, "you're blind - wilfully blind. Can you not understand? You just sealed the destruction of Romulus, fool! WE are the Others!"

"That can't-" Sela held her hand to her face, then dropped her disruptor from the other as she lurched towards the gateway. "T'Ket! What have I done?"

"It's just like I said before. You've only ever been out for yourself," Tw'eak snarled. "This is what you get for it."

"This has all played out this way before," Sela acknowledged softly. "I am the cause for Hobus."

"It may always have been intended this way," Sassil reasoned. "This may have been a predestination paradox - all along, perhaps this was the path we were always meant to walk."

"It matters not," Kagran said. "The Iconians have fled to Dewa III, and the gateway's console has been destroyed so no one can follow them. Our fate may not have changed from our actions here, but we have done what honour demanded." He perhaps unconsciously turned so that he faced Spera, Pal, Tw'eak and Sassil - not Sela, who angled away from the group. "We... are not murderers. Whatever our future may hold, we will face it with our eyes open and our heads held high. It is time to return to our own time and see what effect our actions had."

"May I suggest we take the _An'quat_ to Dewa III?" Sassil recommended. "Perhaps if we gave the Iconians the jewel they seek, it would go some way towards the peace we all crave."

"I doubt they'd wanna see us, given what just happened," Spera countered. "After all, one of our Others just killed a whole bunch of them. Whatever advantages we had, with them not suspecting us before, they sure will now."

Tw'eak reached down and picked up the World Heart. "I think Sassil's got the right idea," she said as she did, and held up the orb, itself about the size of a basketball as it swayed in place over Tw'eak's hand. "Just not today - and not on New Romulus." She handed the World Heart to Sassil. "Come on, let's get back to our ships - and our rightful place in the timeline." She took a long look over the fiery ruins of Iconia - once again, this time only recently having been formed, the ruins of Iconian civilization stretched out before her, the people who had called it home never to return. "This isn't going to be easy to explain." She tapped her commbadge. "Sh'abbas to Alliance ships - let's get the hell out of here."

Sassil stepped next to Kagran, but then stood aside. "With respect, Captain... I will return with my sister."

"I see. May I ask why?"

"For too long I have viewed my people with disgust, and sought to live apart from them." Sassil looked disdainfully at Sela's kneeling form, the Romulan's eyes still staring blankly, dumbstruck at her own action. "I see now the consequences of a life lived in anger." Her eyes drifted to her sister. "I will not waste another moment that way. With your permission, of course, Admiral."

Tw'eak's eyes twinkled, and she half-smiled. "We'd be happy to welcome you back." She reached out her hands to her sister, and added, " _shi_."

The term of affection brought a slowly broadening grin to Sassil's face, and she closed her eyes appreciatively.

"Very well." Kagran replied. "It has been an honour to join you on this mission, Admiral. Let us hope we can conclude this war - with honour - upon our return."

Tw'eak merely nodded in affirmation.

He turned, activating his wrist communicator. " _An'quat_ \- one to beam up." Standing tall, Captain Kagran returned to his ship. At nearly the same moment, Sela staggered to her feet and wordlessly beamed aboard the Jem'Hadar vessel.

"Let's go, Pal," Tw'eak said, beckoning the stalwart Jem'Hadar away from the edge of the platform, where he had remained, unshakeable in his defense. He joined Tw'eak, Spera, and Sassil in a square pattern just as the _Silhouette_ 's transporter beam activated, carrying them back to that ship - and from there, forwards in time once more... to an end which remained uncertain.


	105. Part VII, Chapter 8

The transporter room of the timeship _Silhouette_ was a welcome sight to Tw'eak's eyes, being otherwise indistinguishable from thousands of others like it on starships - and, presumably, timeships - throughout the Federation and beyond. Tw'eak stepped down the platform and saw an ashen-faced Aurora duBois at the controls. "Well done," Tw'eak said. "Contact Kagran and the Vorta in charge of that Jem'Hadar ship. We're going home."

Aurora looked silently to her right. Beside the pattern buffer, Bianca knelt beside Tlhosh, who closed his medical tricorder. "I am sssorry," the Gorn said as Bianca pulled a blanket over the body of Subcommander Oulius, and lowered her head in despair.

From the transporter pad, Spera gasped. "He's dead?"

"My apologiessss, Admiral," Tlhosh began. "I did all I could, but the injuriesss to his chesssst cavity were too ssssevere."

"I know you did," Tw'eak replied sadly, placing her hand on the Gorn's shoulder. "You always do. Thank you for trying."

"It could just have easily been me," Bianca sobbed. "I lowered my shield, too - the gateway resonance that it was causing - I had to turn it off or I never would've been able to get the gateway online."

"You did what you had to," Tw'eak said flatly, looking down at Oulius. "So did he." She looked over to a disconsolate Spera leaning against Pal, who glared angrily at the bulkhead. "We all did."

"But is it gonna be enough?" Aurora asked from the console.

Tw'eak looked back to where her sister Sassil, still carrying the World Heart, stepped down from the transporter pad. "Perhaps," she said, gazing into the orb. "Let's get to the bridge."

* * *

"Energizing temporal emitters," Noye could be heard to say. "That's it - the portal is stable! Enter it now!"

" _Enterprise_ to _Silhouette_. This is your chance! Get through that portal!"

As the three-ship formation closed together and crossed the threshold of the temporal gateway, there was a flicker... and then from within, the three ships came back in the same formation.

The sound of the _An'quat_ 's general hail resounded over the bridge of the _Silhouette_. "Captain Kagran to Alliance fleet... Stand down. I repeat, stand down!"

Tw'eak and Sassil stood together just in front of the tactical console, Sassil still holding the World Heart. She heard Shon's voice. " _Enterprise_ here - please confirm that last order."

Tw'eak opened a general hailing frequency. "This is Admiral Sh'abbas. All Alliance units, stand down. Order is confirmed - stand down immediately." She closed the frequency, and turned to Sassil. "Well, this is our chance."

"I hope they listen," Sassil replied.

"Me too," Tw'eak said. She narrowed the communications beam and hailed the Iconian flagship on all frequencies. "They're not responding."

"Perhaps they do not wish to listen," Sassil inferred.

"Not to you, maybe," Spera said, stepping forward. Her eyes and antennae began to project a visible energy. "L'Miren!" she cried, her voice resounding in a manner like Tw'eak had never heard before. "Speak to me!"

The viewscreen switched on, showing the pure-energy form of L'Miren, her face typically inscrutable. "Do you wish to surrender? A wise decision."

"No," Tw'eak replied, urging her sister to hold up her hand. "We've just returned from the past. Your past. And we have the World Heart to prove it."

If it were possible for an Iconian's jaw to drop, certainly L'Miren's would have at the sight of what floated just above Sassil's hand. "How?" she demanded, her voice betraying a sound of pure surprise. "How did you acquire that?"

"We saved it," Spera said.

"We stood upon Iconia, and defended it in its final hours," Sassil added.

"Defended you," Tw'eak added, placing her hand on Sassil's shoulders, "and your sisters. We were there, L'Miren. We know what happened."

"That - is not possible!" L'Miren paused for a moment, her tone shifting to a reluctant tenderness, perhaps a tone she had not used in two hundred thousand years. "But yet I see the World Heart in your hands."

Tw'eak took a glance down at the tactical board. All over the map, Herald ships were standing down in turn, withdrawing to beyond a parabolic arc which extended from either side of L'Miren's dreadnought. She raised an eyebrow at Sassil, then looked down. Sassil followed her line of sight and watched the display as well, giving a half-smirk to Tw'eak as they made eye contact.

"It is time to end this," L'Miren stated finally. "Your leaders. Our unity. Now."

* * *

In an instant, Tw'eak found herself enrobed in a purple puff of cloud, as she and her sister re-materialized on a platform above Earth. The platform extended forward and aft, with limited distance to either side, like a sailing craft. The Klingon concept of the Barge of the Dead flashed through her mind, as it likely also did through Sassil's. The two of them looked around. A console to the left was identical to those they had encountered countless times in Iconian architecture and technology, ornately sculpted metal held together by energy and floating in place. A hovering walkway led to an extended platform behind them, where five more of these consoles stood, Spera standing among them. She took a few steps downwards to stand beside her mother. "This is their main dreadnought's command deck," she remarked. "And you know who they are."

Before them, at the forward point of the command deck, a blue flame of sorts extended from the centre. On either side of it stood T'Ket, her bright red form and severed arm just as Tw'eak remembered, while L'Miren stood to her right, hovering in place. L'Miren was the first to speak. "If what you say is true, then that core contains all of the lost knowledge of our people. So much that we thought was lost forever..." Her hand reached out for the World Heart, and Tw'eak remembered the last time she had seen L'Miren's desperate grasp - so long ago in the Iconian's memory, mere minutes in her own. "Will you return all that remains of our civilization to us?"

"We will," Tw'eak replied. "This conflict must end."

"Your wound must be healed," Sassil added, stepping forward and allowing the World Heart to flutter unsteadily from her hand to L'Miren's. As the Iconian touched it, a soft, relieved-sounding tone emanated from her, and she turned to place the orb within the blue flame. As it ascended, a bright light shone from within the World Heart - home, once again.

L'Miren turned to the two Andorians. "I have never had a chance to examine you closely, but now that you stand before me I remember... you helped us, although it gained you nothing. You are the Other." She turned to Spera. "Now I understand, seeing the three of you together, why our dear sister M'Tara saw fit to retrieve you from the Solanae."

"Now I understand, too," Spera replied. "I didn't - not until I was actually on your homeworld. You were so beautiful then, L'Miren. You all were."

"Hate blinded us," L'Miren announced. "Fear of the unknown crippled us. Pain called out for blood in ever greater measures ... The events of that day set us on this path. It grieves me to see where it has led. After we escaped to Dewa III, protecting ourselves became our sole purpose. We transformed ourselves, our Whole, even our Heralds to prevent another tragedy. And we vowed never to trust again."

"But you trusted me," Spera replied.

"I did, and it saved us." L'Miren raised a hand, palm upwards. "But we believed the Other lost to us, and so you were. Lost to time, only found by us in part. In that time, we preserved the Whole by any means necessary."

"Doing so destroyed countless lives," Tw'eak said. "This war should never have happened."

"Indeed. We protected the Whole against the lesser species who would destroy us if given a chance." L'Miren inclined towards her sister T'Ket, who remained silent, motionless, intimidating. "Those who would steal what we would not give freely. And we did not mourn the deaths of those who were not a part of our unity." She turned to Tw'eak, Sassil and Spera. "And then we faced you. A foe who would not yield. Who subverted time itself in an attempt to destroy us. But instead, you showed compassion." The tone in L'Miren's voice was appreciative, reverent. "Even though you knew what would happen to your people if we survived, you helped us. Because that is who you are."

Tw'eak smiled. "That is who we all are. We are - or at least, we try to be - much as you were then. Our mission is to explore, to seek out new life and new civilizations... not to destroy them."

"I am humbled in the face of such integrity." The powerful Iconian placed her hand across her waist and bowed. "I shall be forever grateful to you for showing us the error of our ways."

T'Ket had other ideas. She raised her lone hand into a fist. "No! I will not accept this! Whatever these creatures did in the past is meaningless. They took my arm. They killed our sister. They broke our unity, and for that I will destroy them!"

"You forget so quickly what we have done for you," Sassil admonished.

"I will never forget what you have done. What the creature known as Sela did. There will never be enough blood to wash away my need for vengeance."

"There has already been blood - Romulan blood, spilled on Iconia." Tw'eak took a step towards T'Ket, both arms bent at the elbow, hands open in an empty gesture. "My officer, my friend, a Romulan named Oulius, died defending Iconia on that awful day so long ago. He was struck down defending the Whole."

"He was one of the Others," L'Miren stated, "like Sela, like you were. I remember."

Tw'eak nodded. "That's right. Whatever revenge you would seek against the Romulan people, I implore you not to judge a whole species based on the actions of a single individual."

T'Ket gave what could only be termed a snort, despite the lack of physical means to snort with. "A single being. A single world. I could destroy a million worlds and it would not be enough! Your existence is an insult to the memory of our people. I will continue my fight, even if I must fight alone."

"T'Ket, please - "

But she turned and vanished. Sassil came forward to Tw'eak's side, prepared to shield her from T'Ket's rage. Instead, the Iconians' avenger faded from sight into a crimson mist.

L'Miren looked from where T'Ket had stood towards Tw'eak. "She will not listen. T'Ket has always been very stubborn."

"She would do well to remember what another wise and ancient set of beings once told me. 'The hand that becomes a fist ceases to be a hand,' " Tw'eak quoted.

"Well said. In a few thousand years, perhaps, her attitudes will change. Until then, be wary. T'Ket is a formidable opponent. And I will not take up arms against her, even in defense of the Other."

"I understand completely," Tw'eak said, patting her sister on the back. "I would never want to take up arms against a sister of mine, either."

"Never again," Sassil replied. Her words could have been meant as a correction of Tw'eak's statement in one context, but the warmth in the tone of her words implied a different meaning - that of genuine fondness.

L'Miren continued. "But from those of us who remain, you shall have peace. We ask only for our homeworld. Leave Iconia and our servants undisturbed, and we will trouble you no longer."

"Wait," Spera said, stepping forward. "I'd like to suggest something."

"Our terms are not negotiable," L'Miren insisted. "We need time to grieve and contemplate. Perhaps in a millenium or two it will be different."

"L'Miren, wait. These aren't terms - just an idea of mine. Please, hear me out." Spera winced. "You listened to me once. You... and your sister... you loved me once."

L'Miren paused. "I am listening now, Esperanza."

Hearing L'Miren call Spera by her name caused both Tw'eak and Sassil to turn rather sharply towards Spera, who looked first at her mother, then her aunt, for a brief interval before speaking. Her face wavered for a moment, as if in indecision, before she stepped between the two Andorian sisters, and stood before L'Miren. "You have suffered, grieve losses and feel pain. Let me come with you - to ease your loneliness."

"Spera?" Tw'eak was astonished.

Spera turned to face Tw'eak. "Please, Shreya. It's the only way. Their Whole is broken. I can help them heal." She turned to L'Miren. "I've done it before."

"You've been turned by them," Sassil insisted, her voice fierce with betrayal. "Subverted, somehow. You must not go."

"I make this offer of my own free will." She looked at her mother. "As a Starfleet officer."

L'Miren considered for a moment. "You would seek to serve us?"

"Not a servant," Spera said plainly. "As a diplomatic outreach mission, on behalf of the United Federation of Planets, and its allies." She smiled at L'Miren. "As a friend... a sister."

It took L'Miren a moment to know how to respond. "You... are not Iconian. Your people are inferior beings."

Tw'eak sighed. It had been a worthwhile effort on Spera's part to attempt. Yet she was secretly relieved it hadn't worked.

L'Miren continued. "You are a child of two worlds... of two timelines... each of them distinct in their voices and their experience. You could not become a part of the Whole. But you would be welcome."

"Really?" Spera's joy was unmistakable - as was Tw'eak's surge of anxiety at hearing L'Miren's words.

"You have helped us before. You have shown us compassion - upon our darkest day, and in this moment of need. For this, we are all grateful. Perhaps, in this fashion, you will continue to help us." L'Miren nodded. "You may remain, on condition that you be provided means by which to leave when requested."

"She comes with her own shuttlecraft," Tw'eak quipped, despite her feelings on the idea of parting with her daughter.

"Shuttlecraft. Ah, yes. An auxiliary craft designated for personnel transport. We ourselves have no need for such devices, as our gateways are vastly superior."

"You mean you would not simply use the gateway to dispose of her?" Sassil asked.

L'Miren turned towards Sassil. "We... would never treat a friend in such a fashion."

Spera swallowed a giggle, striving to retain her professional tone. "I assure you that, y'know, in the spirit of diplomatic relations, and following the - um - the Prime Directive and all that, I'll do all I can to help - for the good of all our people."

"You're sure about this," Tw'eak asked seriously.

"Shreya, I've never wanted anything more in my life." Spera smiled brightly at her mother. "The things I could learn from them - especially now... maybe they might even learn from _me_." She gave a little this is what I'm doing here, after all. Y'know?"

"I know." Tw'eak shrugged. "I'm gonna miss you, kid."

Spera embraced her mother fondly. "Oh, me too. I love you so much, Shreya. You've done so much for me, and... and I just love you." The two of them held each other for a long time, then Spera stepped back and looked at Sassil. "I'm sorry. I wish we'd had more time to get to know each other."

"You need not worry. You have proven yourself worthy of respect and honour - two hundred thousand times over, upon this day. I am honoured to have come to know you... daughter of my _shi_." Sassil hesitated in pronouncing the word 'daughter', the expression not technically in keeping with her particular Andorian values, yet she bowed reverently, in the Klingon fashion nevertheless.

Spera stepped out of her mother's embrace and placed her hand on Sassil's shoulder. "Thank you. I wish I had time to explain what your approval means to me."

"Perhaps, in time, we shall have that opportunity."

"Over a cup of katheka," Spera replied. Sassil offered a nod in reply. "I'd like that." She then returned to her mother's embrace. Tw'eak felt herself flush with embarrassment. She had prided herself, throughout her career, on knowing the right words, the means to inspire, just how to express herself in any moment. Now, she could barely speak. The profundity of her despair clashed with the recognition of the responsibility - indeed, the duty - which Spera had chosen for herself.

"Take care of yourself, Shreya."

"Good luck," Tw'eak stammered out between tears, embracing her daughter for a moment longer - perhaps, for the last time.

Spera took a few steps towards L'Miren, standing in the place where T'Ket had stood. "You'll send the shuttle over?" she asked the Iconian.

"The shuttlecraft _Hypatia_ already resides within our hold," L'Miren replied. "It may not be necessary, but it is of value to you. As we have no need of quarters, it can serve you in this fashion. I have seen to it personally."

"Living out of the shuttlecraft again, what else is new." Spera said with a smile and a faux-resigned shrug, but Tw'eak could not reciprocate with a smile. Spera turned to L'Miren. "Thank you for having me." Spera looked to her mother. "I'll call you when I get there."

"Whenever you can. I'll look forward..." Tw'eak's voice cracked with sadness. "...to your report." She looked up at L'Miren. "Thank you for striking this accord with us. Please... take care of her."

"We shall," L'Miren replied. "Just as she has... cared about us." She pronounced the word 'cared' as though it were in a foreign tongue. "And for this, we shall be grateful to her. Farewell, traveler."

* * *

And then, just as rapidly as they had come, Sassil and Tw'eak found themselves back onboard the timeship _Silhouette_. Aurora bounced out of her command chair, startled. "Admiral! What's happened?"

Tw'eak wiped tears from her eyes, and swallowed hard, struggling to regain her composure. "Status report," she ordered, as her voice crackled.

From the tactical console, Commander Celes read out the report. "Starfleet has requested that you and the general meet with Captain Kagran to debrief. They've chosen the Academy grounds, since Spacedock is unavailable."

"Alright." Tw'eak looked over. " _Warspite_?"

"Undergoing salvage operations. Captain Lio'wan of the _Bonaventure_ reports that the starship _Australia_ is towing them to the gantries near Earth Spacedock. Only a skeleton crew still onboard. Nearly half the stardrive section is badly damaged or destroyed, and they're maintaining structural integrity via auxiliary power only. Their main engine and deflector are both destroyed, and the warp core was ejected under automatic safety protocol. No shipboard communications, most systems are offline."

"But she's still in one piece." Tw'eak looked to Aurora. "It's quite a ship."

"Well, it helps that we built her right the first time." Aurora shrugged, giggling. "And the second time, after the Borg nearly destroyed her."

"Is all the damage on the same side as where the Borg damaged her?"

"Nope," Aurora replied, matter-of-factly, a little glib. "Now she's been rebuilt on both sides. Don't even know if she's the same ship anymore."

"She's the same ship, alright," Bianca said from the science station. "Hell of a ship."

"You've got that right," Tw'eak replied, laughing. She looked to Celes. "What about our pirate friends?"

"They turned and cleared Sol shortly after the cease-fire went into effect. Captain ...Selkirk of the lead ship sent a signal. Text only - it reads, 'tell your admiral that Zed and I have the matter in hand - our flotilla shall not know rest until the scourge of slavery is eradicated from the quadrant.' "

Tw'eak smiled. "Glad to hear it. Is that all he said? He's usually a lot more talkative."

"That was the part of the message personally addressed. There's more, but... it's... not relevant."

"Come on, let's hear it."

Celes gave a grunt. "It also says, 'yo-ho-ho, and avast ye scurvy slaver dogs who would be our foes!' It continues in this fashion for several paragraphs."

"That's alright," Tw'eak said, smiling. "I'll take a look at it later - might be worth passing on to the Federation News Service, get some good public-relations that way." She turned to Sassil. "What about you? I don't think I can just pass you on to the news people."

Sassil considered for a moment. "It had been my intention to return with Captain Kagran, and resume my service to the Empire. I may delay that, for some time, and invoke personal leave rights for a period of unspecified duration." She looked at the viewscreen. "My fondest wish presently is to return home."

"Home," Tw'eak repeated. "You mean Andoria."

"Yes." Sassil's antennae broadened as she spoke. "I have come to realize my error, and while I do not regret my warrior's scars, I must set aside my weapons and return to the homeworld I love. I have missed home, and our _charan_ , very dearly. With the end of hostilities, an opportunity presents itself to return home with both glory and honour in hand. Yet neither were achieved by me alone. I would wish for you to accompany me in triumphant return."

Tw'eak looked around at the assembled company on the bridge - friends old and new, officers she had served with for years. "Actually, I think it's time. I would be glad to see the stars of home again," she said with a smile. She looked around the bridge. "I have something of an announcement for you all. I've decided, just now... that today... today's been my last battle. I'm retiring from active duty, very shortly."

Aurora gasped. "Really?" Bianca asked.

"Never thought of you as the 'retiring' type," O'Leary joked. "Figured they'd pry that pulsewave from your cold, dead hand someday."

"No, y'know, I thought about it and... as it stands right now, the last time I killed anyone in the service of Starfleet, it was two hundred thousand years ago. I kind of like the sound of that. Puts it all behind me nicely. Besides, the galaxy's at peace, and needs engineers, scientists, diplomats... not old warriors like us." She grinned broadly as she turned to her sister. "Thinking it's about time I went back to Andoria myself. But going home together... I wouldn't miss it."

"I wish your ...daughter had been able to accompany us," Sassil said.

Tw'eak's grin took on a wistful tone. "She'll come home when she's ready."

Sassil closed her eyes in agreement. "But only then. No sooner."

Tw'eak nodded, her emotions raw.

"Oh yeah!" Aurora exclaimed. "Where did Spera go?"

There was a long silence before Tw'eak answered. "Where she's needed most," she finally replied, then turned for the turbolift.

"Admiral?" Bianca asked. "Where are you going?"

"There's someplace I'd like to be, before I'm needed again." The turbolift doors closed behind her.

* * *

The ready room of the starship _Warspite_ was exactly as Tw'eak remembered it. It had taken no damage in the attack, and as Tw'eak reviewed on the auxiliary-powered computer terminal, it seemed as though the over-engineering and supreme efficiency that her captain (and, it was worth pointing out, her former chief engineer, now commander of the _Silhouette_ ) had infused into _Warspite_ 's spaceframe over the past two years had, yet again, spared the ship from the fate of so many others, spiraling as a burnt-out wreck with a dead crew, someplace just beyond Earth orbit. In the adjacent viewport, the dancing blue energy of the tractor beam swirled and shimmered.

Octavia entered through the door, her intention to spend the next few hours regenerating. The sight of a familiar Andorian seated at her desk startled her. "Admiral," she said as she came to halt. "Welcome aboard. I was not expecting you. In fact, I had not been informed of your arrival."

"It's fine," Tw'eak said with a smile. "Talked to Doc already," she continued. "Nadya and Kim are aboard the _Australia_ , safe - she's still tending to the last few casualties that need clearing." She looked at her padd. "Ninety-four dead onboard, about as many injured."

"I was not aware of the ninety-fourth death," Octavia replied. "They were regrettably avoidable. Lieutenant Aewon is distressed at his having been unable to avoid the ramming Herald vessel."

"He shouldn't be. He's one of the best helmsmen I've ever seen in action." She looked out the window. "He probably kept this from being worse - imagine if they'd hit the warp nacelle."

"A point I have already discussed with the lieutenant. The ablative armour of the stardrive section was remarkably effective in absorbing the kinetic impact. A commendation to the design of these starships."

"And her commander," Tw'eak replied. "You've heard about Oulius?"

"I have not. Was he injured?"

"Killed in action defending the Iconians. Our only casualty."

Octavia closed her eye. "I shall grieve his passing."

"As will we all - even the Iconians." She shook her head. "It's ironic - aside from Spera, he had more reasons than anyone to hate the Iconians. Yet he risked it all to try to save them." Before Octavia could say anything, she raised a hand. "It's complicated."

"So I would imagine," Octavia said flatly.

"I've been in contact with Proconsul D'Tan to thank him and his people for providing Oulius to us as an exchange officer. We couldn't have made it to today without him."

"I will admittedly miss his company. For a time during his profoundest of sorrow, I believed there was a probability that he and I might become lovers."

Tw'eak sat back in the chair, astounded. "Well, that would have been unexpected."

"Not as such, no. The probability was not exceedingly large, while the probability of his experiencing regret as a consequence was considerable. I would have further argued against it, prior to commencing any such actions, on the grounds that I am - was - his direct superior, and therefore restricted in my conduct."

Tw'eak chuckled to herself. "Those sorts of... 'actions' aren't always as reasonable as protocol suggests, but I'm glad you retained such self-control."

"Of course," Octavia replied.

Tw'eak waited a moment, then added, "Spera won't be coming back, either. At least, not yet."

"So she was not also killed in action?"

"No." Tw'eak looked for the right thing to say. "She... found a place for herself. With the Iconians. She requested to go with L'Miren and her sisters, and L'Miren agreed. T'Ket didn't - she went off on her own, no telling what she'll get up to next. But I think Spera's safe, for now. She's going to learn from them, and stay with them, for a while."

"An unspecified duration," Octavia noted.

Tw'eak nodded, her heart filled with longing sorrow. "Yeah."

"May I ask if you would care for a cup of _katheka_?"

"I'd love one, but I shouldn't stay. You'll be safely between the gantries in a few hours, and I'll start... doing whatever retired people do."

"Again, I find myself inadequately informed. I had not realized this was to be your final mission."

"Yeah. Bit of a snap decision on my part, but... honestly, I think I'm done."

"Given your exemplary record of service, it seems a reasonable course of action. Your actions while in command have seen you play a critical role in preserving the Federation on at least seven separate occasions, and be awarded each of Starfleet's highest awards for conspicuous gallantry and heroism."

Tw'eak tried to count out what those would be, but just shook her head. "I'll take your word on that. It doesn't matter - I think I've finally reached the point where I've proven myself to everyone... even to myself. And it's only fair that I remove myself from active duty. I want to be there when she comes home."

"Your daughter," Octavia clarified.

"Yeah. I wish I could put into words just how much she's changed my life. I realize she played such a major role with the Iconians, first in fighting them, now in co-existing with them, but... she made me realize that service and duty are only fulfilling when you have something to come home to... someone to have a home with... someone to fight for."

"Would your current relationship with Captain Shon not so qualify?"

Tw'eak thought about it for a moment. "I don't think Va'kel is ready to step back from his duties just yet. I know him well enough to know he'll still feel like he has something to prove out there. Just like with Spera - when he's ready, he'll know where to find me, too." Tw'eak chuckled. "And, of course, at every other opportunity he's off-duty. He's finally got good reason to take shore leave!"

"Indeed." The Borg captain looked down. "May I have your permission to speak candidly?"

"You always have, Octavia."

"While I understand and appreciate your reasons for no longer wishing to continue in service, I will sincerely miss your presence upon my bridge. Serving as your flag officer has been the high point of my career in Starfleet."

"She's your ship now. You've earned it."

"But I would not have, without you. Your leadership and model - and furthermore, your friendship and affection for me - have been significant motivating factors in my personal and professional life for the entirety of the duration of our common service."

"That means a lot to me." Tw'eak smiled. "I hope you know, you'll always be welcome, wherever I am - if you're not too busy, that is. I know how a ship like this can run you off your feet."

"That is true, especially in its current state of repair." Octavia tilted her head. "Yet it, for me, has become a sort of home. And I look forward to building a series of fundamentally vital relationships with my future subordinate officers, following your example, in the hopes that their level of comfort with me will lead them to feel 'at home'."

"I have no doubt you'll be successful - just... don't force it to happen. You can't make people be comfortable."

"A fact not in dispute, as my... appearance has often reminded me."

"I really wish that weren't the case, y'know."

"Indeed. Perhaps, in time, with advances in cranial reconstruction, it may be possible for me to perhaps restore my original facial expression. Perhaps even a holo-emitter might be an appropriate modification." Octavia thought this over quickly. "In fact, that may be a prudent method of - I will investigate this further. No doubt Admiral Downey will be pleased."

"She's a good friend to have," Tw'eak noted. "Tough, determined... and very fond of you. Reminds me of... me."

"The parallel is not inexact. My relationships with you only differ in their duration and common experience - while I have known Admiral Downey for longer chronologically based upon her recollection, I have served more closely with you during my post-liberation period of service." Octavia stopped as Tw'eak started laughing. "Admiral?"

Tw'eak's laughter faded, and she gave her friend a wistful look. "I really missed having you along on the last mission."

Octavia appeared confused. " _Warspite_ accompanied you on the previous mission."

"You. Personally. I would've appreciated your presence on ancient Iconia. I would've loved to know what you thought of the place. It was unreal."

"I fail to see how a planetary body in space could appear 'unreal'. Perhaps you are referring to the legend of Aldea, the planet hidden behind a cloaking device. Or perhaps the Krenim world of - "

"Octavia," Tw'eak said with a laugh. "Never mind." She got up from her chair and walked over to the captain of the starship _Warspite_ , and embraced her. Octavia's response consisted of an uncertain grasp about Tw'eak's midsection, followed by a slight swoon.

"My apologies," she said softly. "It has been fifty-seven hours since I last regenerated."

"Oh! You must be hungry. Don't let me keep you." Tw'eak ushered Octavia towards the regeneration alcove in the adjacent restroom.

"An apt metaphor." Octavia stood in the doorway and nodded to Tw'eak. "Excuse me."

"If anyone suggests any sort of 'retirement party' or anything, please throw them out the nearest airlock," Tw'eak joked.

Octavia stood perfectly still for a moment, not moving, not responding. "Of course," she eventually replied, turning and heading to the regeneration alcove.

"I was kidding, for the record." Tw'eak awaited a reply, but heard only the sound of the alcove becoming active. By herself again, Tw'eak turned - to find Pal leaning against the wall, looking exhausted. "Pal."

"Admiral." Pal seemed to steady himself with a hand against the wall. "I must speak to you."

Recalling Pal's advanced age for a Jem'Hadar, she stepped in beside him to help him stand. "You alright? Maybe we should get Doc."

"I am in no physical discomfort... I am aggrieved."

"Do you want to talk about it? I don't know if the counselor's still onboard."

"I would prefer not to discuss the matter professionally." Pal's gruff response belied a clear need to talk out the issue.

"You're upset, it's alright, you don't have to talk. I can understand exactly why you're upset, y'know."

"You can? How?"

"I've worried about this a lot, y'know. I've put myself in harm's way for the sake of the greater good more times than I can count. And for the past couple years, every time I have, I've done it knowing you were out there, doing your Jem'Hadar thing, watching over me like you do so well."

"But my watch has ended in failure, despite our victory. The subcommander is dead."

"Do you feel you... let him down somehow?"

"I hesitated. I could have struck the one that killed him, could have killed him first. I killed many others of their kind afterwards and before, yet - yet I hesitated then."

"You wouldn't have hesitated without cause."

"There was risk of striking the subcommander in the process of firing upon the target."

"That was the right choice." Tw'eak tilted her head down to make eye contact with Pal, who looked away from the carpet and into her eyes. "You do what you can in the moments you're given. I know you're going to see this as a situation where you didn't do what needed doing, but Oulius' death is that other person's fault, not yours. And if you want me to formally exonerate you, I'll go get a padd and add a letter to your file to that effect right now."

"Admiral, I do not think you understand." Pal was almost pleading. "This is a matter of personal honour, of pride. I have never yielded the advantage to a foe before."

"I was right there next to you. You didn't fire for the same reason I didn't - from where we were, there was a chance that we might've hit Oulius if he moved at all. If I'd followed my instincts and fired my pulsewave I would've probably killed Oulius myself." Tw'eak tapped her chest. "He wasn't wearing his shield."

"So I have learned from Commander duBois. They both lowered their shields." Pal looked at Tw'eak. "A reckless choice on their part."

"Not reckless, Pal. Brave. Unspeakably brave. They couldn't fix the gateway with the energy of their shields interfering with the matrix of the gateway's power source. Sot hey both chose to lower their defenses in order to help the defenseless - risked their futures to save ours. One of them didn't come back. We're lucky we didn't lose them both, as it turned out." She placed a hand on Pal's thick shoulder. "Don't lose any sleep over what happened on the mission."

"I resent the implication that I require unconscious rest," Pal replied angrily, straightening up.

"Not what I meant, sorry, bad choice of words." Tw'eak's hand went from Pal's shoulder to being raised in apology. "What I meant was, don't let what's happened cause you any further concern - especially the next time someone raises a weapon at a friendly target."

"No, rest assured, I will not. I swear it."

Tw'eak's eye twinkled at Pal. "Any thought of what you'll do, now that I'm leaving the service?"

Pal looked at Tw'eak, then asked, "I would not accompany you?"

"Oh, no," Tw'eak said with a laugh. "I appreciate your company, but this is your chance to re-define what it means to be you."

"But your enemies remain alive - the Orion Syndicate, for example, will surely make another attempt on your life."

"Actually, Sassil tells me that they've lost interest in me." She chuckled. "In fact, we received a report that suggests that Selkirk Rex is back in action - and that his forces are far better organized than ever."

"Perhaps I will seek to serve the Joint Liberation Service, then," Pal mused.

"Or... you could go to Bajor. There's a _prylar_ in Hathon with whom I wish you'd had more time to study. Maybe you should start there first."

Pal closed his eyes and nodded. "It has been some time since I have been to Bajor, but my time away from there has been in the service of victory. I have fought alongside one to whom the Prophets have spoken. There is no greater honour for one of my faith - and no greater honour for one of my people than to have served and fought for this day."

"If 'victory brings life', then that 'life', for you, is one I'd want you to spend at liberty in pursuit of your faith. You've been obedient to the chain of command for long enough. It might be a good idea for you to listen to that spiritual longing of yours, and see where it takes you."

Pal looked serene, his eyes closed, his head back. The bristling, intimidating Jem'Hadar looked utterly calm. His eyes then opened, looking to Tw'eak. "That is your plan as well, then? To fulfill your needs of faith?"

"My faith is in my people, my family... and the Federation." She smiled. "We've managed to avert the Final Darkness. Andoria stands proud, if a little scarred - grieving for its losses, but secure in its future. My sister Sassil and I will be returning there, together, in the coming days."

"So I heard. Perhaps I should accompany you." Suspicion rose in Pal's eyes. "To watch your back."

Tw'eak laughed. "I know she can be proud, arrogant, even stubborn as a _zabathu_ on occasions... but that runs in the family. She's an honourable warrior, Pal. She's one of us."

Pal nodded. "Very well. I believe I will seek the _prylar_ 's assistance in making a record of my travels and service. I regret not having taken part in the Memorial recording project when the opportunity arose." He looked at Tw'eak. "I believe the perspective of a Jem'Hadar might be worthwhile for others to hear - especially those of my people, whom the Founders have failed. Perhaps I can show them another way."

"Just as long as you don't call it the 'true way'," Tw'eak said with a smile. "I realize you're specifically put together to be intimidating, but it'd be good for people to see the other side of it - how you think, what you feel, that you're your own person. I think you should start right from the beginning, and how you've come to manage the issues around ketracel-white."

"Do you think that would be of interest?"

"I'd read it. I'd love to." Tw'eak shrugged. "And if you can't find an audience, find a good editor, I guess. You're not bound to keep every word of what you write. I'm sure the _prylar_ will be of great help. As you have been, to me." She extended her hand. "I've never said this with more completeness of feeling before: thank you. Thank you for everything you've done. I owe you my life."

Pal reluctantly shook Tw'eak's hand. "I am grateful to you as well, for victory... and for my life."

Tw'eak and Pal walked together back out onto the bridge, and the nearest turbolift.

Pal lowered his voice. "If I am ever required by you, should I be able, I will hasten to your side."

"I appreciate that. I think I'll be okay. But I want you to keep in touch all the same. When Spera gets home, she'll want to hear from you."

"I look forwrad to it," Pal replied. He looked back towards the empty tactical station. "I must tend to matters aboard ship, and designate a new First."

"I understand." Tw'eak closed her eyes and reached out, hugging Pal in such a way that his arms wriggled at his side. "You take care of yourself," she said as the turbolift arrived. "Like you've taken care of me." As it did, she stepped inside, leaving a serene-looking Jem'Hadar to bow in a departing salute to the admiral he had served so well.


	106. Part VII, Chapter 9

The commons of the Starfleet Academy grounds, which connected the various buildings to each other by a series of walkways, bridges and gardens, were vibrant with life. In various places, Romulans mingled with Klingons, cadets danced with captains, and a sense of life returning to normal crackled through the air like the fireworks being set off at intervals from a slow-orbiting shuttlecraft. The victory party was just getting started - but this was a victory party like none before it. The mood was both jubilant at the notion of returning to peace, to exploration - to Starfleet's real work - and somber, in recollection of how the devastation of the conflicts with the Klingon Empire, the Undine, the Borg, and the Iconians had created so much more work for the Federation and the Alliance closer to home. Nevertheless, Earth was a home no longer under threat, and the tension of six years of near-continuous conflict was finally lifted.

In the main courtyard, Tw'eak materialized in the company of her sister Sassil, who wore a short-sleeved black targ-leather tunic, complete with short brown leather skirt and tall Klingon-style boots. Tw'eak, for her part, wore a standard duty uniform. "Aren't you going to be hot in that?" she asked Sassil.

"This is San Francisco," Sassil replied. "It's always too hot for me, here."

Tw'eak raised both eyebrows, then shook her head. "Oh well." She stepped forward to where Captain Harry Kim was talking to Captain Tom Paris. "Gentlemen."

"Hello, Admiral," Captain Kim said. "Good to see you again. Well done on that mission - both of you."

"Thank you," Tw'eak said. "It wasn't easy, but we managed."

"I'll say. Your compassion accomplished more in one act than we could've with all the phasers in the fleet."

"I gotta say," Captain Paris continued, "I thought this was it. The last day. And I was ready, but..." He paused for a moment, looking out over the water. "I'm glad my daughter didn't have to die in defense of the Federation. That I get to go... home... after this." He turned to Tw'eak. "We all do. Thank you."

Tw'eak smiled. "Miral is well, then?"

"Very well. She's become quite an officer. Still takes after her mother on occasion, but... that's not always a bad thing."

Tw'eak indicated her sister. "This is my sister, General Sassil Sh'abbas of Klingon Intelligence."

"Hello," Kim replied, shaking her hand. "I'd heard of you. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Indeed - two former members of the starship _Voyager_ 's crew," Sassil replied, shaking Kim's, then Paris', hands. "It is my honour."

"Wait 'til later," Paris said with a smile. "Captain - I mean, Admiral Janeway is hosting a party, and I understand the two of you are both invited. 'Guests of honour', I think it said."

"You still call her 'Captain'," Kim asked, "after all these years?"

"I still call him Chakotay, even in meetings. I can handle anything, but keeping track of rank has never been my strong suit."

Hearing the conversation, Captain Nog of the starship _Chimera_ drifted into the loop, drink in hand. He extended his other hand to shake first Tw'eak's, then Sassil's, hands. "Congratulations," he said, smiling ear to massive ear. "The Krenim managed to get the portal open - and you two did the rest."

"We had a lot of help," Sassil noted. "Notably from a Romulan exchange officer named Oulius, whose sacrifice we won't soon forget."

"Indeed," Tw'eak acknowledged. "He was a fine officer. And a good man."

"There's a lot of work to be done now," Nog observed. "We need to rebuild. Recover. Try to learn how to live in this new reality. But with people like you on our side, I know we can do it."

"We have a lot to do," Captain Kim continued, "to heal the wounds the war has left on us all. But we've survived the Borg and the Dominion. We can survive this."

"More than just 'survive'," Sassil corrected. "Live together in harmony, and with honour."

"Oh, agreed," Kim said with a nod. "Honour and selflessness have been almost forgotten over the past few years. That needs to change. It's time to act like Starfleet officers again."

"That was what saved us," Tw'eak replied. "And that'll be what guides us, going forward. Speaking of which, if you gentlemen will excuse me - I'm sure I'll see you later this evening for the dinner party."

"The captain usually keeps a table at Fiorella's, but for a party this big I'd imagine she's booked out the whole place." Paris smiled, as did Kim and Nog, as Tw'eak and Sassil passed. "We'll see you at eighteen-hundred," Paris added, then the three of them turned to each other and continued conversing.

Tw'eak walked with Sassil towards a nearby bridge. "Is that the... Italian restaurant? On Fountain Street?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I have not had a piece of ... pizza, is it called? It has been many years, regardless. I should hope they still serve it there."

"I think they'd be just as likely to serve tuber roots at an Andorian restaurant," Tw'eak quipped. Ahead of them stood Admiral T'uni, in conversation with Vice Admiral Emlyn Downey. It was Downey who looked up first. "Seeing you two together makes me incredibly suspicious."

"Indeed," T'uni said, her lips twitching in as close to a smile as a Vulcan could offer. "I was just advising Admiral Downey of her promotion."

"Are you daft?" Downey asked. "Ma'am."

"Sorry?"

"Retiring from service at a time like this - what rot. They're promoting me to command Eleventh Fleet!"

Tw'eak smiled at T'uni. "Is that a fact."

"She is the next most senior officer." T'uni gave a little shrug. "Admiral Quinn recommended it personally, though he is most displeased with your decision, as I understand it."

"I don't see him here. Is he alright?"

"He was injured during the attack on Earth Spacedock while overseeing an evacuation effort." T'uni raised an eyebrow. "This is not the first time he has been injured during an attack there in the past year."

"We'll just have to do our best not to let anyone threaten Earth for a good long time, then." Downey's voice was fierce.

"I stopped over on _Warspite_ , on our way here," Tw'eak noted.

"Is she alright?" Downey asked urgently.

"No, there was extensive damage to the stardrive. I'm sure you saw it - it was your flagship that towed her - "

"Go on," Downey said with a smile. "I meant Mal. Octavia. She's not hurt?"

"Oh - no, she's well. She's regenerating, I think. Otherwise she'd have been here."

"She's been my best friend for longer than she can remember," Downey said with a smile. "I'm going to look after her - and that fine ship of hers. Promise."

"I have no doubt." Tw'eak smiled. "And I'd bet she'll do her fair share of looking after you."

"Friends have a habit of doing such things for each other," T'uni noted, raising an eyebrow at Tw'eak.

Tw'eak nodded, grinning, and embraced T'uni quickly. "Thank you - for always being there."

"I do not understand." T'uni's eyebrow remained raised.

"Don't act like you don't. I don't know how many strings you've had to pull to make today happen, but you set up so many opportunities for me along the way. I may not have had time to acknowledge them all, but I know you were there all along, giving me those chances."

T'uni placed her hands behind her back, eyebrow still arched. "I was merely allocating resources in a fashion pertinent to the exigencies of the service. To imply favouritism played any role in my actions would be... illogical."

"Right." This sarcastic aside came not from Tw'eak, or Downey, but from Sassil, who was rolling her eyes.

"Nevertheless... as another Vulcan once said to his one-time captain, I have been, and ever will be, your friend." She held her hand aloft in the Vulcan salute. "Live long, and prosper, Tw'eak."

"Thank you," she said in response to T'uni. "Good luck," she added, to Downey, who nodded, eyes closed, in appreciation.

The Sh'abbas sisters then crossed a bridge over the Academy water course and found Captain Kagran in a group containing B'Eler of Klingon Intelligence, both the duBois sisters, and Kim Hewson, who was carrying baby Nadezhda in her arms. Nadya looked around inquisitively, the tips of her still-dormant antennae flickering where they rested against her head, a thin peach-fuzz of baby hair faintly visible over the rest of its surface. "Hello, sweetie," Tw'eak said as she approached. She then turned to Sassil. "Look who it is, come to see you for the first time."

"This is...an Andorian child," Sassil inferred. "With human parents?"

"We call her Nadya," Kim corrected with a broad smile. "She was chirping and squawking the moment she saw you come over that bridge, Admiral."

"Nadya is genetically identical to Spera, just... a lot younger."

"I see." Sassil looked at Nadya, who looked right back and laughed. "She is spitting up."

"Oh!" Kim reached for a blanket. "Thanks for telling me."

"Where's Doc?" Tw'eak asked, looking around.

"Oh, you know Doctor Fussy-Pants. She found out someone was going to have to work on fixing up her sickbay and she insisted on overseeing everything. Both she and Octavia are still aboard the _Warspite_ , actually."

"Wish the captain would join us," Aurora said sadly.

"She needs to regenerate."

"Just hope she doesn't sleep right through it - This is her party, too."

"Indeed!" Kagran said, his booming voice bringing the attention of everyone. "We all have much to do. But first, we will celebrate! Let the bloodwine flow now that the bloodletting has ceased."

"I wish I could share your enthusiasm," Bianca replied. "It's hard to feel much happiness after so many have died."

"There is more to being a warrior than vengeance and death. True honour comes from doing what is right, despite the personal cost - as you have done, Admiral." Kagran reached a hand towards a bursting firework in the sky. "The Iconians will depart, and we will rebuild. Mercy has triumphed where weapons could not. Now I will try to find a way to share this wisdom with my people. Many warriors have fallen in this war. Those of us who remain must walk the path of honour."

"And so we shall," B'Eler affirmed. She looked around the circle. "Your courage has shown us the way."

"The war is over," Kagran declared. "Although we could not turn back the clock and restore either the lives that were lost or the planets that were ravaged, we have ended the conflict honourably. You made the right choice, Admiral, and that is not always an easy one to make."

"I had a lot of help," Tw'eak replied. "From a few very good friends."

Kagran bowed, saluting Tw'eak, as did B'Eler. He looked to Sassil. "I would be honored to fight by your side again, General. Before that day comes, however, we must rebuild. There is already talk of new exploration missions. Perhaps we will find our next challenge among the unexplored stars."

"I really hope that's true," Bianca said wistfully. "I really want to get out there."

"I understand your wish is to remain at your sister's side," Kagran said to Sassil.

"I believe it is her wish to remain at mine," Sassil joked. Tw'eak playfully gave her sister a slight shove to the shoulder. "Nevertheless, you are correct. I have submitted my resignation, which Chancellor J'mpok reluctantly accepted."

"I am aggrieved that the Empire has lost one of its finest warriors in this fashion," Kagran replied. "Surely your place in _Sto-vo-Kor_ has been assured this day."

"Klingon Intelligence also suffers a loss for your decision," B'Eler added. "Your service with us has brought glory to House Pegh. With luck we will have time to appoint a suitable successor, before our enemies reveal themselves yet again."

"You have no need of luck in order to find yourself," Sassil replied. "I have given Chancellor J'mpok your name as my chosen successor. Serve the Empire well, B'Eler." It was Sassil's turn to bow.

"I am honoured. And surprised. My thanks to you for doing so." B'Eler turned to Kagran. "We should return to the _An'quat_."

"Indeed. Please convey my regrets to Admiral Janeway. Qo'noS awaits our safe return."

"Thank you for everything, Kagran," Tw'eak affirmed. "I know we didn't always agree on every point of strategy, but I'm honoured to have served with you."

"The honour has been mine, Admiral. Please give my regards to your daughter. Tell her, as the humans say, 'no hard feelings'." His face took on a warrior's grin as he reached down to his wrist, activated his retrieval beacon on his communicator, and in moments, he and B'Eler faded away in a red beam of energy. " _Qapla'_!" he called to Tw'eak and Sassil as they departed.

"Well," Tw'eak said to the rest. "Perhaps we should - "

"Admiral!" A voice called from just down the way. "Admiral." It was Commander Jarok of the Republic warbird _Lleiset_. "There you are."

"Hello, Tiaru! It's good to see you."

Jarok looked back to where an uhlan was walking some paces behind. "I was worried I'd miss you before we left. The proconsul has called a meeting for us to begin talking about co-ordinating reconstruction efforts. We're expected on the homeworld, but when I found out you intend to retire, I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye."

"I appreciate that," Tw'eak replied.

Jarok waved to the uhlan, who presented Tw'eak with an ornate box that she needed both hands to hold. She opened it up, revealing a rather large bottle of a distinctive blue liquid. "Romulan ale," she noted. "And a lot of it, too."

"2374, Earth calendar - a very good year," Jarok replied, still out of breath. "I wanted you to have it, in commemoration of your service to the Republic. I hope you'll enjoy it."

"Isn't that stuff still illegal in the Federation?" Aurora wondered.

"I'll fill out the paperwork done on it," Kim joked. "It'll be for medicinal purposes."

"I am grateful," Tw'eak replied, bowing slightly. "We'll have to send you an equal serving of Andorian ale, once we get the chance."

"I'd like that." Jarok smiled. "Also, the Proconsul would like to request your presence, whenever you are available."

Both Aurora and Bianca tensed at this news. Tw'eak merely raised an eyebrow. "To what end?"

"He would like to personally be present at a ceremony to welcome you to the Circle of Friends of the _Rihannsu,_ in recognition of your valour and courage." When Tw'eak did not reply, Jarok continued. "The Circle of Friends of the _Rihannsu_ is an order of recognition only recently set up - it's a way for us to commend and honour those from among our allies who have made sacrifices, sometimes the supreme sacrifice, in the service of our people and our Republic. Ambassador Spock was the first of our Friends, and now, we ask that you join his company and be recognized for your accomplishments."

This was a bit of a shock to Tw'eak. "Really. After - y'know, the last time I saw the proconsul..."

"Yes." Jarok gave a slight frown. "But he asked me to assure you that, were he the sort to hold a grudge, the Republic would be a different place." She smiled and began to laugh, as did Tw'eak and the others.

* * *

It was some time later, after the dinner party and celebration, that Tw'eak caught up with Va'kel Shon. Shon, too, had been invited to the party, but they had not been seated together, and the sheer number of guests present limited any opportunity to talk one-on-one. There were many people whom Tw'eak had been able to speak to instead, however. Neelix had made a surprise appearance, his first time on his _Voyager_ friends' homeworld, in Admiral Tuvok's presence. For his part, Tuvok was unsurprised at Spera's decision to seek to remain with the Iconians, citing her gift for compassionate understanding as reason enough for hope of success in her so-called 'outreach'. Admiral Quinn had turned up, unwilling to miss the victory party despite his injuries. Admiral Chakotay and Admiral T'uni had been there together - fitting that two of Starfleet Intelligence's finest should be present, especially the former, given his close ties to Captain Paris, Captain Kim, and the other old _Voyager_ crew members who were present. Several of them noted sadly the absence of both Seven of Nine, who was on assignment in the Delta Quadrant, and B'Elanna Torres, though Miral's presence in her stead was enjoyed by all of them.

There had been dignitaries from the Republic along with warriors of the Empire - among whom Sassil had spent much of the evening - and members of the various other powers - Cardassians, Remans, Benthans, even a few Kobali. But it was the opportunity to finally meet Admiral Janeway in person which had proven the highlight of Tw'eak's evening. It was hard to tell which of them had been more enraptured by their conversation - the human admiral or the Andorian one. Yet the experience of meeting one of her heroes, and being regaled by Janeway as a hero in her own right, was not one Tw'eak was likely to ever forget.

Now, as the party began to break up, Tw'eak and Sassil drifted together towards a back-door hallway, when Tw'eak found an arm linking with hers at the elbow. "Don't go beaming off anywhere," Shon said quietly.

"I wasn't going to," Tw'eak replied, straightening her dress-white uniform tunic. "Was waiting for you to make the first move anyway."

"Oh, that's how it is."

"Yeah - I always wanted to try to play hard-to-get." She gave him a sly grin. "First time for everything. How's it working so far?"

Sassil stopped at the door leading out of the hallway. "Am I intruding?"

"No, not at all." Tw'eak looked up at Shon. "This is Captain Shon of the _Enterprise_."

"A pleasure," Shon said, nodding.

"Captain. I will return to the Academy grounds on my own," Sassil noted. "I would not wish to intrude on your moment together." She turned and went the other way.

"Thank you," Tw'eak muttered, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I don't see why you're worried," Shon replied. "It's not like she walked in on us."

"I'm still not used to her being around," Tw'eak said with a half-shrug. "She's... so different than I remember. A lot of the fire that was there even just a few months ago - the old Sassil I remember - that fire has gone out. I'm worried she'll have a hard time adapting to life in the Federation again."

"You'll be there to help her, though," Shon said. "She'll be just fine."

"I don't know. The Sassil I knew, I didn't like. This is like... having a sister I don't even know. But you're right, we'll just have to... get to know each other all over again. We'll have plenty of time for that." Tw'eak looked to Shon. "You heard I'm stepping down."

"Yeah. Admiral Downey is apparently going to be taking over Eleventh Fleet, I read earlier today on the Federation News Service. Made no sense to me - I know the admiral commanding Eleventh Fleet pretty well."

"Don't ever let them promote you, Va'kel."

"I haven't. They've tried three times. For me, the _Enterprise_ is the bigger opportunity."

"Good. Couldn't agree more." Tw'eak looked away. "Wish I'd just stayed in command of the _Bonaventure_. Would've saved everyone a lot of trouble."

"I'd think the rest of the universe disagrees." Shon smiled. "You made the difference in this fight against the Iconians - as an admiral, I might add."

"Now they're going to give me a second Pike Medal for Valor," Tw'eak said disbelievingly, shaking her head. "The Klingons want to present me with the Order of the Bat'leth, apparently I'm a friend of the Romulan people -"

"That must be news to the proconsul," Shon quipped.

"His idea!" Tw'eak exclaimed. "Next thing you know the Borg Queen will want my autograph. Uzaveh's name, Va'kel. I did my duty - nothing more. I didn't do this to become the saviour of the galaxy, and I certainly didn't do it to get my name in the Federation News Service."

"It wasn't. Technically, Admiral Downey's was. Which led me to figure you'd decided to retire."

Tw'eak remained cynical in her tone. "It's such an awful work - 'retire'. To an old tactical officer like me it's a synonym for retreat."

"The Twaiheak Sh'abbas I know doesn't do retreats."

"Oh, yes I have. Lots of them. Too many of them. In my sleep. Tactical withdrawals, re-positioning, but... we don't call it retiring, even when it is." She shook her head. "I hope that all that knowledge of war and tactics is lost in time, and we have nothing but scientific discovery and galactic exploration ahead of us."

"Who's to say we won't have both? Our explorations have brought us into contact with plenty of threats over time." Shon set his jaw. "We'll be ready, whatever comes. Even the Iconians couldn't break us."

"No, but it was close, wasn't it."

"Yeah," Shon conceded. "Yeah, it was."

"And we lost a lot of friends." Tw'eak took a moment to think of the names of those she knew - the Klingon clone-emperor Kahless, the crew of Birmal Dazz's ship the USS _Armstrong_ , the officers of the starship _Warspite_ , including Lieutenant Lini sh'Iltryav, Lieutenant dos Santos, and especially Subcommander Oulius, among others - whose faces and voices would be neither seen nor heard again. She found herself unable to avoid thinking of Leo, although his death felt like it had happened a million years before. She could see that Shon, too, was reflecting upon names, faces, and voices of his own, and she reached out to embrace him, holding him close in the dim corridor leading to the restaurant's door.

There was a long pause before Tw'eak leaned back and spoke. "Where do you imagine you'll go next?"

"Back to the _Enterprise_ , of course."

"No, that's - that's what I mean, with the _Enterprise_. Do you have orders yet?"

Shon's face broke into an unrestrained expression of joy. "For the first time since I took command, Starfleet Command wants me to take the _Enterprise_ out on a scientific survey mission."

"Oh, that's great! Where are you going?"

"The Raleabic cluster, it's a series of nineteen stars all less than a few thousand years old - "

Tw'eak's enthusiasm faded. "Yeah, I know it. Delta Quadrant."

"It'll be our first chance to show what our science departments can really do. We're all excited. But we won't be leaving for another week or so."

"Really?" Tw'eak was surprised at this.

"Yeah. I've asked them to delay our departure, since I have an important obligation to you."

Tw'eak felt herself weaken a bit. "Don't you dare propose to me right now."

Shon startled at this. "What? No - I don't - wait, is that - do you want me to?"

"I just said, 'don't'." Tw'eak tilted her head, antennae widening. "Yep, thought about it, 'don't'."

"Okay. You're - you're sure. I was going to say that I wanted to make sure we had some time off together, so I gave as many of my crew as I could an extended leave. I may make it two weeks - one week may not be enough for everyone. But we've been through so much together. I wanted everyone to take a break, and enjoy life for a while."

"That's a good plan," Tw'eak acknowledged. "You're a good captain."

"Thanks." Shon looked up at Tw'eak. "You know, now that you're retired, if we did get married I could arrange for you to join me, on the _Enterprise_."

Tw'eak wrinkled her nose. "I don't think that'd work. It'd be hard for your crew to adjust to having a retired admiral onboard."

"Especially when she comes to the bridge in a bathrobe during red alerts."

Tw'eak scoffed, realizing Shon was being playful. "Oh, I would not!" She put her arm around him. "No, I think I'm just content knowing that you're out there, on the edge of known space, boldly going wherever you're going, while I serve our people by taking my place along the Wall of Heroes."

"When you put it like that, then it's hardly a 'retirement' at all. Serving on the Wall takes a lot of work."

"I know. I'm going to have to get back in shape again to do it." Tw'eak patted her stomach. "Too much fine Italian cuisine and not enough calisthenics and exercise."

"I'll tell you what." Shon stepped over and held the door open for Tw'eak.

"Where are we going?"

"For a moonlight walk around town. Last time we would've had the chance, we were both cadets."

"And you had your bond group," Tw'eak noted as she took a step forward. "And me, I had... whoever. Usually not for long."

"Not tonight. Let's... let's start that walk you wanted to take, right here."

Tw'eak looked down at her dress uniform, its uncomfortable yet elegant boots curving her heel upwards unnaturally. "Maybe if I was in my usual combat gear I'd be up for that."

"I don't suppose we can just instantly replicate you into a more comfortable outfit, can we." Shon replied. "So it'll be a slow walk, then."

"A slow walk, in San Francisco," Tw'eak said in a musical cadence. "Up a hill, down a hill, up the next hill, down again..."

"Well, then, I suppose you have a better idea."

"You know I do." Tw'eak pulled herself close to Shon. "Just... take me home, Va'kel."

* * *

The sound of snow, crunching beneath boots, was like music to Tw'eak's ears. The slow cadence of her footsteps in turn, left, right, left, right, crunching, squeaking, grunting through the foot-deep snow around the landing pad, made her profoundly happy. This was Andoria in the early spring. This was Lai'kan Docking Station 12. And as Tw'eak approached it, her heart glowed with a fire she had not felt in years.

Tw'eak and her group had been on Andoria for three days when word came of the freighter's return. In that time, they had been given a warm welcome by the Andorian imperial authorities, as well as the Lai'kan town council. Sassil and Tw'eak had then gone together to the Wall of Heroes, for Tw'eak to bring Lini sh'Iltryav to her promised resting place. It was there that they met with their last surviving parent, their _charan_ , and once the two daughters returned home with their father, for once the tables were turned. Having told so many legends and fables to them both in their childhoods, it was now the turn of his two daughters to tell him of the stories they had acquired in their experiences across the stars. Now he listened proudly to their tales of bravery and combat - first Sassil's narrative, of her defection, her service in Klingon Intelligence, and her paths crossing with Tw'eak's, who spoke mainly of duty, of her mistakes, and of the heroism of others. It was only once they were done that he told them of their _shreya_ 's death, disappeared among the millions of victims of the Iconians. He himself had only found out within the past week, but his joy at seeing two of his daughters still alive had banished his grief for the time.

Four days before the freighter's arrival, another freighter - this one in Starfleet liveries - arrived in Lai'kan, bringing with it among its passengers a few first-time visitors to the planet. Now, all accompanied Tw'eak and Sassil to the landing pad. For Va'kel Shon, like for Tw'eak, this was a glorious return to the ancestral lands of his people, a place where he had been raised before traveling with his bond group to settle in the Vega colony. That loss was far from his mind as he trudged alongside Captain Eight of Twelve, slowing his pace deliberately to remain at her side. Octavia was not visibly displeased to have to walk through snow, but clearly found the increased ground resistance difficult, and struggled to adapt her stride to the surface conditions. Every now and then she would falter, leading Shon to position his arms in such a way as to keep her from falling. More than once his presence had made the difference and kept her from burying her ocular implant into the fallen snow.

For Aurora and Bianca duBois, however, both having been raised in central Canada, the snow was occasion for them both to cast aside their rank and privileges in order to indulge in an old-fashioned snowball fight. Now and again, one of them would sprint off - often sliding as she went, laughing all the way - and pack together a projectile, then lob it at her sister. At least, this was Bianca's method, fixated upon avoiding collateral damage. For her part, Aurora was a bit more playful, seeking an escalation by targeting any one of the Andorians present. She studiously avoided throwing a snowball at Octavia, however, largely for fear of knocking her over.

The group arrived at the receiving centre for the docking station, and climbed a set of stairs to an observation platform. Kicking the snow off their boots as they entered, the group took up a corner with invisible forcefields on two sides. From here they could see the offloading area, and await the arrival.

A moment of awkward silence settled in, dispelled by Bianca. "So, where's the _Enterprise_ 's next mission, Captain Shon?"

"A star cluster in the Delta Quadrant," he replied.

"Ooh, the Raleabic cluster," Bianca replied. "I've always wanted to go there."

Shon began to correct her, but shook his head. "I suppose we don't need to keep deployments secret any longer," he said to Tw'eak. "The war's over."

"Yeah," Tw'eak quipped, "if I wanted Klingon Intelligence to know anything, I'd tell her." She chucked a thumb towards her sister.

"She never tires of that joke," Sassil said, neither frowning nor smiling in reply.

"I was gonna ask, Admiral," Aurora blurted out. "I heard from Admiral T'uni that she wants to take possession of the new _Silhouette_ , so I'm out a command. Starfleet says I can have any ship I want. I think they wanted me to take one that just needs a captain, but I wanted to do something like we did with _Warspite_ , get in on the construction process. There are two major projects right now - one's an upgrade of the old _Galaxy_ -class, while the other's a carrier."

"Carrier?" Shon inquired. "You mean an escort carrier?"

"That'd be my choice," Tw'eak declared. "Just like old Bonnie all over again."

"No - the new _Jupiter_ class carriers. I'd get the lead ship. They said they'd want me to help with the design modifications during its first year of service. Either that ship or the starship _Endurance_. It's an exploration cruiser, _Monarch-_ class _._ Also fresh out of spacedock. The new design spec would need further refinement, but I'd get to select my own crew, the whole bit."

Shon and Tw'eak looked at each other, uncertain which to pick. "Your experience would be of help with the _Jupiter_ ," Tw'eak reasoned. "It's a more long-term project, but you'd come onto it much like we did with the _Avenger_ project."

"But an exploration cruiser?" Shon replied. "A genuine Starfleet exploration cruiser. I'm just glad to hear they're calling them 'exploration cruisers' again. I'd want to get onboard for that reason alone. And that name. _Endurance_. It just sounds right."

Bianca leaned towards her sister. "I told you they'd be no help, 'rora."

"You should tell them your news, too, Bia."

Bianca blushed slightly, her eyes angling from Tw'eak to Sassil to Shon. "Um... they're promoting me to Captain."

"That's wonderful!" Tw'eak stepped over and embraced Bianca. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks," Bianca gushed, her eyes fluttering. "I only found out on the ride here. I'm going to be commanding the starship _Miranda_. I don't have the engineering experience to get to pick between commands, but I would probably pick this one anyway. It's a _Luna_ -class starship - a science vessel with a sort of tactical focus. They want me to start training for first-contact and diplomatic outreach - they said I'd rated really highly for diplomacy, and want me to specialize in that. We'll be doing a lot of that, I guess, as well as discovery and research."

"Fantastic news," Shon replied. "You'll do wonderfully."

"I hope so. I mean, obviously the captain and you would be my role models at all times," Bianca said, indicating Octavia and Tw'eak.

"Once again, it appears I will have need of a new first officer," Octavia stated plainly. "I will have to begin vetting candidates immediately. I will also be requiring a new chief medical officer, I have been informed."

Tw'eak's eyes widened. "Doc's retiring, too?"

"Transferring, rather," Octavia replied. "She will be joining Doctor Hewson at the civilian medical institute from which Doctor Hewson took a leave to join her aboard _Warspite_. The two of them advised me that they will be seeking a more conducive atmosphere in which to raise their children."

"I can't say I blame - wait, children?" Tw'eak was astonished.

"Doctor Ellington believes she has come to appreciate Nadezhda's role in their lives. She intends to perform the same process, using her genetic material in concert with Doctor Hewson's. This should cause far fewer complications than were present in bringing Nadezhda into conception."

"That's incredible," Shon said. "I wish them luck. Speaking of babies, how's yours - _Warspite_ , I mean?"

Octavia tilted her head at Shon for a moment. "Ah. Of course. I follow your metaphor. I suppose it is accurate. _Warspite_ is something of a progeny of mine, for I have helped to shape and nurture - if you will -"

"Just give him a damage report, Octavia," Tw'eak said with a laugh.

"Major damage was sustained throughout the secondary hull. We will not be spaceworthy for approximately another six weeks. Other vessels with fuller crews are being given priority, in order to attain minimum combat readiness for peacetime scenarios."

"I don't think we'll have much need of that for a while," Shon replied. "At least, I hope not."

"A hope we share, Captain."

Tw'eak looked at Aurora, who looked as though she was about to burst with anxiety. " _Jupiter_." She nodded as Aurora's face brightened. " _Jupiter_ 's your ship."

"Are you sure? This is such a big decision."

"Don't get me wrong, the other ship has a bold mission, but you've always been a fixer, you're good at making things work better. Especially when you work with Octavia." She looked to Octavia. "Maybe you could tag along, consult with her, at least in the initial phase. You said yourself you've got six weeks. And I know what you'll be like for those six weeks with nothing to do. You should tag along, at least until _Warspite_ is ready to return to action."

"A prudent suggestion," Octavia acknowledged. "Our combined efforts were adapted to the entirety of the _Avenger_ -class starship line, with considerable success."

"And now we could do that again!" Aurora looked and sounded excited. "Okay, I'll do it!"

"Would this also constitute my... bearing a second child?" Octavia asked.

No one answered.

"That was a joke," Octavia added. She tilted her head. "I have once again commenced attempting to utilize heuristic algorithms in order to simulate a sense of humour."

"Best of luck with that," Sassil snarked.

"I shall adjust my algorithms accordingly," Octavia replied quietly.

"Attention all personnel," a voice blasted from the adjacent loudspeaker, to Tw'eak's relief. "Freighter _Mehitabel_ now on final approach to Docking Station 12. Please vacate landing zone and move to observation deck or other secured premises."

There was a growing hiss and thrum in the air, and as Tw'eak looked up, she could see fire in the clouds. Through this flaming puff came the prow of a _Tuffli_ -class freighter, its shields set to maximum for atmospheric entry. As it maneuvered into its docking clamps, the modifications present on the freighter - its skin coated in temporal-shielding emitters, the presence of multiple phaser turrets, the enhanced deflector and heavily modified, redundant engine components - became abundantly clear. This freighter, after all, been retrofitted to serve as a permanent home for its occupants. In the darkest days of the Iconian threat, this lifeboat of Andorian civilization had been launched, this seed of hope planted among the stars... had voyaged far into the distant galaxy before being recalled at the close of hostilities. By good fortune they had charted - and studiously avoided - an Iconian gateway along their travels, and used it in order to return home more rapidly. Now, their proud ship stood firmly affixed in the port from whence it had launched, its mission no longer essential to the survival of their people, its voyage completed.

"Come on," Tw'eak said to the assembled group, nodding her head towards the landing pad. "Let's do this."

The group headed down to where an umbilical connector was extending from the docking station, affixing itself to an airlock on the starboard forward quarter. Within a few minutes, signs of movement could be seen along the length of the windows within the umbilical corridor, and Tw'eak and Sassil stood at the front of a group of people that formed at the exit. Slowly, Andorian families began to disembark, one after another, until finally, Tw'eak heard a familiar voice.

"I don't care if we left it behind, I promised _charan_ I would bring it back, and - "

The light of Andoria's sun - that which was known as the Light of the Infinite in their faith - suddenly fell once again upon the face of Dashichal, the third-born sister of the Sh'abbas family. She wore a rather drab outfit, her face and belly slightly rounder than the last time Tw'eak had seen her, and her eyes squinted in the glare. In her arms she carried a bundle of blankets, and at her side, smiling from antenna to antenna, was her bondmate Shrim'ta. His grin was shared by Tw'eak, whom he rushed to greet. "Admiral!" He noted Va'kel Shon before he saw Sassil. "Captain!" Then he spotted Sassil. "Whoa. Hi."

"Greetings, Shrim'ta." Sassil looked around. "It is good to see you and our sister well. Where are your other bondmates, Pholl'rem and Shorban?"

"Oh, that Shorban. Sometimes, honestly." Dashii rolled her eyes as she approached them. "I had to send him back to our quarters - I don't trust just anyone to carry our ancestral ushaan collection onboard and off. You can't be too careful. And I told him once, I told him twice - " There was a bleating noise from the blankets. "Oh, not again. I just fed you." She looked over. "Hello everyone - captain, Aurora! How are you? And Bianca - hello! Captain Shon. I'm glad you're here, too - not surprised, though, but very glad of it!" She smiled at each of them. "I have someone here you should meet."

"Me too," Pholl'rem said, coming into sight. She held her own bundle of blankets in her arms, but this one had a head - a smiling Andorian baby, eyes bright, antennae fully expressed and searching. "Welcome home, little one!" She cuddled the baby in her arm. "I'd like you to meet our _shei_ \- um, our _shen_ -daughter."

"Yeah, I know how it works," Bianca said quickly, smiling. "Andorians."

"I'd like to introduce you... to our little Twaiheak." Pholl'rem held up the little baby, her eyes looking into Tw'eak's.

All eyes went from the baby in Pholl'rem's arms to her namesake, who was astounded. "You... you named her after me?" Tw'eak's antennae narrowed into a tight triangle.

"And this is Va'kel," Dashii said, uncovering the head and antennae of a baby boy. "He's our little _thei_." Baby Va'kel started to fluster at the exposure. "He's also very whiny today, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I'm told _that's_ my default setting," Va'kel Shon quipped. "They're both very beautiful."

"Can I hold one!?" Aurora pleaded.

"Maybe in a little bit?" Phollrem shrugged her shoulders. "We should probably make sure everyone's been decontaminated first - on both sides."

"But why did you do that?" Tw'eak asked.

"Decontamination is standard procedure for docking freighters," Octavia observed, completely missing what Tw'eak was really asking.

Pholl'rem was a little quicker to understand Tw'eak's question "It was Shrim'ta's idea," she said, looking to her chan bondmate. "He figured, with the way the war was going, we'd never see either of you again. And the two of you... we all felt like you're the best of us. So Shrim felt... this was our way of making sure you both lived forever." Pholl'rem looked up at Captain Shon. "It wasn't us hinting about you two, promise."

"Oh, quiet, Pholl - of course it was," Dashii said, bouncing in place with Va'kel in her arms. "What do you say we all get out of the cold weather and find a cup of _katheka_?" She looked at baby Va'kel. " _Zhavey_ 's thirsty."

"We were just at your... _charan_ 's place?" Aurora was tentative in her pronunciation.

"That is correct," Octavia said. "A most intriguing domicile."

"And he was planning a big feast for everyone."

"Oh, that sounds amazing right now," Dashii gushed. "After all that shipboard food, a home-cooked meal sounds divine. Let's go."

Sassil stood still as the others followed the babies. "Should we not await Shorban's return?"

"He always takes forever," Dashii called back. "He knows where to find us. Besides, _charan_ will probably be happier to see those blades than he will the babies."

Indeed, within a few moments, a grav-cart appeared, bearing upon it four or five black metallic cases, each engraved with the sign of the Andorian Empire. Shorban was behind it, pushing. He nodded briefly to Sassil as he passed, pursuing Dashii and Pholl'rem. "You forgot the diaper bag," he called to Dashii.

But Dashii barely noticed, pushing onwards towards the nearby settlement area, and home. "Hey, Pholl'rem?" Tw'eak asked. "I know I should decon and everything, but... Would you mind terribly - ?"

Pholl'rem's face brightened, and she reached her arms out towards Tw'eak. "I would love to see that. You know how to, right?"

"Yeah," Tw'eak replied. "Basic qualifications, anyway. Neck under, antennae up, belly full until the diaper is. How am I doing?"

"You got it," Pholl'rem said with a laugh. "She might play a little strange at first, because you're new to her," she said, arms falling to her side.

"Hello, Twaiheak," Tw'eak said to the bundle, from within which a searching pair of blue eyes, their respective antennae matching their movements, gazed up lovingly at the face they saw. Contrary to Pholl'rem's statement, there was no strangeness between the two of them at all. A little puff of baby's breath emanated into the air as baby Twaiheak gave a cough, then, surprised by it, began laughing at the sensation. Tw'eak laughed right along with her.

As Tw'eak walked through the snow, bearing this baby, her namesake, in her arms, she looked back towards Va'kel Shon, then nodded down at little Twaiheak. Shon gave a warm smile, a nod, and then fell back to keep pace with the still-stumbling Octavia. Tw'eak considered to herself that all of this was exactly what she had needed all along. She held the child in her arms while she walked without hurry across the surface of her homeworld, in the company of friends and family, including the one most dear to her... with the universe around them at peace, if only for the moment. That moment was enough. Tw'eak's boldest, dearest, fondest of wishes had all come true right there within that moment. It was a moment she wished could last forever. She held Twaiheak tightly to her chest and let the feeling of satisfaction and welcome overcome her. At long last, she was in the place that she belonged.

At long last, Tw'eak was home.

* * *

Meanwhile, across that now-peaceful universe, freighters tottered along upon newly-liberated trade lanes with urgently needed supplies, planets that needed those supplies saw them delivered as they continued their spins around their suns, and those planets' inhabitants began the long, slow process of rebuilding and reconstructing their lives.

Between the planets, starship rescue and salvage operations recovered (and in rare cases, rescued survivors from) what remained of the once-mighty strength of the combined Alliance fleets. Between the star systems of the Alliance, the Federation News Service broadcast news of victory alongside articles about _'how you can help'_ and _'what next for the Federation?'_.

In many places - far too few places - survivors and their families were reunited after being forcibly separated in the heat of the conflict. And in all these places, upon planets, warbirds, space stations, starships, birds-of-prey, colonies and spacedocks, the order of life resumed its shape.

Work was done, plans were made, meals were shared and tales were told. Blueprints for the future were being drawn out, acts of great merit and daring discovery were about to begin, heroes yet-unknown were busy being born... and time went past.


	107. Epilogue

It was late in the Andorian evening when Tw'eak finally managed to wrest Va'kel Shon from the assembled company of her family and friends. The three officers whom Tw'eak counted among her closest friends - Aurora, her sister Bianca, and Octavia - had returned to their accommodations near Lai'kan starport, just as Shon had become engulfed in a legendary conversation with Shrim'ta, Pholl'rem, and her charan once the twins had been put to bed. It had been difficult to part with the three of them. Tw'eak felt she had become closer to them - and, indeed, to Doc and Kim - than she had felt to almost anyone else, except for maybe T'uni. But they would be departing in the morning, and she would be remaining planetside. It would be the first time in many, many years that she could claim that. But she owed it to herself and her sisters to make the best of this time they had together, to strengthen the family bonds and to be there, where she could, for Dashii's children. And there was also the matter of Shon, who she looked forward to spending time with - once their great and lengthy discussion had come to a close.

Now, they walked together in the twilight, hand in hand, both smiling at the sound of the snow, at the feeling they got only from each other, at their isolation in the cold from the rest of the universe. Up above, the blue light of the gas giant Andor, her one-time sole companion on these walks, radiated a greenish-blue light across the edge of the horizon.

"They were... pretty insistent," Shon said, breaking the silence along their trek.

"Who?"

"Your family. All good people, don't get me wrong. If you could choose your family, they'd rate pretty highly in my books."

"So that whole big conversation you were having with Shrim and Pholl'rem... what was it about?"

"Oh, everything. The _Enterprise_. Andoria. Our people. The universe, and Andoria's place in it. It was... pretty amazing, to be honest. They've had a lot of time to think, out there in space, about this place and what it all means. I was really enjoying myself."

"I could tell. But

"What were they insistent about?"

"They - you didn't notice. Really. You."

Tw'eak nodded. "If you had a clue to offer, now would be a good time."

"It all started when you went to say goodbye to your officers. Shrim'ta asked me about us being together, about this aspect or that aspect of it..." Shon smiled. "And from there, it just grew outwards until we were talking about... everything Andorian. But we came back around full circle. They want us to... well. You can imagine." Shon smiled. "Point taken."

"So that's what this is about." Tw'eak's antennae drooped a bit.

"Twaiheak, obviously you know how I feel about you - "

"You don't have to say it. But we don't have to be so... formal."

"Formal? What's formal about it?"

"About marriages - the human kind, you understand, not a bond group. It's entirely for other people. They have a big ceremony to say 'hey, we're together now, look at us' - and they make a big show of it because they don't stay together. So the good ones feel compelled to stay together because everyone knows it, and everyone else knowing it forces them to stay together. It's a real bind."

"Not the kind of bind they usually mean," Shon quipped.

"Everyone knows they're meant to be - not 'meant to be' in the good, romantic way, but stuck together - not meant to be any other way. And then everything else they do is to repeat the message - we're still stuck together, look at us. Only now we have kids, or grand-children, or whatever else."

"You don't really think it works that way, do you?"

"I don't think it works, no, not at all." Tw'eak looked over at Shon. "You seem to be forgetting how close I came to going through with that myself. I regret that Leo's dead, what we never had - but I also know what my future self who was married to him had to say on the subject. And, y'know, I think I agree with her."

"It doesn't have to be that way." Shon raised a hand defensively as this remark drew a sharp look from Tw'eak. "Not trying to talk you into it, I swear."

"You're right, though. It doesn't. It's like Starfleet - it only works if the commitment is real, positive... meaningful. Remember, marriage is a commitment ceremony... and it's just a ceremony without the commitment."

"And we all know, Admiral Sh'abbas hates ceremonies."

"Do I ever," Tw'eak said with a laugh. "And I'm going to have to go back to Earth tomorrow to sit through another one. In full dress uniform, no less." She shrugged. "Guess it's a good thing they got Earth Spacedock back online so quickly. I'd almost rather they hadn't."

"Then you'd just be postponing the inevitable. Or they'd just use the Academy grounds instead. Given the number of people who will be coming, it might be easier on the Spacedock if they all came to the Academy. San Francisco isn't as likely to groan under the weight of all the people who can't wait to congratulate you."

"Uzaveh's name," Tw'eak swore. "I hadn't thought of that."

"You deserve it - even if you'd rather sneak out the back door at the first opportunity. And this ceremony isn't all that different from the way you described marriage. Only this will be a lot bigger. It's not every day they give someone a second Pike Medal."

"I know." She sat down on an exposed rock on the edge of the trail, and Shon squeezed in next to her. "What I'm trying to tell you is that I don't need the ceremony, Va'kel. I know how I feel. It's not going to change - it hasn't, all these years. It was just waiting for its moment to arrive. Now that it has, well... you've got me. And I'll be here, as I've always been, waiting for you... on the other side of the storm." She looked up at the stars. "Besides, I know you still have so much to do out there. The _Enterprise_ is the perfect ship for you - it's everything a starship captain should want."

FOOFNAR

"It'll feel just that little bit emptier knowing how far we are from you," Shon noted. "I mean, you're right, I wouldn't want to give that up - not for a while yet, not until we've had a chance to do some real, meaningful exploration."

"And I wouldn't expect anything else. But when you're out there, wherever 'out there' is this week... you'll know exactly where to find me." She gestured a hand out at the snowy distance. "I'll be waiting here, for you."

"Then this is where I'll return to, once I feel I've done all I can out there."

"It's a great feeling, I gotta tell you," she said with a smile. "Feeling that you've done all you can out there. I really feel that. I don't care that I'm giving up - I'm not even really giving up anything. I'm re-gaining my home. Now that Dashii and Sassil are both here, we'll be together, and we'll make our own crazy family here. You don't have to be a part of any of it. I'd understand if you didn't want to - but this is what I want. I just... want you to come back to me as often as you can." Tw'eak's lips danced with her secret smile. "So we can be like we were the other night."

"Now that does sound inviting," Shon said in reply. Tw'eak ran a finger along the rugged lines of his shoulders, and contemplated whether they should, in the snow and among the rocks - and then, stopped, antennae flickering to life. Her eyes lifted to a figure in the distance, about ten metres away. Shon straightened up, his antennae also angling intently.

"Over there," she whispered. Shon glanced in that direction and gave a curt nod. The figure approached - Tw'eak could see it was an Andorian female, unarmed (or at least, not visibly carrying weapons), moving briskly, hardly threatening in her manner. Tw'eak wondered which of her sisters had decided to play chaperone, and began thinking of a suitable chastisement for either of them.

The darkness gave way to the local reflected light, and Tw'eak could see a dark purple coat drawn over the woman's shoulders, tight black leggings concealing what appeared to be a Starfleet uniform. Then she heard the voice. "Shreya? Is that you?"

Tw'eak launched from the rock in total surprise, and ran over to Spera. But just as soon as she had begun running, she came to a stop. This was undoubtedly her daughter, but she was - "What happened to you?"

"Time," she said. Indeed, the light revealed a more care-worn, more profoundly serious face. As Va'kel Shon approached, Spera smiled. "Hello, Captain."

"Spera," Shon said, then added, "I presume."

Tw'eak was confused. This was Spera - and yet, not Spera. Her parka's collar swished aside to reveal the rank of fleet admiral. "I should explain," Spera said. "You're as I saw you at the very end of the Iconian War. And I... for me it's been thirty-eight years since that day."

Tw'eak's eyes widened. "Uzaveh's name." That was it. Spera hadn't changed - she had aged. "How - how is this possible?"

"Senior admiral, Temporal Defense, commanding," Spera replied. "At least, I was. I just retired a few days ago."

Tw'eak chuckled. "You and me both."

"I know. Congratulations."

"You, too. A good career?"

"Only as good as the people I worked with." Spera looked at her mother, a wry grin much like Tw'eak's own crossing her lips. "Which means it was very, very good, indeed." She looked upwards at Andor's gas-giant contours, taking a deep breath. "This was my retirement present. My staff gave me an opportunity to come back and talk to you. I realize it's a predestination paradox, but until yesterday the officer in charge of investigating those was my subordinate."

"Tell me when I get to see you again." Tw'eak blurted out, reaching out for Spera. "The hell with it, just - " She embraced her daughter, even though their ages nearly coincided, and held on for a moment. "You've done so well. I'm so happy to see you."

"I've missed you too, Shreya," Spera replied. She then stuttered out a reply. "I mean - it's only because I don't get to see you as often as I'd like. Where you are. Which could be dead or alive. Not giving anything away, even to you. Sorry. Orders."

"That authenticates it," Shon said with a laugh. "She's just as quick to over-explain as you are."

Tw'eak shot a snarky look at Shon, then turned back to Spera. "Why did you come back to now, though?"

"You told me that this was the happiest day of your life, coming home again. In a couple months you'll be the Andorian ambassador to the Federation."

Shon's eyebrows rose, and Tw'eak's antennae came together. "That's incredible," Shon said admiringly. "Makes sense, though. Perfect role for you."

"For both of you." Spera looked from Shon to Tw'eak. "I can't say much more than that, but your life gets incredibly busy again in a couple weeks. The Tox Uthat Incident is only a couple of weeks from now. And from there, you'll have problems with the Na'Kuhl for the next little while."

"The who? Not-cool?" Tw'eak was confused.

"Another adversary," Spera replied. "They'll introduce themselves. With plasma weapons fire, sadly."

"Definitely not cool, then," Shon quipped.

"Sorry, can't say much. But back to today - you told me once that being here, being your own person again, with the whole universe thanking you for your service... and the company of family and friends, it was your happiest time. Except for not having me here, to meet the Ch'thalnar twins when they first arrived on Andoria. It was one of your few regrets in this life. You wished I'd been here. Now, I am."

"So do those twins end up with any siblings?" Shon asked. "That was one happy bond group back there, I wouldn't be surprised."

"I can't answer that." Spera was perfectly professional in her tone. "Sorry."

"But when will you come home?" Tw'eak felt her heart bursting. "It's just like you said - I never realized it until you said it. I would've - I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. But I wish you were here - the you that's out there now on that sphere - so that I could share this to you."

"It'll be twelve years from now before I do," Spera replied. Tw'eak's throat went dry. "When I do, though, I'll bring a few surprises of my own. And by that point, the Alliance will have signed the Temporal Accords, the last threats to galactic peace will be few and far between, and the Federation will experience a period of prosperity and tranquility like none before it. And it all began with us, on ancient Iconia, doing the right thing and ending that war." She smiled at her mother. "It's all because of you, Shreya. You're a galactic hero, in my time - an inspiration to those in Starfleet on par with James Kirk or Benjamin Sisko... the pride of Andoria." She leaned over towards Va'kel Shon. "So are you, don't worry."

"Wasn't going to ask," Shon joked. "But thanks."

"The first few steps the Alliance takes in the aftermath of the Iconian War will lead us down the path towards the creation of the Galactic Union, the Federation's successor. Two centuries from now we'll have a galaxy that's united under one peaceful government, one with Earth, Vulcan, Andoria, Qo'noS, Bajor and mol'Rihan as its heart."

"But you said you're only thirty-eight years older," Tw'eak asked, curious. "What can you possibly know of centuries beyond?"

"I'm also a temporal agent. Always was, sort of, unofficially. By the way, I think you can expect the Bajoran Prophets to reach out to you fairly soon."

"Oh?" Tw'eak looked at Shon. "Wish Pal was here to hear that."

"He's not?" Shon's shoulders relaxed a bit. "I thought he was - always has been before."

Tw'eak looked to Spera. "Do you know why? What could they need from me, now?"

"I can't say. You never really told me, but even if you had, I wouldn't feel right sharing."

"Well, what can you share? What about Aurora, Octavia, Bianca, Doc, anyone?"

"You can ask. If I can answer, I will."

"Doc - and Kim. Do they end up having another child?"

"Several. Their youngest is the same as as Bianca's oldest child."

"Bianca has children - does Aurora?"

"No. She's crazy Aunt Aurora now, though. Happily involved in a relationship of her own, though."

Tw'eak scrambled for questions. "Octavia - her old self, before the Borg. Does she ever break through, make that connection?"

"She does. It changes her life. It leads her to resign from Starfleet and return to Melbourne, where she opens a flower shop. They have roses in every colour of the rainbow. It's a wondrous place. I went with Bianca and her kids one afternoon. So much fun to be all together again."

"But is she Octavia? Or her old self?"

"She's both. Picture the liberated Borg you used to know, with a wicked sense of humour." Spera saw Tw'eak's incredulous look. "Not just bad jokes, either - she's sharp. All of her memories are intact again, to Emlyn Downey's intense relief." She giggled a bit. "The two of them, together... they're as bad as the duBois sisters, honestly."

Tw'eak shook her head in amazement. "What about the reports I've read - about Selkirk Rex?"

Spera grinned. "I wondered if you'd ask about him. He and Zolnaen Didaggo are both killed in action against the Na'Kuhl around two years from now, defending a convoy from a temporal incursion. By then, their re-formed flotilla, and the Joint Liberation Service, will have basically eradicated space piracy through the Joint Liberation Service. They also find and recover multiple captive groupings from the Elachi and Solanae still resident in the Beta Quadrant. They save a lot of lives - including your old friend Birmal Dazz."

"Dazz is still alive out there somewhere? Right now?"

"You'd never find her. She's in a pocket of subspace - It's complicated. With the Solanae being forced to withdraw to their part of the universe, the Elachi found themselves with a backlog of prisoners... y'know, to eat? So they put them in stasis, within the life pods, and just leave them there until the JLS finds them."

"It's no different than how frozen food used to take the place of replicators," Shon observed. "Just keep them on ice until meal time."

"Exactly."

"Wait - is anyone else still alive, that we lost? Kit McQueen, for example, or Admiral Slutskaya?"

Spera shook her head. "No, they were killed in action. So many people were."

Tw'eak took a step towards Spera. "But you - and I - and Captain Shon - we're all still alive."

"Yes. And we're very much a family. Don't worry about that." Spera smiled. "Wait'll you meet your granddaughter. She's a lot like you, in many ways."

Tw'eak's eyes widened. "You're serious."

"Yeah." Spera held up her left hand. "You'll like him, too. He's an engineer, though. No mind for tactical - at all."

"That's alright," Tw'eak replied. "Most of my best friends are engineers."

Spera chuckled. "That's what you told him when you met him." She shook her head, and a noise sounded under her coat. She reached in and checked a notification light on her belt. "That's my signal - my temporal displacement in the transporter is about to run out. I only have about thirty seconds."

"But - temporal transporter? Like the one we had on the _Silhouette_ ," Tw'eak reasoned.

"Exactly so," Spera said with a smile. "The same one - the same _Silhouette_. My ship now. They keep telling me it belongs in a museum, but it's too useful - and we still haven't invented the technologies necessary to mass produce them. I need to get back there, I'm sorry. I wish I could stay longer. But it was good to see you."

"Look, just..." Tw'eak reached out in desperation and embraced Spera fiercely. "Take care of yourself."

"You, too." Spera squeezed her mother with all of her might. "And I'll see you in a couple years." She took a few steps back. "Oh, and Captain? If _Enterprise_ ever encounters something that your science officer identifies as a 'parallel series of quantum fissures in subspace', don't scan it - leave it the hell alone."

"I - I don't even - " Shon was perplexed.

"Just remember the term. It'll save a lot of lives that way." Spera gazed fondly at Tw'eak, staring as if to memorize her shape and features. "Love you, Shreya."

Tw'eak smiled through tears at the mature, capable admiral that had once been - _that still is, damn it,_ she thought to herself - her beloved daughter. "Love you, too, kid," she said, swallowing hard.

Then a whine filled the air, the sound of a transporter, and Spera dematerialized, gone into the night. Tw'eak stood stock-still for a few moments before Shon came over and slid his arms under hers, tipping her forward into an awkward embrace.

"Parallel series of quantum fissures..." Shon repeated to himself. "You alright?" he asked Tw'eak after a moment.

Tw'eak's antennae were practically touching each other. "She's okay out there," she whimpered. "Right?"

"Better than okay, it seems," Shon declared. "She's going to make a huge difference."

"She already has," Tw'eak said, patting her chest. "Right here. That's... that's my girl, out there." She looked up into the night sky. "I knew right from the start she would change everything." She smiled at Shon. "And I guess I underestimated just how right I'd be."

Shon nodded. "I'm really glad she's still with us."

"Me too," Tw'eak said, taking Shon's hand in hers. "If you had told me that this was how it ends - with her, out there, and me, down here waiting... I never would have believed you."

"I always knew she'd have an unbelievable story to tell when she returned. I'm just glad to be here, to see her come back."

"But she's not - not yet, anyway. She will be... but not yet." Tw'eak's eyes shone for a moment, and she took both of Shon's hands. "Come on. I have an idea."

"Oh, what's that?"

"I'm going to need someplace in town. For the next twelve years or so. I could use a hand finding a nice place."

"A place in town? You mean, an office?"

"No," Tw'eak said, wiping a tear from her eye. "A residence." She cleared her throat. "A place for her to find me. A place for you, too - someplace to come home to, to call home, when it's your time. Home. Here, on Andoria. With me."

Shon walked alongside Tw'eak, silent for a moment, before a wry grin crossed his features. "I hear if you wait a few months, the ambassador's residence will be available," he quipped.

Tw'eak gave Shon a light impact from her elbow to his ribs. They laughed together as they walked down the path, back the way they came, heading home.


End file.
